Jesus asked them a question, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"
--Matthew 22:42
It is an interesting turn of the tables. Different religious groups with different beliefs and agendas have been peppering Jesus with testing questions. They try to trip him up. They try to prove themselves right and justified.
The problem? The Author of Life doesn't stumble. (He is undefeated in Bible Trivia.) And try as we might, we fail miserably when we attempt to compare our religious righteousness with his blazing perfection.
Having patiently listened and answered, now Jesus asks a question. He could have scorched them at a cellular level or done an Indiana Jones face-melt at their audacity and false piety. But he listened. As wrong as these men were, Jesus was about to face the cruelty of the cross for them (and us). As unlovable as self-righteousness can be, he loved them.
So he asked them a question. What do you think about the Christ...?
I'm drawn back to a similar question Jesus asked the disciples one day. Walking along he asked the group what the people were saying about him - who they thought he was. Then (in my mind's eye) he stopped and faced them. With eyes that had seen the sudden birth of a trillion stars he looked into their fiber, and asked, "Who do YOU say that I am?"
It is really the ultimate question with which we must deal. Who is this Jesus? I want to follow up with, "And what difference does it make?" But the second question is completely unnecessary and irrelevant. Our answer to the first is everything.
Jesus cannot be placed in a pile of powerless religious figures. Nor can he be simply a good man, teacher and role-model. His claims about himself rule these out. He must either be discarded as crazily dangerous or he must be bowed to as King of Glory.
What do you think of the Christ... Who do you say that I am?
God, you are King of the Universe; you are my friend.
For now...
D
The problem? The Author of Life doesn't stumble. (He is undefeated in Bible Trivia.) And try as we might, we fail miserably when we attempt to compare our religious righteousness with his blazing perfection.
Having patiently listened and answered, now Jesus asks a question. He could have scorched them at a cellular level or done an Indiana Jones face-melt at their audacity and false piety. But he listened. As wrong as these men were, Jesus was about to face the cruelty of the cross for them (and us). As unlovable as self-righteousness can be, he loved them.
So he asked them a question. What do you think about the Christ...?
I'm drawn back to a similar question Jesus asked the disciples one day. Walking along he asked the group what the people were saying about him - who they thought he was. Then (in my mind's eye) he stopped and faced them. With eyes that had seen the sudden birth of a trillion stars he looked into their fiber, and asked, "Who do YOU say that I am?"
It is really the ultimate question with which we must deal. Who is this Jesus? I want to follow up with, "And what difference does it make?" But the second question is completely unnecessary and irrelevant. Our answer to the first is everything.
Jesus cannot be placed in a pile of powerless religious figures. Nor can he be simply a good man, teacher and role-model. His claims about himself rule these out. He must either be discarded as crazily dangerous or he must be bowed to as King of Glory.
What do you think of the Christ... Who do you say that I am?
God, you are King of the Universe; you are my friend.
For now...
D
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