Jesus did not shun the worship of Him as God.

A fundamental principle of interpreting Scripture correctly is that scripture will interpret scripture. Every single verse should be interpreted against the broader backdrop of what the entirety of Scripture teaches on a given subject or topic. In the scriptures, the same Greek word used for worshiping  the Father (proskeneo) is used of worshiping  Christ (proskeneo) throughout the New Testament. Jesus did not teach that only the Father, and not He Himself should be worshiped. In the Bible, over and over again we have accounts of Jesus being worshipped (proskeneo) by people.

• In John 20:28 Jesus was worshiped by Thomas. – ^“And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.”
• In Hebrews 1:6 it is recorded that He is worshiped by angels. – “And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.”
• In Matthew 2:11 He is worshiped by wise men. - “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.”
• In Matthew 8:2, He is worshiped by a leper. -  “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
• A ruler worships Him in Matthew 9:18. – “While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.”
• A blind man worships Him in John 9:38. – “And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”
• An anonymous woman worships Him in Matthew 15:25. – “Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.”
• Mary Magdalene worships Him in Matthew 28:9. – “And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”
• The disciples worship Him in Matthew 28:17. – “And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.”

Again, it is paramount to remember that when Jesus was worshipped, He never corrected His followers or others when they bowed down and worshipped Him.  He never said, “Please, don’t worship me, only my Father should be worshiped.” Jesus considered the worship of Him as perfectly appropriate. That Jesus is worshipped says a lot about His true identity, for it is the consistent testimony of Scripture that only God can be worshiped.

Jesus Himself refused to be acknowledged as just “good”.

In Mark 10:17-18 we read of a man who approaches Jesus as He is giving a sermon. The man says,  “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ response to him was, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” What was Jesus implying? Does this verse mean that Jesus is saying that He was not good? No. In this verse Jesus is neither denying that He is good, nor denying that He is God. Jesus’ reaction makes it clear that He wished for the man to consider the implications of calling Him good. Jesus is effectively saying to him, “Do you realize what you are saying when you call me good?  Do you realize that this is something you should attribute only to God?  Are you saying that I am God?” Jesus Himself in these couple of verses, forces the man to this conclusion:  I am both good and God, or else I am both bad and man. Jesus eliminates the possibility to be considered only a good man. A good God, or a bad man, yes, but Jesus makes it clear, from His own mouth that it is impossible to be merely a good man.  Jesus’ response to this man did not deny His own deity, but was rather an attempt to make a man realize the consequences of calling Him good. It was in fact a veiled claim to deity.  The man who called him “good” needed to perceive this reality, as do others who seem to ignore his deity while acknowledging His goodness.

Conclusion:

In light of these examples taken from the very mouth and witnesses of Jesus Christ, there are only three possible scenarios for the personage of Jesus Christ.

1. He was mad.
2. He was lying.
3. He was telling the truth.

If I ask someone if they would consider Jesus to have been a mad man, the answer is always a resounding no. If I say that the Jesus that they know as a good man would perpetrate a willing lie, deceiving billions of people, the response is also no. There is only one conclusion left. He was telling the truth about who He was and is.

The reason Jesus’ teachings had ultimate authority was that He was and is God.  The words of Jesus are the very words of God.  We would be wise, then, to give heed to what He says. Scripture is clear. Jesus’ own words about Himself clearly show that He did not proclaim Himself as merely a prophet or a good man. He proclaimed to be the Son of God, God in the flesh, the salvation of mankind, the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world, and in equality with God the Father. Jesus did not leave a fourth option open as an opinion about himself. He is Lord as He claimed to be. The only remaining scenarios involve Jesus being the most successful and deviously evil Liar the world has ever seen, or the most crazed and disturbed lunatic in history.