Messiah

One of the most striking things to me as I read the Gospels is how people weren’t sure if Jesus was the Savior promised by God. We, thousands of years and countless stories later, of course know that Jesus is who he said he was, the Messiah who became human and died for our sins. But in real time, when Jesus was living among them, many people were confused, or even skeptical.

Just before Jesus asks Peter one of the simplest, yet most profound, questions in the Bible—“Who do you say I am?”—his disciples told him that the prevailing theories on his identity were John the Baptist, Elijah, or a resurrected prophet. Despite having witnessed or at least heard about a series of miracles Jesus had already performed—calming a storm, restoring a demon-possessed man, bringing a young girl back to life, healing a sick woman, feeding five thousand men with two fish and five loaves of bread—the “crowds” did not know, or believe, who he was.

Their myopia is easier to understand when you consider what they were expecting. While opinions about the Messiah varied, the general expectation was that he would be a ruler with military power to overcome Roman rule. This humble servant from Nazareth who healed and forgave and told them to love their enemies didn’t fit their predetermined notion of the Messiah.

That makes Peter’s answer so striking: He had no hesitation calling Jesus who he was. “God’s Messiah,” he said, leaving no room for interpretation or argument. With two simple words, Peter showed his courage and faith. It’s also fitting that it was specifically Peter who answered. Luke tells us that during this conversation Jesus’ “disciples were with him” and presumably all of them there heard his question, but Peter was the one who responded. Peter, who would later deny knowing Jesus during his most trying time. Peter, who rebuked Jesus when he revealed that he was going to be crucified. Peter, that most flawed and honest and human disciple—it was he who had the courage to call Jesus, the Messiah.

It’s a uniquely human—and perhaps American—tendency to be forever searching for the next thing, to forget to appreciate small miracles and moments of joy that God provides for us daily. One thing I’ve started doing to combat this shortsightedness is, every night before I go to bed, intentionally thinking of one thing that made me smile that day: a conversation, an unexpected funny moment, an act of kindness. We are sometimes so distracted—or even blinded—by our expectations of what life should look like that we can forget the most fundamental truth of Christianity: Jesus is the Messiah. Peter said it. Will we?

Reflect 

As you reflect on today’s devotional, listen to the song, “King Jesus”while you answer this question:

Would we recognize Jesus’ power in our lives today, or like the crowds, are we waiting for something better to come along?