Tuesday July 28, 2020
Today’s Scripture: Mark 8:27-30
27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Today’s Devotional
In this passage Jesus is walking with his disciples and asks about his PR. “Who do people say I am?” It’s almost like he knows people are talking about him and he wants some insight into their thinking.
The answers are all over the place: John the Baptist, Elijah, another prophet. This makes sense. Jesus has always been made out to be something he never claimed to be – even to this day. To some he’s just a figure from history. To others he’s a nice guy who founded a religion and taught us some ideas about how to live a good life. To others still, he’s a threat – someone whose name has been used to justify all sorts of bad things.
I get the feeling, however, that Jesus was not really interested in that particular question. I think he really was wanting to get to the next question: Who do YOU say I am? It’s the question Jesus is still asking us to this day. Who do YOU say Jesus is?
Peter gets this question and hits it out of the park. “You are the Messiah”, he says. Just to be clear in few verses Jesus is going to call Peter “Satan”. So, take heart – even Peter had his ups and downs. But in this moment, he got it – and whether he knew it or not, everything changed.
When we call Jesus Messiah (or Christ) we are saying that he is the one who will save the world. We are saying that he will be Lord over all we do. We are speaking the truth that through Jesus we have direct access to God. We are declaring that we will follow him no matter what.
It takes a lot of trust to call Jesus Messiah and to live as though we believe it. And yet, that is exactly who Jesus is – the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ.
Who do you say Jesus is? If he is the Messiah – then how is your life going to be different today?
Today’s Prayer
God thank you for your son Jesus. May we live our lives in ways that acknowledge that he is the Messiah. Our Lord.
Amen
Leave a Reply