Mark 8

Sunday, 22 February 2009

Mark 8: 27-30

Who is Jesus?

In this passage, Jesus’ identity is hotly debated. Up to this point, we have found Jesus to be very popular with crowds – from chapter 1 up until this point, He constantly finds himself followed and people beg things of Him – even when He goes to Tyre and Sidon in chapter 7, people still flock to Him – even if they’re not even Jews! People don’t know who He is, but they want to.

That hasn’t changed.

In Jesus day, everyone had an opinion. Maybe he’s one of the prophets of old, maybe He’s the greatest prophet – Elijah reincarnated, maybe he’s a bit of a nutter like John was – who is Jesus? People don’t know, but they spend time debating it and coming up with their own theories.

People still do that today – some say he’s just a great philosopher, some say that he’s just a nice guy who did some cool stuff, some say he was a charlatan, some think he’s the figurehead of a movement that deified him after death – nothing’s really changed in 2000 years – people are still asking this massive question. Who is JESUS?

No one on Earth has been debated, argued over, deliberately ignored, loved or hated as much as Jesus. No book has been stolen, burnt, destroyed, banned, loved, treasured, or translated anywhere near as much as the Bible. Whether people like it or not, Jesus directly affects their lives in simply astounding ways. Jesus’ followers have shaped and reshaped this world and this culture so much that we couldn’t possibly imagine what it would be like without Jesus.

So who is Jesus?

If we continue to build on what we’ve already learnt, Jesus used a particular phrase several times in Mark 4 ‘if they have ears to hear, let them hear’. He’s saying if you’ve been granted the knowledge of who I am, then you will know me for who I am.

It's important to remember that it is by the grace of God that we are granted the wisdom to see Jesus for who He is. 

Today, many people get confused as to who Jesus is. We said this earlier. But one of the most common misconceptions of Jesus is caused by an ancient and deadly disease. Allow me to explain;-

I have had many conversations with people who respond to the claims of Christ with one of, some of or all of the following 'Why would God, if He's good as you say, allow people to go to hell?', 'I can't accept that God would punish people for not believing in Him', 'If God is love, then he would consider being gay okay, as long as you love the other person', 'God would want me to be happy, surely? If living with my girlfriend is making me happy, then that's what God would want'...

There are many, many examples like this, and I've waded through a lot of difficult conversations because of one ancient, difficult and deadly illness that the human race has suffered from for many, many millenia, and that disease is Pride. In 1 Timothy 3, where it discusses the qualifications for eldership and deaconship, it refers to pride as 'the condemnation of the devil'. And that's what it is - it's the same condemnation that Satan fell into - he became proud and wanted to be like God (as it says in Isaiah) and wanted to become greater than God. 

Today, many people have a similar attitude, and so when you ascert something that they don't like, the assume that God's on their side - even if God's Word contradicts this. Many people today have put themselves above God in their own estimation, and this means that they determine what God is like because rather than them being God's, they are making god into theirs. And I intended that last lower-case g.

But hope is far from lost! Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 clearly states that there is nothing new under the sun. And here in Mark 8:11-13, we have the Pharisees demanding a sign from Jesus. If we scan up a little, we find that Jesus just fed 4000 people using less food than it would take to fill an average Morrison's hand-basket. 

I sit here reading this verse and I'm screaming at the pharisees 'HE JUST FED 4000 PEOPLE! WHAT MORE OF A SIGN DO YOU WANT?' The issue here isn't that Jesus doesn't provide signs and wonders - He does it all the time, the issue is that Jesus won't perform the signs and wonders that the Pharisees want. 

Jesus isn't being the god that the pharisees want. He's being God. And this confuses them. 

So who is Jesus? Is he a character in a book on your shelf that you don't read? Is he a tinpot god that you chuck pennies at when you remember, is He a genie who grants your wishes, or is He the Almighty King of All, our Lord, Saviour, Redeemer, Author of our Faith and High Priest. Is He the Lamb that was slaughtered for our Sin, Is He the Lion of Judah and the King of Glory? Is His name to be High and lifted above all other names? In short, is this Jesus GOD in your life?

And yes, this is a big question. Because it will determine what you do with your life. It will also determine what you do with your death.