Who do you say I am?

Passage for reflection: Mark 8: 27 to the end of the chapter.

Have you ever been in the wrong place while walking down the street and you’ve failed to not be got by one of those people doing market research. I remember being in city centre Manchester and this lady stopped me and asked me if I like cheese. I gave the wrong answer. I was taken into this room in an office block and I was there for ever. “Was this cheese harder, softer, stronger, milder than the last one?” Bits of cheese kept coming until I didn’t want to see another piece of cheese ever. I was given a £5 note for giving my opinion but I’d rather have spent an hour doing something else.

 

Sometimes people need to canvass public opinion. What’s being said? Jesus was no different. After a considerable time of busy Ministry he wanted to know his impact.

 So he took the disciples away from the Galilean crowds and moved them twenty five miles to the north, to the head of the Jordan river, near to the city Philip built in honour Caesar which became known as Caesarea Philippi.

 

Jesus asked, “Who do people say that I am?”

 

Some say you are John the Baptist.” John the Baptist came preaching a message of repentance. These people sensed Jesus was a man of righteousness and perhaps they thought of John the Baptist because of his preaching of repentance. 

“Some say you are Elijah.” These people must have sensed His greatness. To the Jew, Elijah was one of the greatest of the prophets and teachers of all times. To this day at the Seder meal, Elijah’s chair is left vacant. 

Elijah was a man of prayer. The people of Palestine had watched our Lord Jesus calm storms with a prayer, multiply the loaves and fishes with a prayer. No wonder, “Some say” He is Elijah. 

“Some say you are Jeremiah.” These were obviously those who were aware of His tears, His passion, His burden for His people. They had seen the heart of Jesus. They had watched Him as He wept over the City of Jerusalem and as He wept at the grave of Lazarus. No wonder, “Some say” He is Jeremiah.

“Some say you are one of the prophets.” Here is the very essence of public consensus. He was one of the prophets. These were those who did not know what to believe but could not discount His miracles and godly life. Some still say today that He is one of the prophets. Ask our Islamic friends. They will tell you that He is a prophet, but not as great as Mohammed. They will tell you He did not rise from the dead. Ask our Jewish friends and they will tell you He was a godly man and a prophet. 

It was clear Jesus was evoking opinion. the people in Jesus' day answered the question of who Jesus was based on how they saw him. Healer, miracle worker, story teller, master, Saviour. Others had a different opinion: Jesus' brothers saw Him as a lunatic -- the priests saw Him as a threat -- the Pharisees called Him unrighteous, because He didn't follow their religious rules -- the Sadducees saw Him as a heretic, because of His teachings on the resurrection, half way through Marks Gospel they are planning to get rid of him. 

But then Jesus asks another question. “But, who do you say I am?” 

Have you ever been in a group where you dread being asked what you think? Everyone else is more eloquent and everyone else has a valuable contribution and you are scared of being picked on. I always got in school reports “Ian is very quiet in class,” I’m an introvert, so I tend to listen more rather than speak a lot but there comes a bit where you have to say what you think.

Peter says “you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”tell others just who J"“But who do you say I am?.”The structure of this question in Greek apparently emphasises  the word “you.” It could be translated more literally, “And you, who do you say that I am?”

He could be asking this question of us : “People doing Church, who do you say I am?” How we answer the question will show what sort of church we are. Do we as Wesley said “commend the Saviour” to others? 

Do we share the story of Jesus confidently or like when quiz questions on the Bible come up on tv shows like the contestants, have we no clue how to answer correctly? Who Jesus is is answered not just by words but how we are, how we care for each other, how we run our activities, how we treat each other and the vulnerable amongst us, how we speak to each other. Who Jesus is is answered by how we are perceived outside in community. Who Jesus is is deepened as we talk more about him together. So let’s have some Bible studies and house groups and times we just meet to discuss him. Who Jesus is for us is our motivation and our call to be…   

I will just say this today: The way we answer Jesus has the potential to change our lives. If we acknowledge Jesus to be a divinely inspired teacher, then we will pay close attention to what he says so that we might believe it and live it. If we see Jesus as the Messiah, then we will serve him as God’s royal representative who ushers in the kingdom. If we believe Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, then we will put our ultimate faith in him. And if we confess Jesus to be the Word of God Incarnate, the very Son of God, then we will fall before him in worship so that we might live our entire lives as an offering to him. William Barclay once said “Jesus' coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.” I like that…

I love this Spike Milligan poem

One day I thought I saw,

Jesus in a tram, 

I said to him 'Are You Jesus?'

He said 'Yes I am'

 

Jesus is here. He asks the question. What’s our answer?