“But who do you say that I am?”

Matthew 16:13-20

Most of us have attempted to share what we know about a person, a friend, even a family member, and when ask the question; what do others say about them?  What comes to your mind, he/she is a nice person, a very giving person, a tough old bird, a leader, a very humble person, a mean spirited person, a family centered person, a self-centered, arrogant person, etc.  

Jesus has just entered the district of Caesarea Philippi, and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”   It matters to some small degree what others say about you, but we must remember it is an opinion based on information or lack of information, but Jesus asked two question of these fellows, “What do people say, and then what do you who have lived with me, who have watched my life, who have been with me at every step, “Who do you say that I am?”  Of the two questions, only one holds eternal value when it comes to Jesus.  It was a question for twelve guys that hung out with Jesus and it is a question for everyone who has been born.

How you answer that question defines you, and it has been answered by the masses in so many ways; Jesus was a great teacher; Jesus was a prophet of God; Jesus was the most moral man who has ever lived; Jesus was a great leader; Jesus was a revolutionary, and to some degree the answers are correct, but if that is all you understand about Jesus, you are 100% wrong.  I’m much like Simon Peter in this respect, I often speak too often, and I often put my foot in my mouth.  But on the day Jesus ask the question: “But who do you say that I am?” it was Simon Peter who hit the ball out of the park.

Picking up the story in verses 16-19, Simon Peter replied,  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him,  “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.   And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Many have believed wrongly and taken this to mean that God was going to build His Church on men like Peter, but that is not what Jesus is saying and Scripture does not support such an opinion.  The Church is founded on Peter’s confession of faith, in Christ, as the Son of the living God, and on that faith we are participants; we enter into a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The rock is Jesus, God’s grace to sinful people, and believing with the faith that God has given you to stand, knowing that the gate of hell shall not prevail against it.   Because we have been grafted into the Vine that is Christ, we are the family of God, we have full access to the Father in prayer, and if we only believe we can move mountains. 

The apostle Peter, the one who proclaimed; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Wanted you and me to understand who we are, what it means to be God’s kids.  In Peter’s second letter, chapter one, verses three, and four; “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

All things have been granted to us who by faith have entered into a relationship with Christ, by His divine power, so the question must be asked; how did you answer the question Jesus is asking you, “But who do you say that I am?”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice