Who do you say I am?
The words of question to Simon Peter, to the disciples … to us all, encapsulate the most important question ever asked.
Who we say Jesus is determines our relationship with him, our eternity.
If we call Jesus a great teacher (which is true) that simply means that we relate to him on an intellectual level.
If we call him a great healer (which is true) then we relate to him as one who can fix our physical bodies.
If we call him a great counsellor (which is tru) then our relation to him is just as one who we can tell our troubles and to whom we can hand over our anxieties.
If we call him Creator (which he is) then we relate to him as a cosmic genie or chess player, moving his creation to a fro in an effort to win with the most players standing.
But …
if we call his father, then he is one who gave us life.
if we call him Lord, then he has a plan and we are part of it.
and if we call him Saviour, Redeemer … then he is the only one who could open heaven’s gates to us both here on Earth and in heaven … and he did so at a cost that was ours to pay, not his.
Jesus, on his last night with the disciples said (John 14:6),
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
But, he didn’t stop there, he continues (v.7),
“If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Jesus is reminding his disciples (and everyone who has read these words, including you and I) that Jesus and God are one and that he has access to the power of heaven. Actually, Jesus goes on (v. 12) :
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these …”
What?!
We, who believe in Jesus as our Redeemer, can do even greater things than him?!? People, we cannot forget who Jesus is … what he has done for us … how that impacts our lives.
Just a few years after his life was threatened by a bullet intended to kill him, Pope John Paul 2 said,
“We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!”
It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that gives us life, through which we share in his power and victory.
People we may have very real struggles, we may have very real fears and sorrows … but we serve the one who has beaten death. It doesn’t matter if this Pandemic continues for years, or if is all a conspiracy … if we call Jesus our Saviour, “Allelujah is our song.”
“Who do you say that I am?”
Jesus
“We do not pretend that life is all beauty. We are aware of darkness and sin, of poverty and pain. But we know Jesus has conquered sin and passed through his own pain to the glory of the Resurrection. And we live in the light of his Paschal Mystery – the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!” We are not looking for a shallow joy but rather a joy that comes from faith …” Pope John Paul 2
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