Our last question in the series is one of significant quandary. It doesn’t so much have a RIGHT answer as the answer itself determines everything.
Who do you say I am? This is the question Jesus posed to his disciples after some deliberate conversation about what other people are saying regarding Jesus around town.
To really let this take hold of us, we need some perspective. So, Let’s do a little brain bender:
What do a ski rope, a book, and a barbell have in common?
If you said a CrossFit Games podium winner, you’d be correct. You probably didn’t but that’s ok.
Logan Aldridge was 13 years old when he had an accident while wakeboarding. The ski rope got tangled in the propeller and happened to be around his arm. When the motor violently ripped the rope tight and sucked it up, it severed Logan’s arm down to the bone causing him to lose his arm just below the shoulder.
While riding in the ambulance, he asked his mom, “What if I lose my arm?” To which she replied, “Logan, it’s just an arm.” And from that point on he has lived a life more alive than many people with two arms. Since then, he and his mom wrote a book, he is a frequent speaker in many arenas, and he has taken 3rd place in the CF Games in the male adaptive division.
So, what’s this have to do with Jesus or us?
Here’s the Jesus connection: Jesus asked his disciples what others were saying about him. They replied with a variety of answers they’d heard. “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or another one of the prophets” (Matt 16:13-20).
Then he turns and puts the question to them, “What about you, who do YOU say I am?” A kind of ‘ski rope, book, and barbell’ question to which the answer was not necessarily readily accessible.
Peter jumps in and gives a response that Jesus declares is a good answer, for sure, but no way did Peter come up with it on his own. Jesus points out that it was something revealed to Peter by the Holy Spirit.
Unless you spent any significant time following the CrossFit games and specifically the adaptive men’s division, or someone else told you, there is no way you would have pulled the name Logan Aldridge out of the air and answered correctly our riddle. The disciples were in the same boat with Jesus’ question yet, Peter had the answer.
It’s interesting that following this big reveal and even spectacular prophecy for Peter, Jesus warns the disciples not to tell anyone. I mean, wouldn’t this be the biggest and best news of the world? Like if you were friends with Logan and he was crowned the 3rd fittest male with some physical upper body handicap, you would want to post that all over, selfies included.
But, Jesus didn’t want the disciples to do that. Here’s why, I think. The truth that Peter shared was a point of personal revelation as he was pursuing a relationship with God. The Holy Spirit brought this awareness within Peter’s own spiritual journey.
Now, obviously, there had been substantial evidence provided and information received to help him get there, but at some point, it became real; it became a personal conviction, no longer speculation.
So, what am I saying today? I can tell you all about who Jesus is to me, and I will, if you ask, and it’s important that I know the answer to that. But it’s only through a constant pursuit, continuous struggle, and careful exploration of my own, that the Holy Spirit has moved me to a deeper understanding of the infinite, mysterious, and omniscient Creator of the Universe as God pertains to me!
This question is so significant, but the one asking it of you is NOT me; it’s Jesus.
So, as we come out of Easter, and continue down the road, I simply bring the question before you: who is Jesus to you? I’m praying that even as you read this the Holy Spirit would speak to your heart and reveal a deeper truth to you for your faith journey!
May you discover truth and may the truth set you free. (John 8:32)
#WhoAmI
#Jesus
#ChickenAndTheEgg
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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