Who is Jesus?

Scriptures: “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; Others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ He asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.’” (Matthew 16:13-17)

A friend of mine is a chess player. He told me a story from his high school days. In one of the tournaments, his school team played against another high school. After one of the games, he ran into one of his teammates. My friend asked his teammate, “Who did you play against?” His friend replied, “I played against Yu (an Asian guy from their opponent team.” Taken by surprise, my friend replied, “No you didn’t play against me. Who did you play against?” His friend replied, “Yu! I played against Yu!” After another round or two, my friend finally realized that his friend was playing with a guy named Yu.

This may sound like a funny story. But, in life, we often find ourselves in situations like this, confusing people with someone else or misunderstanding others’ true identity. Of all the people in human history, I would say the identity of Jesus has been the most controversial one. His controversial identity wasn’t a result of what He did or said for He had always been very clear and direct about His identity. Instead, it was a result of people refusing to know Him the way He presented Himself.

Many Christians today regard this issue of Jesus’ identity as a theological issue. But I find it hard to accept this type of viewpoint. How can we regard the identity of the One we call Lord and Savior with whom we walk on a daily basis as a theological issue? How can a theological issue save us from the power of sin? People want to avoid the question of who Jesus truly is. Why? I don’t know! But, this I know, Jesus did not want His disciples to avoid this question.

In the passage today, Jesus inquired into His disciples on what identity people thought of Him. Then He went on to ask the disciples what they thought of His identity. His insistence on having His disciples addressing this question was more than important. It was critical for His disciples to understand because His identity has everything to do with His mission and the revelation of the grace of God.

In many ways, people nowadays acknowledge the humanity of Jesus but deny His deity. Muslims teach that Jesus was a great prophet, a mere human being, much like the people of Jesus’ days. Liberal theologians argued that the deity came upon Jesus at the time He was baptized, as though He was not God before 30 years old. They do so because they found no human rationalization sufficient to understand His deity and, indeed, other than the revelation of God, there was no human. Jesus acknowledged such limitation on human rationalization, too. In His response to Peter’s confession, He said, “…this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) In other words, the only source from which we can gain accurate understanding of His identity is not through human rationalization, but through the revelation of God as recorded in the Bible.

It’s amazing to note that, when an Angel appeared to Mary regarding the birth of Jesus, the angel told Mary that, “…You will be with child … you are to give him the name of Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:31-32) This is part of the good news the angel proclaimed to a group of shepherds later on. Yes, His identity is part of the good news that we are expected to bear witness to.

As a matter of fact, removing His identity from the gospel is to me to remove the foundation of the gospel. His work can never be separated from His identity. Jesus took His true identity and how His disciples view His identity seriously. Do we share His seriousness? When we go out and witness to non-believers, who are we witnessing for? A true and living Lord and Savior? Or just a theological persuasion? Is He the Lord of our everyday life? Or was He merely a great historical person to remember? When we accept wholeheartedly His identity as He revealed to us, how much richer will our worship and fellowship life be?

Prayer Requests:
For all children of God to experience deeper on a daily basis into the riches and glory of the presence of our Lord and Savior

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for sending Your Son to redeem us out of Your grace. Holy Spirit, please help us understand clearly the reality and significance of the identity of our Lord Jesus so You may work in us to lead us closer to You. We pray that our walk with You will enable us to show Your grace and glory in this dark and twisted world so others may join us in exalting our Lord and Savor Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit because we pray in the wonderful name of Jesus, our Savor, Amen!