Almost 2000 years ago in a city called Caesara Philippi, Jesus of Nazareth posed a very important question to his followers.

“Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”

The response of Jesus’ disciples proves that there were many different opinions about Jesus and His true identity.

“Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus turns the question to them. “But whom say ye that I am?”

Wow! Just pause right there for a minute and consider the gravity of that question. 

These men had been walking with Jesus for some time now. They had heard His teachings and seen his miracles. Sure, other men had varying ideas of who this carpenter from Nazareth really was, but Jesus wanted to know what those who knew Him best thought.

As was often the case, Peter spoke first. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus was very pleased with this answer and pronounced a blessing upon Peter. Peter answered correctly, he had it figured out.

Or did he?

The Bible says after this conversation that Jesus began to show His disciples how He would have to go to Jerusalem to suffer, be killed, and be raised again.  

Who do you think the first disciple to speak up was?

If you said Peter give yourself two points. It worked for him last time, what could go wrong? He even rebuked Jesus, saying, “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” And in just a few verses Jesus goes from saying to Peter,  “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona…” and  “...thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church…”  to “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

Ouch! 

Maybe Peter didn’t know Jesus as well as he thought. Sure, his previous answer to Jesus’ question was absolutely correct, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, but there is a lot contained in those words, “Christ” and “Son of the living God”. 

The point I'm trying to make is that we can know Jesus and have a lot of the right answers concerning him and still miss things. That’s what this blog series is about. “Who is Jesus?”

I’m convinced that a lot has not changed over the past almost 2000 years. If you asked this question to 100 random people you would get many different answers. Some would probably be right while some would likely be wrong. But this series is not about Jesus’ first question to his disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” 

Put yourself in the disciples’ shoes and imagine Jesus looked you in the eyes and asked, “But whom say ye that I am?

What would your answer be?

Why would that be your answer?

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series, “What’s in a Name”.

God bless!