When Jesus asked this question of his disciples, there were many questions being asked about this man named Jesus. Many knew him as the son of Joseph and Mary, the carpenter of Nazareth near Galilee. The disciples repeated what they had heard from others: you are this, that, or the other. But, Simon, son of Jonah, said something important.
“You are the Christ. The son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16.16)
Why is this statement so important? It is important for several reasons. First, let us start with what Jesus said regarding it. “No one flesh and blood told you that, but my Father in Heaven did.” (Mt 16.17) It was important to everyone that Simon (Peter) heard God (Jehovah Elohim) and responded on what he (Simon) heard. That is significant. Jesus said he only did what he saw his Father do and only said what he heard his Father say. (John 5.19) It was important because Man was listening to God for answers to questions. The key is ‘listening to God’.
Why else was this important? God through Simon was confirming in everyone’s hearing that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the prophesied Anointed Salvation of God’s people who is in fact Emmanuel, “God with them”.
Why else was this important? The Messiah’s time was now! The rest of the events are written in the Gospels of the Bible, describing who Jesus was, what happened, and what he did.
Now to our time: we have the same question in two forms. First, who do we say Jesus is? Second, who do others say Christians are?
Every generation, well actually, every person must answer this question for the individual: Who is Jesus? The difficulty in answering that question in the modern world is a significant lack of Judeo-Christian theological training. The Jews in Jesus’ time were all trained in Hebraic theology; some much more than others. All knew about God as YHWH (I AM), El Adonai (Lord God). The modern world does not have this basic understanding or training. We who are in Christ or in Abraham must teach those who are not; especially to those who are in Christ. The questions to be answered are: who is God, who is the Messiah, why is there a Messiah, who is Jesus and why do we need him?
My observation of today is that people do not see a need for God or for Jesus. Jesus in the minds of many is the religious figure of Easter and Christmas. Jesus and those ‘holidays’ are ridiculed often. The word “god” has been so diluted as to mean nothing reverent. The ignorant in Judeo-Christian theology think that every time the word “god” is used is a reference to the Judeo-Christian, biblical God. How can the miss-users know they are miss using the biblical name? They do only by the stirring up of the ignorant “Christians” who do not understand their own theology. How can anyone respond as Simon Peter today if they: one, do not know who God (YHWH) is and two, do not know who Jesus is?
Here is the question that caused this whole line of thinking: who do others say Christians are?
It is a very good question to ask “Christians.” You see, in Antioch during the dispersion of the early Church the disciples began to be called Christians. (Acts 11.26) Not by themselves, no. They were called Christians by others in Antioch. What does that mean? It means the others in Antioch (Romans, Greeks, other Asians) were casting derision on those who followed after Jesus Christ. Christian means ‘one who is like Christ.’ It caught on. Those who earnestly sought to live as Jesus taught them to live took it as a badge of honor to be compared with Jesus, the one who gave them so much.
Here is the question, again, stated differently: are you so like Jesus and following after his teachings that others would identify you as a ‘Christ-follower’, a Christian?
We can call ourselves whatever we choose. It does not make it accurate. In much the same way that the word ‘god’ has become so diluted, the word ‘christian’ has become diluted. It barely has meaning outside of churches, certain ministries, certain businesses, and certain schools of theology. ‘Christian’ has nearly become a byword for hypocrite and religious first, human second; one who holds others to a standard that cannot be met and is not met within their own self.
There are too many who think that they are ‘christian’ because they attended a church in their youth, or grandpa started it, or some other relative was this-that-or-other denomination. Being Anglican-Catholic-Orthodox-Baptist-Methodist-Nazarene-CoC-DoC-AG-CoG-CoGLDS… etc … does not make you a ‘Christian’. According to the Judeo-Christian Bible, there is only one way – so live your life as Jesus taught that the others see you are one identified with Christ.
Now, how do you do that? Read your Bible. Do what Jesus said do. Do that earnestly, honestly, and you will confuse all those around you, because you look and act more like Jesus than any modern ‘Christian’ they have every known.
Let me leave you with this one thought: We should be so bold as to ask the world, who do you say that I am?
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