The I AM

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE I AM

 

Luke 9:18-22

18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" 19 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." 20 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God." 21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." 

NIV

Luke simply tells us once, when Jesus was praying in private, while Matthew records this conversation took place when they were at the region of Caesarea Philippi. When we consider this place, which we had the opportunity to visit, we saw the ruins of a temple that Ceasar built for himself, who was a man that wanted to be a god, along with what was once a temple to a man made god named Pan, who it was said to be a god who wanted to be a man, for his image was that of a man. This bears greatly on the question of Jesus when he asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am”? As we ponder this question, and verbalize it, the place that we put the emphasis makes the question more meaningful. Because they told him who the people thought he might be, putting the emphasis on the words, “I am” puts the question exactly where it should be, rather than making the words, “Who do you say” the more important ones. However, in some sense that is also important as it is important to Jesus, they see him for who he is. This brings us to the same question. Who do we say Jesus is? Peter’s answer was correct, in that he said that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ of God. We would think that all of us believers know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the anointed one of God, sent to save us from our sins, taking them to the cross. We also would know that which he warned them not to tell anyone. We all would know that he did suffer many things and he was rejected and was killed and rose on the third day, which is why we celebrate Sunday as our Sabbath. We serve a risen Savior, one who went back to the right hand of the Father and is always,  or consistently interceding on our behalf. It is not that God the Father needs Jesus to always remind him of what Jesus did for us, or that if Jesus stopped asking the Father to forgive us, that our sins would be then held against us. It is simply that Jesus is back where he always was before he came to earth to die for our sins, setting us free and giving us eternal life. All is as it was in the beginning when we, who are now in Christ, like Adam was supposed to be, a man without sin who would live forever. The difference being, we are seen as holy and righteous in the eyes of God because we are in Christ, and one day we will actually be like Adam was supposed to be, sinless and eternal beings, living in the Paradise Jesus has prepared for us, walking with him in the cool of the day, which will always be the perfect day because God will be the Light. All this is because we know who He is, The I AM.