There’s a fundamental problem that we all have to deal with. By “fundamental,” I don’t mean that this is the only question we have to answer. My point is that this problem is so important that if you’re wrong, being wrong in most things that are really important. The fundamental question is this famous question Jesus asked the disciples of Caesarea philips: “You, who do you say I am?”(Mk 8:29).
Some will be surprised that Jesus asked this question. The fundamental question for Jesus is not “Who are your parents?”, “Do you have an open mind” or “What will you do for me?”The fundamental question is what you believe in. Jesus is interested in faith and begins with doctrine.
- Not long ago.
- As I walked down a bridge near our church.
- I saw graffiti that said.
- “I don’t need religion.
- Do I have a conscience?I can only imagine what this graffiti artist was trying to say.
- But I think he (or she) admits that religion is just a trick for people to reorient and behave better.
- For him religion is nothing more than a moral code to do good and who needs a religious code.
- With all its rituals.
- Institutional complements.
- If they are aware?.
However, the graffitiman did not understand Christianity. The fundamental question for Jesus is not “Will you do what I want you to do?”, but “What do you say I am?”Is it the whole result of a correct understanding of Jesus?Not just what he taught or what he did, but who he is.
Jesus initially asked the disciples, “Who do men say I am?”(Mk 8:27). In other words: What do you hear people say about me, what do they say on the streets?The disciples gave three answers: “Some are convinced that you are John the Baptist; others think you’re Elijah. And are there others who are unsure and think you are one of the prophets?That’s impressive. These people recognized that Jesus was a man who taught the way of God, a leader who remembered God’s people. They knew that Jesus performed miracles like Elijah, spoke with authority like the prophets, and had disciples like John. Calling Jesus “one of the prophets,” after four centuries of silence after Malachi, is an impressive statement.
However, the crowds were very wrong. Jesus is not one of them; He’s the. Jesus is not a sharpener like John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets. He’s the point. It seems very noble to call Jesus a prophet, a popular teacher, a wonder, a good man, a brilliant example, or part of a long list of enlightened people; however, all these descriptions are false as to who Jesus is. of them, you say that Jesus is one of them (see verse 28). And if you say that Jesus is just one of them and not him, you don’t understand, you don’t realize who He really is. Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16).
You may think you are saying additional things about Jesus when you call him one of the prophets, a great man, or an enlightened teacher. However, you don’t really complete it. It’s like saying that the sun is one of the many lights we use to light up the house, that Michael Jordan was playing basketball for the Bulls, or that Barack Obama has a house in Chicago. These statements are all true. But they’re also wrong because they don’t say enough. The sun is the star of our solar system. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Barack Obama is the president of the United States Unidos. Si doesn’t say these things, he’s not saying what’s really important. By not saying what’s most important and unique, he’s actually saying something misleading.
When it comes to identifying Jesus, partial truths that ignore the bigger truth end up lying. It is true that Jesus is a prophet (Mark 6. 4; Deut 18. 18). But he is not like John the Baptist. Jesus is not another Elijah. He is not just one of the prophets. Jesus is the one to whom all the other prophets have pointed. Therefore, to call Jesus a prophet and nothing more than a prophet is not to understand, at the deepest level, who this man is. If you described your wife as “one beautiful woman among so many beautiful women in the world,” as “a person I deeply respect?” Or how? The latest in a long list of women I loved? Would your wife be satisfied? Of course, no. You would have rejected it with little praise, you would have insulted her for diminishing her uniqueness and describing her in terms well below what she deserves.
Therefore, reject all these illogical descriptions that Jesus is like Muhammad, like Buddha, like the Dalai Lama, Gandhi or his pious grandmother, does not look like anyone else. Therefore, let us not be impressed when someone calls Jesus a good man, an enlightened man, or one of the prophets; is not one of them, but the One.