Who Is He?

And He asked them, saying,

"Who do the crowds say that I am?"

Peter answered and said,

"John the Baptist,but some say Elijah;

and others say that one of the old prophets

has risen again."

He said to them,

"But who do you say that I am?"

Luke 9:18-20, NKJV

People have always had funny ideas about Jesus.  Even those who knew Him during His earthly lifetime didn't always fully understand who He was.

When Mary & Joseph found him sitting in the temple reasoning with the teachers of Israel, He said, "Didn't you know I would be about My Father's business?"  And they didn't understand what He meant.

John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the one coming after him, whose shoelace he wasn't worthy to tie.

Some called him a Samaritan, the illegitimate offspring of a wayward Jewess and her foreign lover.

Others called him the carpenter's son, and brother to better men.

Those same brothers called him crazy.

His disciples marveled at his miracles and wondered who he really was.

The Pharisees called him the son of the devil.

The High Priest called him a blasphemer and a revolutionary.

Pilate called him innocent of their accusations.

One called him a good teacher.

Of Himself, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.  I am the bread of life.  I am the giver of living water.  I am the doorway of safety.  I am the good shepherd.  I am the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to God.  I am the true vine.  I am the resurrection and the life."  He called God his father, and said, "I am God's son."

And in spite of everything he said and did, people still did not understand who he really was.  When Jesus asked his disciples what people were saying about him, they presented all kinds of theories.

You're John the Baptist, back from the dead.

You're Elijah, back from heaven.

You're Moses, or the prophet Moses promised.

You're Isaiah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets of old, also back from the dead.

And then Jesus asked the most important question of all.  "But who do you say that I am?"

Ask ten random people on the street that question, and you could receive ten different answers.

A good man.  A good teacher.  A Jewish revolutionary.  A myth.  An ancient philosopher.  The founder of one of the world's great religions.  A liar.  A lie.  I remember hearing about a poll of school children once who said they thought Jesus was a religious figure who lived about the same time as George Washington.

One time in ten, you might get the right answer.  Like Peter, who almost always said the wrong thing, except for this one time, when he blurted across the campfire, "You are the Christ of God!"  It's recorded slightly differently by Matthew, where Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!"  Either way, Peter was making a bold profession of belief.  For Peter, the term Christ meant the anointed, chosen, and sent servant of God who came to redeem the nation of Israel, deliver them from their oppressors, and establish the kingdom rule of God on earth.  His confession was this:  that Jesus was the One Man all the prophets had been talking about, the savior, the deliverer, the king.

Who do you say that Jesus is, today?  You can think him a good teacher, or a great man, or the greatest conman in all the world.  But I tell you, he is the Son of God, and if you put your trust in him for salvation, you will have eternal life.