(Text and Audio)
Title: The Great Confession, Part One
Part One: The Question
- “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
Who does Jesus mean when he says, “Men”? (Take answers)
Men: The general population. Others. Outsiders. Jews? Gentiles? Pagans? Anyone who is NOT a disciple.
So he begins this great conversation with Jesus separating humanity into two distinctive groups: Men and Disciples. Those who know me, and those those who don’t. Or, those who know me, and those who THINK they know me.
And one of the big questions that we’ll be answering over the course of the next two weeks is this: How does one come to that knowledge. How does one go from a “man” to a “disciple”?
Do you find it interesting, like I do, that Jesus, in asking this question, refers to himself as the “Son of Man”?
I think it’s interesting for at least 2 reasons:
- “Son of Man” can either mean a normal human being OR the prophesied eternal Messiah. So it’s almost like Jesus is using a pun here. In other words, Jesus is asking a question within a question. He’s saying, “Okay, so nobody has a problem calling me the Son of Man…but what you do you think the Son of Man really means?”
- In the New Testament, “Son of Man” refers exclusively to Jesus. So you could read Jesus’s question like this, “Who do men say that I, the Messiah, am?” In other words, there is potentially another question within the question again. And this question goes like this, “Who (or what) do men say that the Messiah is?”
Part Two: The Answer
The Disciples seem to show no hesitation in their answer. They seem to have a very firm grasp of the various theories of Jesus’s identity that are floating out there, some of these theories have probably even been discussed amongst the disciples themselves as they wrestle with this question.
They give three specific answers:
- John the Baptist
- Elijah
- Jeremiah
Now, in a minute, we will discuss these three suggestions separately, but for now I want to begin with this question: why these three? What do these three men have in common that might lead men to conclude this is who Jesus is?
- They are all Prophets
- They all fought against the systematic religion of the day.
- They all called the children of God to repent.
- They were all loners.
- They all had powers.
- The Religious leadership feared them and persecuted them.
- Others?
Now let’s look for a moment at these conclusions individually.
John the Baptist: The way information travelled, the way stories were told, especially over long distances, it might be easy to confuse these two, or meld them into one character. They were about the same age, said a lot of the same things, it’s reasonable to assume that they might be one in the same.
Elijah: There is something specific about Elijah that makes him a good candidate to be mistaken for Jesus, anyone know it? (He never died).
Jeremiah: I have a theory about why Jeremiah was also a good guess as to the identity of Jesus, and it has two parts. One is quite obvious, the other is more subtle. Any guesses?
- He was young.
- The things he predicted came largely true in the time immediately preceding Jesus’s arrival.
Part Three: The Most Important Question in the History of the Human Race
“Who do you say that I am?”
Anybody catch it? Listen to what Jesus asks again.
“Who do you say that I am?”
The connection is un-missable. He is now interested only in the disciples conclusion. The evidence has been laid at their feet. They’ve walked with him for over a year now. They’ve seen things that are unexplainable by natural law.
They’ve seen him challenge the religions of the day. They’ve seen him heal Jew and Gentile alike, all the while, praising faith and keeping his own identity a mystery. And then he connects these two worlds.
You.
I am.
This is the most important question in human history. Who do you say that Jesus is? Not “Did he exist?” Not “Was his life story exaggerated?” Not “Am I a good person.” Not “Is heaven or hell real?”
But rather, “Who do you say that Jesus is?”
Our job is to show the evidence and testimony of both Scripture, and our lives. He is Jesus’s story, and here is what it has done to me.
Now, who do you say Jesus is? What is your confession.
Next week we will examine both Peter’s bold response and Jesus’s fascinating and insightful reaction to Peter’s boldness, but for today, I want us to dwell here, in this place, recognizing that every human being in the history of creation falls distinctly and fully into only one of two categories:
Men and Disciples
And the difference comes exclusively from how we answer this one simple question.