Who do people say I am? Mark 8. Matthew 16.

Who do you say I am?

The Apostle Paul, while he still went by his Jewish name of Saul, was sent by the temple authorities to Damascus to arrest those of the Way, as the followers of Jesus were known at that time. As he got close to the city, a brilliant light flashed around him and a voice called out saying, “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” To which Saul replied, “who are you, Lord? To which the Lord replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

It's a key question for anyone who encounters Jesus at the beginning of their life of faith in him. Who are you, Lord? Jesus has called you and you want to know who he is. In any relationship at its beginning, you want to know who the other person is. The same question came to my mind one evening when I was praying for a friend of mine. At one point during that time, I received what might be described as the classic Ah moment, eyes opened, ears tuned in, someone had spoken. In my quest to know more about the one who had spoken, I set about reading all I could about Jesus. I went round to my friend’s flat to tell her all about Jesus is Lord. But although she could see something had happened, what I was telling her largely went unrecognised.

The point is, the recognition of Jesus as Son of the Living God cannot be appropriated by human means. It is a supernatural gift given for the purpose of bringing you into a relationship with Jesus. This is made clear by Jesus himself.

In this morning’s reading from Mark’s gospel, and in its parallel in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, who do people say I am? They answer, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets. In other words, the some-sayers don’t know. They can’t recognise Jesus for who he is, let alone give a committed answer to the question. And here is the reason why.

It’s personal: who do you say I am? The “you” is emphatic in the original Greek text. Peter declares, you are the Christ the Son of the Living God. And here’s the rub: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. In other words, the knowledge you have been given about who I am is not of human origin. It is a supernatural gift from God the Father so that no one can boast about it being their own achievement on their own merits.

You see, God is a god who wishes to make himself known. God is a god of self-disclosure. As the letter to the Hebrews says, God has spoken to us in many and various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by a Son. Our God is a speaking god. That is how he reveals himself to us. And from that, two questions arise: who do you say Jesus is, and what do you want with him? Do you want relationship, or do you want religion? The reason you are asked those two questions is because Jesus died on a Roman cross to bring you into a relationship with him. He did not die for religion.

The great Billy Graham proclaimed a message of relationship with Christ, and hundreds went forward each time to receive Christ into their lives. There was nothing religious about it.

The difference between religion and relationship goes like this: two men went to church one Sunday. One was a lord of the manor, the other a poor homeless addict. The lord of the manor stood up front and prayed, I thank you God I’m not like that homeless addict. I’ve kept the rules, done the right thing, in church every Sunday, I’m a good person. So now I claim my reward of blessing from you. Whereas the homeless addict sat at the back, eyes cast down and cried, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. He was the one who went home justified in the sight of God. The homeless addict wanted relationship with God; the lord of the manor wanted religion.

Christianity is not a religion. It might look like a religion and is often treated like one, but it is a relationship with the living God, who loves us so much that he was prepared to die for our sins through his Son, Jesus Christ, to bring us home to him.

All sorts of people came to Jesus for various reasons: a Canaanite woman who wanted her daughter healed; a rich young man who wanted eternal life on his own terms; a chief tax collector called Zacchaeus. Each one was tested with the same question amounting to, what do you want with me?

The Canaanite woman was challenged. In a nutshell, she was called a Gentile dog not fit for the children’s crumbs. But when she confessed, I’d rather eat the crumbs that fall from my master’s table, she demonstrated an intense desire for relationship with Jesus. And she prevailed. Her daughter was healed at that very moment. The rich young man was challenged to give up his material attachments and follow Jesus. He couldn’t do it. He wanted the religion of law keeping, not relationship. Zacchaeus wasn’t going to let anything obscure his desire for a relationship with Jesus. That’s why he climbed a tree to get a better view of his heart’s desire. And Jesus was welcomed into Zacchaeus’ house.

Compare that with the Pharisees who rounded on Jesus for being a law breaker. Their faith was in religion and it got them nowhere. Did not Jesus say when they asked him for a sign, why does this generation (meaning they, the Pharisees) ask for a sign? No sign will be given. In other words, if your faith is in religion and not in me, you will never see me for who I really am.

Now, there is another point about what it takes to enter into a relationship with Jesus. Jesus taught that whoever wants to be his disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

When Jesus told his followers that their lives of being his followers meant they had to deny themselves, he was not giving them a piece of friendly advice. It was a command, as the original Greek text shows. If you want to be in a relationship as my disciple, you must put away your old life, your former slavery to sin, living for self and your old ways, and give yourself over to me.

Let me illustrate it this way. I watched the wedding of Mary Donaldson to Frederick of Denmark. I recall how Mary’s father led her up the isle and handed her over to her husband into a new life. She left behind her old life and entered a new life in covenant with her husband. She is now under his care and authority. And Frederick left behind his old life when he accepted Mary.

Life in Christ is a new life. We must accept Christ and hand ourselves over to him. We cannot enter our new life in Christ while still shackled to our old life, any more than Mary Donaldson could enter her new life of marriage with her husband if she remained under her father’s roof in her old life, or any more than Frederick could enter his new life of marriage if he couldn’t accept Mary.

There are just two things you take with you into eternity when your time on this earth is finished: your relationship with God, and how you have treated other people, who are also made in God’s image same as you are. Everything else counts for nothing. Money, power, rank, ambition, the idols of life, are worthless in the Kingdom of Heaven. Give them up, for you cannot serve two masters.

So, who do you say Jesus is, and what do you want with him? Relationship or religion? By faith we enter relationship; by works we perform religion.

As I invite you to consider your answer, I encourage you to keep in mind the story of the blind man who sat by the side of the road, and when he heard Jesus passing by, he cried, Son of David have mercy on me. Jesus asked him, what do you want me to do for you? What do you want with me? It’s an extraordinary generous open question from the master. The blind man chose relationship. Lord, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

In other words, the blind man, because he cried out for mercy, which is the first utterance of a desire for relationship with God, received not only his eye sight but also his insight. He recognised Jesus as Son of the Living God and followed him as a true disciple leaving behind his old way of life.

Philip Starks
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