Who do you say that I am?
“He said to them, but who do you say that I am?” Matthew 16:15
In Matthew Chapter 16 we read that Jesus is preparing His disciples for some of the things to come. In the first 3 verses of this chapter He has dealings with the Pharisees and Sadducees (religious rulers) who are questioning Him and trying to get Him to give them a sign from heaven, hoping to get Him to say or do something that they can use against Him. Then Jesus warns the disciples that a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall be no sign given to them but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Which is a comparison picture of Jonah in the belly of a whale for three days and the savior in the tomb for three days. He further warns them of the Pharisees and Sadducees and their false teachings.
The scripture then tells us (16:13) that Jesus is in Caesarea Philippi. From here He will begin His journey to Jerusalem and the cross. But, before He embarks on this journey, He needs His disciples to understand a couple of things. He needs them to understand who He is and what He is about to do. So, He asks them “who do men say that I, the Son of man am?” They reply with who people are saying that He is…John the Baptist, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Then He asks them….But who do you say that I am? Peter responds, rightly, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
If you did some research, you would find that there are many names for Jesus, i.e. Emmanuel, Lord, Master, Son of God, Son of man, etc., etc.. These names are from scripture and they are designed to describe the many facets of our Savior Jesus Christ. Each one telling of another beautiful attribute of our precious Lord.
I did a women’s study once, on the names of Jesus and I was overwhelmed by the adoration that welled up within me, at the understand of each name.
Knowing what you do about Jesus, if someone asked you “who is Jesus?” what would you say? Would you say that He is a good teacher, some people would say that. Would you say that He was the son of a carpenter, some people would say that too. Would you say that He is the Son of God? You would be right if you said any of these three things.
The big question is, would you say that Jesus is Lord of your life?
It doesn’t matter whether you think of Jesus as a Teacher, son of a carpenter, Healer, Mediator or The Good Shepherd. He is all of those things. But it does matter whether you would call Him Lord.
Even if you call yourself a follower of Christ, if He isn’t the one you look to for Leading, if He isn’t your comforter, if He isn’t the one who directs your path, if He isn’t the one that you model your life after, if He isn’t your comforter, peace and strength, then you need to repent and give Him Lordship over your life today.
If Jesus is already Lord of your life, but you have begun to take some of the control back and begun to lean on your own strength and understanding, relinquish that control. Give it back to the one who loves you and came to give you life, a life of abundance. Repent and be renewed and revived!
I pray that today, you would go to Jesus and search out whether He is truly Lord of your life. I pray that you would be able to answer Jesus question by saying that He is LORD! Lord of my life and Lord of all!
Have a great day,
Luv ya!
