Who Do You Say I Am?

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?

Mark 8:27-30

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"  28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

NIV

It is plain that most of the people really did not know who Jesus was, except Peter nailed it. But why did Jesus not want his disciples to tell anyone that he was the Christ? Did he want people to figure that out for themselves? It seemed as though people were more likely to think he was someone who came back from the dead, then being the Christ. Why did he allow them to go on thinking like that? We may never know the answer to that question, but what appears to be a truth we can hang our hat on is that we should not be concerned who others think Jesus is, but know in our hearts that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. There are people today who recognize the fact that Jesus lived in those times, but that he was simply a great man, a prophet, a teacher of love, or someone other than the Christ, the Son of the Living God. There are people who try to model their lives after Jesus, living a life of love, but do not accept him as their Lord and Savior. Some people incorporate the teachings of Jesus with the teachings of Muhammad, Gandhi and Mao, all men who lived and died. They cannot accept that Jesus is alive and well at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We must never allow any of their thinking to infiltrate into our hearts and mind, because we know Jesus is the Christ. It would seem that Jesus has told his disciples not to tell anyone, but then why do we try to tell everyone? True we were told to go into the entire world and preach the Good News. So how can we go tell, and yet not tell anyone who Jesus really is? Perhaps the point is no one will believe another person about Jesus, but has to be convicted by the Holy Spirit, lead into the truth about Jesus by the Spirit and accept the truth about Jesus deep within their own spirit. We know that is how Peter knew from the account in Matthew. Jesus responded to Peter’s statement, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. It seems it matters not what men say, but people will only see Jesus for who he is, when it is revealed to them by the Spirit of God. So should we just keep quiet? It seems not, but we should know that it is the Spirit of God who reveals the truth about Jesus to all men. We cannot convince anyone, nor should we allow anyone to convince us of their way of thinking. What we can do it tell them what has happened to us, and allow the Spirit of God to do what he does, reveal the truth about Jesus. Let Jesus ask the question, “Who do you say I am?”