Who do you say I am?

 Matthew 16:15-16 (NLT)

15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

This question follows this discussion with the disciples. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Simon Peter was quick and answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Messiah is a Hebrew term and Christ is a Greek term, both meaning “anointed one”. Peter knew Jesus to be the anointed savior of man.

[John Lennox (an author and professor of mathematics at Oxford University) tells a story about touring Eastern Europe and meeting a Jewish woman from South Africa. The woman told Lennox that she was researching how her relatives had perished in the Holocaust. At one point on their guided tour, they passed a display that had the following words written on it: Arbeit macht frei" (or "work makes free"). It was a mock-up of the main gate to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The display also had pictures of the horrific medical experiments carried out on children by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. At that point of their tour, the Jewish woman turned to Lennox and said, "And what does your religion make of this?"

I said, "You know that I am a Christian. That means that I believe that Yeshua is the messiah. I also believe that he was God incarnate, come into our world as savior, which is what his name 'Yeshua' means. Now I know that this is even more difficult for you to accept. Nevertheless, just think about this question—if Yeshua was really God, as I believe he was, what was God doing on a cross?

"Could it be that God begins just here to meet our heartbreaks, by demonstrating that he did not remain distant from our human suffering, but became part of it himself? For me, this is the beginning of hope; and it is a living hope that cannot be smashed by the enemy of death. The story does not end in the darkness of the cross. Yeshua conquered death. He rose from the dead; and one day, as the final judge, he will assess everything in absolute fairness, righteousness, and mercy."

There was silence. She was still standing, arms outstretched, forming a motionless cross in the doorway. After a moment, with tears in her eyes, very quietly but audibly, she said: "Why has no one ever told me that about my messiah before?" [John Lennox, Gunning for God (Lion, 2011),]]

If someone were to ask you who is Jesus, who would you say He was? For those who are not Christians the answers would be varied. He was a good man. He was a role model for other. He was a persecuted man who was crucified. He was a teacher to many.

Yet Jesus was much more, He was The Christ, The Messiah, the one appointed to save the world from sin. It is through Christ that we can be reconciled with God. It is through Christ that we can share our burdens, problems and difficulties and Christ will help shoulder those afflictions. Christ loves us and gave His life for us. Place your faith in Christ and develop and real and meaningful relationship with Him. Then if someone asks who Jesus is, you will have intimate knowledge about Him.