WHO IS THE SON OF MAN TO YOU?
Jesus asked his disciples two questions when he was with them in the region of Caesarea. The first question was directed to the people outside his circle, hence he said, “Who do men say that I am?” After they answered him, he redirected the question this time to his inner circle. “Who do you think I the son of man am?” Jesus asked his closest followers. This interaction shows us a certain number of things.
The world has always been divided into two poles; the believers and the non-believers; those on the outside of Jesus’ influence and those on the inside of his influence; those that are close to him and those that aren’t. The scriptures use the expressions Jews and gentiles to adequately show this dichotomy. There are those that are in Christ and there are those that aren’t. There are those that are in Adam and there are those that are in Christ.Those that are in Christ’s inner circle have a different understanding of who He is than those that are without. Those outside have a view of Christ that’s formed by a combination of cultural, geographical, economic, health, philosophical, psychological values and even twisted scriptural interpretations in some cases. Those not close to Christ thought that he was John the Baptist, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Herod actually believed that Jesus was John the Baptist who had risen from the dead (Matthew 14:2). Some perceived him merely as the carpenter’s son, the brother of James, Judas and Joses (Mark 6:3). Others still viewed him as a maniac, a drunk and a glutton and a demon possessed man.Some of these views were extreme while others were closed to the truth. But none of them was completely right and correct. 2+2=4. If one gave 3 as the answer, he would be very close but still be wrong. Their view of Christ came from MEN.
Those in Christ’s inner circle had a view of Christ that was inspired by God Himself. Their understanding of who Christ is came from God. Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Son of Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” This means there is a view of Christ that comes from man, the flesh and one that comes from God. You either have one or the other. You can’t have both.
LESSON
We live in a society that is culturally Christian in many aspects just like the society Jesus and his early disciples lived in considered themselves close to God. But just like them we fall short in our understanding of who the Son of Man really is. Some people hold views of Christ that are dangerous and extremely far from scriptural orthodoxy while some hang on to theories which when considered could be said to be close to truth are also very wrong. This is because nearly true doesn’t make it so as a close enough answer doesn’t make it correct either. It is either what we believe about Christ is true or it isn’t. Our zeal and zest in holding our beliefs do it make it true. The way we articulate it or its longevity does not make it true either. Truth is only true if it comes from God. And God has revealed its truth in his word, the Bible. Any truth about Christ that we hold which isn’t from well contextualized and interpreted scriptures cannot be from God.
How do you view Christ? Who do you say He is? Is your conclusion in agreement with the truth that God has revealed about him in the Scriptures? Is he the Christ the Son of the Living God? Or have you had some adds-on attached to your view of him?
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