How do you see Jesus?

John 7:40-43
Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”
So there was a division among the people because of Him.

There are three types of people identified in this passage.
There are those who are on a faith journey to understand who Jesus is. These people see Him as a prophet. They see a bunch but have not completed their journey. They are in process.
There are those who have come to the conclusion of their faith journey and after searching out both the Scriptures and the person of Jesus have concluded that He is who He claims to be, "the Christ."
Then there are those who refuse to examine the person of Jesus. Tragically, they know the Scriptures but are blind to the Savior. They know just enough Scripture or theology to justify their doubts and questions but never actually seek the answers or explanations. Their doubts and questions prevent them, even blind them, from seeing Jesus true nature and identity. Whether out of pride, arrogance, comfort, apathy, fear or something else, these people simply refused to take a closer look at Jesus.
Ironically, many of these are those who in verses 12 & 14 who claimed Jesus to be "good" and "marveled" at His knowledge of the Law. Jesus cannot be both good and who He claimed to be. Good men do not lie and deceive people... and neither did Jesus. He is who He claimed to be.
(Did you know that Jesus used the phrase "I AM" 52 times in the book of John alone? John was demonstrating who Jesus claimed to be. Check out John 18:5-6. There is no doubt that each time Jesus says "I AM" He's revealing his true nature. He does this four times in chapter 7 alone! No wonder the crowds were angry and debated His identity!)

So, where are you in this faith journey? Are you willing to look closer at Jesus? Are you willing to set aside your religious knowledge, tradition, pride, comfort, questions and doubts and truly examine this Jesus? He's more than good, He's more than a prophet... He is.