He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. Luke 9:20
A story is told of a time when the professional golfer Steve Ballesteros was playing in the Irish Open Golf Championship at Portmarnock. One evening after play, he showed up at the club house. The doorman, zealous to enforce club rules, informed Ballesteros that he could not enter because he was not wearing a tie. ‘Do you know who I am?’ Ballesteros asked. The doorman replied, ‘Yes, but you must still wear a tie.’ ‘But I am the greatest golfer in the world,’ declared Ballesteros. ‘That may be,’ the doorman replied, ‘but you still need to wear a tie to enter the club house.’ ‘Look,’ Ballesteros retorted, ‘I could buy this club house, and this entire club if I wanted to!’ To which the doorman responded, ‘In that case, you can afford to buy a tie.’ We chuckle and suggest the doorman could have cut the famous golfer a little slack. But at least he recognized him for who he was. Most people today don’t recognize the Lord Jesus for who he is. But a small number of us do.
The disciples had just told Jesus that some people considered Him to be a reincarnation of John Baptist or Elijah, or another of the old prophets. There are differing opinions today about Him as well. To some, He is merely a swear word. To others, He is only a religious figure from long ago. Yet others regard Him as a famous teacher. Religious systems often regard Him as some form of obscure figurehead. Moslems deem Him to be just another minor prophet. The cults declare Him to be less than what the Word of God declares Him to be. But our text indicates that the Lord Jesus is not so concerned about what other people think of Him; He is vitally interested in what His own think of Him. When He asked, ‘but whom say ye that I am’, He was looking for an answer that would reveal their appreciation of Him. So if we turn the question to ourselves, how do we answer it? If someone came up to you today and asked you who Jesus is, what would you say?
Peter gave a good answer. Without prompting or discussion, he replied, ‘the Christ of God’. We could repeat that answer, but the Lord Jesus is not looking for parrots. He is desiring us to respond from our own hearts as to our understanding and appreciation of His person. He wants us to accept what the Word of God has to say about Him, in its prophecies and illustrations in the Old Testament, in its descriptions of His life and death in the Gospels, in its proclamation of His majesty and glory in the epistles and in the Revelation. The more we know and appreciate the Word of God, the better our answer will be to the question.
Tell me, Who is the Lord Jesus? What is His importance to you? -Jim MacIntosh