Jesus-Who He Is

Who do you say He is?

Today's reading brought me to the New Testament and the book of Matthew, chapter 16. In this chapter, the Pharisees and Sadducees are after Jesus to show them a miracle to prove who he is. Jesus then accuses them of following the weather signs, but ignoring the signs of the times. He tells them that only a faithless person would ask him for a miraculous sign. Then later on, Jesus asked his disciples who he was to them, and Simon answered that he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter right there- which means rock, and promised him the keys to Heaven. Peter needed no miraculous signs to tell him that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, instead, he trusted in his Faith that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

It is strange to really think about it. Jesus is a perfect God. Yet Jesus was also a perfect man with the needs and human nature that we have. He was born as a human baby and raised in a normal, God loving family. But he is still a perfect God. He still faced temptation from the devil just as we do all the time. Let's think about Jesus growing up. When he was 12, he stated that he knew he was the Son of God, yet he still went back with his parents and lived the life of a teenager, and stayed away for another 18 years. He was under the authority of his parents, while also under the authority of God. But how did he know that he was the Son of God? How did he know this to be the truth? Only his relationship with God could have proven this to him.

At some point in his life, Jesus knew without doubt that his role on earth was to heal the relationship between God and man. That relationship that was destroyed so long ago with the creation of sin, and he was on earth to restore it. That was the whole purpose for his life, so that he could die for our sins. He died so that we could have a relationship with God. He died specifically so that I could get to know God and have a personal relationship with him. Wow. I know we hear that so often, but how often do we actually sit and reflect on that. Jesus was much more than just a holy man who died in a horrible manner. He was God and Man, and he alone made us able to walk with the Lord. It would do us well to remember Peter and his revelation that Jesus IS the Messiah, the Son of God.

The next four days will also be more about Jesus and who he is. Claire has graciously offered to share more about the names of God, and I look forward to that. Liz- have you done any studies or classes on the names of God? It would be awesome to have the views of a Bible Scholar on them.