Who is Jesus Christ?
Many people have an opinion today on who Jesus Christ is. I have heard everything from "enlightened being" or "space alien" to just "a good man." But he is not subject to those opinions.
Reading Luke 9 today.
"Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"
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."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Luke 9:18-19 (NIV)
And there it is, where the rubber meets the road. Jesus doesn't really respond to what the people think, he asks his disciples what they say.
After Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah (and Jesus tells Peter that God himself revealed this truth to him,) Jesus moves on from there.
Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?" Luke 9:24-25 (NIV)
Saying Jesus was a good man or a space alien doesn't require anything after that. Because anyone who has come to those conclusions has not had Jesus revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. And perhaps that is why people are comfortable in that ignorance. To accept Jesus is to change the path of our lives. Like the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30), those people encounter Christ but do not want to pay the price to know him for who he is.
However, for those of us who know Jesus as the Christ, we must recognize that our life is no longer our own.
"Who do you say that I am?"
How do we answer that question? Does our life show that we truly have accepted him for who he really is?
