Who do we say Jesus is? Mark 8:27-3

Mark 8:27-38 Gospel reading for Sunday 16th Sept 2012

There are essentially three parts to this week's reading:

1. Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Messiah (from v 27)
2. Jesus predicts His death (from v 31)
3. The way of the cross (from v34)

For the sake of this reflection however, I want to simply focus on one simple thread from the first part of the reading. Jesus asks His disciples the leading question: "Who do people say I am"? They try to cover all bases  by giving a variety of responses. Jesus then moves the question to another level. He narrows down the target, with the very specific question ... "But what about you, who do you say I am"?

On several occasions during the past five years when working with staff groups I have used a translated version of this question:

But what about you NEV, who do you say I am?

But what about you [insert your name here], who do you say I am?

This is a very critical question for us today. How do we answer? Can we immediately respond with the boldness, surety and confidence of Peter ...'You are the Messiah' ? (Or in Matthew's version: You are the Christ the Son of the living God")

How do we view Jesus today?

Is Jesus God?

Is Jesus who He says He is?

Is Jesus Lord?

On a few occasions with staff groups, I have conducted a secret ballot using a 'voting slip' in the form of that included at the start of these reflections (above). I have asked people to choose TRUE or FALSE to the statement 'Jesus is Lord'. I have prefaced the voting request with comments like ... you can vote however you wish ... don't feel under pressure to vote how you think you should vote... this is your 'conscience vote'... you can vote informal if you wish ... you can leave your voting slip unmarked if you a have any degree of uncertainty. I have also emphasized that I had no intention of making a big deal about the results ... this was simply an invitation to indicate how you feel about the validity of the statement 'Jesus is Lord'. 

Later I would quietly check the ballot results. On the three or four occasions when I have conducted the secret ballot ... guess what? ... absolutely 100% TRUE responses every time. Not once has there been an abstention or any FALSE votes. I suspect that the vast majority of us in Lutheran schools would be comfortable with marking our ballot paper with a TRUE response ... but that it is only half the deal!

What does this mean for us that Jesus is Lord?  This is no ordinary statement. It is a big call to say Jesus is God. We in fact also say YES to the whole of God's story with His people, as unfolded in the Bible. This is HUGE. How do we respond? This should be a WOW response! (We might call that a worship response, to praise and thank God for what He has done for us.) When we really 'get it', the natural progression then is that there will be an automatic desire to look beyond our own interests, to look out for the well being of others and to spontaneously want to show people Jesus! 

Blessings,

Nev