The Journey: Offers and Answers the Question 3-26-2020
By Dean Foster
March 26, 2020
The Journey: offers and answers the Question
. . ."Who do the crowds say that I am?"
19They replied, "Some say John the Baptist: others Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."
20"But what about you?" he asked, "Who do you say I am?"
Luke 9:19&20
Welcome to the Journey.
When the body of Jesus was safely tucked away in the borrowed tomb, the chief priests and temple authorities must have let out a sigh of relief. The dangerous, radical Nazarene and the threat he posed to the status quo had been put down; and with him any risk of uprising by his supporters. Their leader dishonored, he could disappear and be forgotten. Even his closest followers had scattered like cowardly dust into the mass of humanity that presently filled Jerusalem. The movement he started would quickly fade as Temple worship went comfortably back on track.
Luke tells us Herod Antipas (the ruler of Galilee and Perea during all of Jesus' lifetime) heard about all that was going on. He would have been keen to the reports of mass healings, the dead being raised, and word of some new leader and his followers performing these miracles. Luke 9:8 tells us that Herod is the first to ask, "Who, then, is this I hear such things about?" He is the first to ask, "Who is this Jesus?" All he had heard was from his crowd of counselors and advisors. He would have called it religious speculation:
- Some say that John had been raised from the dead (v.7).
- Others say Elijah had appeared (v. 8).
- Others that one of the prophets from long ago had come back (v.8).
In his Gospel, Luke tells us what Herod knew and wondered about Jesus in chapter nine, then at the end of the ninth verse he writes, "And he tried to see him."
Now in Jesus' day a King like Herod could do almost anything he wanted to do. If they wanted to see someone, they gave the order and that person was brought before them, it was done. I point that out because of that last remark in verse nine that says Herod tried to see Jesus. I wonder if Luke wrote that to point out the tragic mistake Herod made if he only "tried" to see Jesus!
It is a fatal mistake to ask the question "Who is this Jesus?" and then leave it unanswered for yourself. Herod put it off or let it slip down on the list of things he wanted to do. Seeing Jesus and learning who Jesus was became something Herod would fit in if he could, instead of the absolute life and death matter that it is. Pity Herod for not giving the order to, "Bring that Rabbi or whatever he is before me!" As simple as that, Herod could have changed his eternal destiny. To leave that question unanswered is positively the most catastrophic mistake anyone can make. None of us should rest until we answer the question biblically, factually, clearly and completely.
The priests and authorities had little time to relax before they were shaken by Jesus' return to life. No one saw him leave the tomb, but on the third day from his death and burial he was raised, and for several days after that, he appeared to many of his followers in a way that left no doubt that he was "alive after his passion" (Acts 1:3).
This faith in his resurrection, to which the "Easter event" gave birth, was followed by a renewal of life and power to the movement. Power in which the believers recognized the gift of the Holy Spirit, given just as John the Baptist had boldly promised the Coming One would baptize his people with (John 1:33). Jesus was the Coming One: now, raised and exalted by God, he had poured out the promised gift on his disciples.
The immediate effect of this outpouring was an urge to bear public and personal witness that Jesus, the crucified one, had been vindicated by God and then to proclaim forgiveness and the blessing of the new age that has come for all who turn to Jesus and believe in him.
Many had seen this new Savior beaten and bloody, hanging lifeless on the cross. After those days of renewal when he appeared first to Peter, then the twelve, then to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at the same time, and to James and last to Paul (1 Cor. 15:4) the Spirit moving in and among them brought a large body of believers and followers. They followed what they called "The Way" the way of faith and life taught and walked by Jesus.
The second time the question is asked, Jesus himself brings it to the disciples in Luke 9 when he asks them:
18"Who do the crowds say that I am?"
His men begin by responding the same way the crowd does. They offer that same rounded off answer which is all you ever get from a crowd. Remember that. Some say John; some say Elijah; some say a prophet of old. . . (v.19). Jesus wants more. He presses them for an answer.
20"But you…Who do you say that I am?"
There it is Believer! You read it. The Lord is asking you! Who do YOU say that He is?
The "you" is insistent. The question "Who is Jesus?" has to be settled by every individual person young or old, rich or poor, male or female, none of that matters. We cannot put off, avoid or wait on the question. If you or someone you love have not come to decision about who he is in your life and who he is to them, then literally everything else can wait. Begin and do whatever it takes to find your biblical, factual, clear and complete answer.
When Jesus pressed his men for a personal answer, only Simon Peter answered saying, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Peter knows Jesus and Matthew 16:17 tells us why. In that verse Jesus answers Peter saying, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven."
This tells us that when we know the gospel, when we know who Jesus is, we didn't learn it on our own. We can't find it or learn it on our own. God the Father himself reveals it to us in and through the Holy Spirit. We can't get to know Jesus by listening to men. God must and will teach us by his Spirit and through his Word.
There is something more to add here though. Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ. But he didn't know all of what that meant. Take this lesson to heart. Even when we know all that we know about and of Jesus, there will always be infinitely more to learn and search for. The Lord is inexhaustible and always more than we can conceive of, even begin to ever know. There will always, always be more of him for us to know and to love and to seek and to find for the thrill it is to say again and again, "So this, this is Jesus, this is the one who loves me, saved me and calls me!"
This is the Journey.
