"who Do You Say I Am?"

“Who Do You Say I Am?”

Matthew 16:13-20

Jesus and His disciples are out on the road, making their way to Caesarea Philippi, a bustling port city the Galilee.

Jesus asks them, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

And they tell Him that people are saying all sorts of things—as people tend to do.

Some say He’s John the Baptist, recently beheaded by Herod, come back from the dead.

Others say He’s the prophet Elijah—who was thought to return before the end times.

Others say Jeremiah—another one of Israel’s prophets who had his own tensions with the authorities and suffered mightily for it.

It seems no one understands exactly what or whom they are witnessing.

They’ve never seen something or someone like Jesus before.

But then Jesus turns the question to His disciples, and asks what seems to be the question He wanted to ask all along: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

And praise God, they got it right!

I mean, the disciples rarely get things right in the Gospels, so we need to lift them up when they do.

Peter is the first to speak up, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

But what does it mean to call Jesus “the Messiah, the Son of the living God?”

Even though Jesus seems satisfied with Peter’s response, Peter doesn’t exactly know what it means to call Jesus the Messiah—definitely not at this point, at least.

I mean, Jesus is not going to be the Messiah anyone expects.

The Messiah was not expected to be a healer or a person of wisdom.

The Messiah was one who was going to come like a warrior with a sword, taking down the oppressive powers.

He was going to be one who purifies, burning away the bad and rotten parts of the world.

But instead, Jesus comes as a poor peasant, not a warrior.

And instead of being the One Who purifies and throws out that which is bad and unclean, He sits with the unclean and has meals with the sinners and tax collectors.

He comes near to them, He doesn’t throw them out.

And He certainly doesn’t topple and destroy the oppressive powers of the day.

Instead, He is the One Who is destroyed…

…Killed on a Cross by the Roman regime.

And, of course, Jesus knows He is not the kind of Messiah Peter is expecting.

In fact, in the next couple of verses Jesus is going to call Peter “Satan.”

Jesus tells His disciples that He has to go to die in Jerusalem and Peter tries to tell Jesus that this can’t happen.

Jesus is going to save the world, but not in the way anyone would think.

And so, even though Peter gets it right, he still--sort of--gets it wrong.

I can relate to that, how about you?

How many of us know all there is to know about Jesus?

How many of us have all the answers.

We might have the answer—that is, Jesus is Lord, the Son of the Living God, the Savior, the Messiah…

…but what does that mean?

Remember when Paul said to the Corinthians: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

The Christian Faith is a journey—an exciting journey of getting to know Who God is.

And we learn as we put our faith into practice.

In Acts, Peter has to learn many things as it pertains to following Christ.

For example, at first he thinks only the Jewish people and those who are circumcised and eat the right kind of foods can be saved.

But, he has to learn that Christ died for all, as does the Church, and it takes time.

It also takes listening to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and paying attention to what God is doing in our midst.

Think about it this way, when I met my wife, I liked her—I was attracted to her, but I didn’t know her very well.

But, as time goes on I learn more and more and more about her—every day really.

It’s the same way with our friends or co-workers.

At first, we only know them in a very shallow and superficial way.

But, as we spend time with them, in relationship, we come to know them pretty well.

It’s the same with Jesus.

The more time we spend with Him, the more we are in ministry with and for Him…

…the more we come to learn about Him.

And there is nothing more beautiful nor exciting in all the world.

So, I want us all to ask ourselves the question Jesus asked His disciples so long ago: “Who do YOU say Jesus is?”