Who Do People Say that I Am?
“Who do people say that I am?”
- Jesus, to the disciples (Mark 8:27)
Ever since Jesus first put this question to His disciples 2000 years ago, people have been steadily coming up with various beliefs about the identity of the mysterious Galilean whose actions and teachings turned the world upside down. Even in Jesus’ day, the disciples revealed how diverse the opinions were.
Some labeled Him a prophet, another miracle-working Elijah, or a new repentance-preaching John the Baptist. Today, the diverse selection of answers to Jesus’ own question has only grown.
People who reject the portions of the Gospels they believe to be historically inaccurate can create virtually any portrait of Jesus they desire. Lately, that has largely been the case in Jesus scholarship.
Some have seen Him as a wandering Greek cynic, completely divorced from His Jewish background.
Others have seen Him as an apocalyptic prophet believing in the imminent end to the physical world, only to be proved wrong by the cross.
Even in the church, some deny His humanity in one way or another, making Him out to be a Superman of the 1st century.
Others throw out His claims to divinity, demoting Him to the position of a marginal only-human teacher about which little historical evidence can be retrieved.
Some scholars throw up their hands in surrender, affirming that we will never know much about the historical Jesus and had just better put our faith in the doctrines of the later church and forget the historical search altogether.
We, as Christians, however, must take seriously Jesus’ question about what others are saying about Him. The fact that He asked implies that the subject was important to Him, whether or not the newest ideas were true or not. Our faith in His God-man identity does not exist in some void, unapproachable to modern skepticism. Faith is not separated from history.
We believe in the actual Person who walked the shores of Galilee 2000 years ago. Our compass lies in the God-inspired Jesus biographies written by the witnesses to His glory. And this same Jesus calls us to evaluate the other opinions regarding His life.
written by Trevin Wax. copyright © 2008 Kingdom People Blog.
Related Articles:
Why the Search for the Historical Jesus Matters 1
Why the Search for the Historical Jesus Matters 2
Book Review: The Gospel of Thomas
Trevin:
I’ve always found it interesting that people try to reduce the “Who do people say that I am” question to a single answer, and the problem may lie precisely in that attempt. If we could broaden our thinking and see how and in what sense Jesus was a man, a prophet, the Messiah, and the embodiment of the Living God, we would come a long way toward understanding the Christology of the earliest church.
By the way, belated congratulations on yet another excellent interview with Bishop Wright.
Grace and Peace.
Comment by Raffi Shahinian — May 5, 2008 @ 8:51 am
Raffi,
Interesting comment. Especially because Peter gave a single, correct answer and Jesus seemed to respond that his answer was indeed correct. In fact, it could only have been from God. I would say the single answer God gave Peter is the correct answer. You sound like a postmodern Emergent guy, I don’t know if you are, but they are never happy with the ‘right answer.’ “There must be more” they say.
Matt
Comment by Matt Svoboda — May 5, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
Matt,
Postmodern?…no. But I agree with its critiques of modernity. I’d call myself post-postmodern.
Emergent?…I prefer “emerging,” and I think we should all be emerging, in one way or another, always.
As for Peter’s answer, “You are the Messiah,” he was absolutely correct, and his answer was from God…in the context of the time and the place that they were in. It would take some more happenings, a different context, for Peter to come to understand that Jesus was more…that He was God incarnate. That would take a crucifiction and a resurrection.
Peter had to become emergent, based on the ever changing context of the question.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
Comment by Raffi Shahinian — May 5, 2008 @ 8:37 pm
Raffi,
Good response…
Matt
Comment by Matt Svoboda — May 6, 2008 @ 7:31 am
Matt,
Thanks.
And completely off topic, I know, but for anyone who wants to win a free DVD of I Am Legend, play the “I Am Legend/Gospel of Jesus Christ compare/contrast”-game here.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi Shahinian
Parables of a Prodigal World
Comment by Raffi Shahinian — May 6, 2008 @ 1:32 pm