The Most Probing Question

They had been with Him for three years. And their eyes saw what you and I often wish we could see—incredible, deniable miracles. Stone deaf ears touched and a new world of new sounds for people whose old world had been silence. And oh those glassy stares from unseeing eyes of the blind, and that same touch and word of authority that transformed lives that lived in blackness to the ecstatic wonder of sight in living color.

It was awesome what Jesus pulled off for three years—some 1000 days—in the sight of that small band of brothers. Walking on water so that Peter, James, John and crew would learn that with Him in charge nothing would drown them in defeat and take them from His presence. When He spoke life back into dead corpses and commanded demons to leave their screaming victims and go back to hell where they came from, the terrified disciples might have wished that diapers for adults had been invented by that time. The wonder and terror of it all!

But now it was time for Jesus to ask them some probing questions. He knew the cross was just ahead, with His death a certainty. And they, along with some faithful women, would be the ones He would leave behind who would flounder, flee and fail—and then stand up and shake the world. “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?”, He asked. The brothers rushed to answer. “John the Baptist. They think he’s risen from the dead, and you’re him.” “No,” interjected another; “Many more of them think you’re Elijah.” “Well”, said another disciple, “I heard another group say you must be Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. They were really shook up—scared—while trying to figure you out.”

Jesus had heard enough. He knew He had all their attention and that it was the perfect time to ask the most probing question of all. “But who do you say that I am?”, He asked as He looked right through their skins into their souls. Were there a few seconds of silence while the gravity of that question sank into their minds, minds now sharpened and alert to the moment? Or did dear, impetuous Peter answer immediately? One thing is for sure; Peter, who would later flash his sword and chop off a man’s ear, had his own flashing moment—the flash of instant, life-changing revelation straight from the unseen God. “You are the Christ,” Peter told Jesus, “the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16)

Jesus was pleased. He knew that in spite of all their future failures and sins, they grasped the unchanging truth that He was and is the Son of God and Savior of all mankind. Now you and I hear Him ask that same probing question: “Who do you say that I—Jesus Christ—am?” I have given my answer: “You are who You said You are. Please forgive me for all the sins in me that have broken Your heart and save me to be Yours alone.”

What is your answer? “Jesus was a good man,” you say. Or maybe “a prophet.” Or “a good teacher.” But, my friend, if He was only that, He would be a liar. Because He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And He proved it by rising from the cold and dark tomb. Now He invites all—Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, agnostic, atheist, materialist, rich, poor, man, woman—to ask Him to guide them to the truth. He lives so that you might live—forever!

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras