Thoughts on Luke - Day 39

                                    
                                          Luke 9:18-26




 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
¹⁹ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
²⁰ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah."
²¹ Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²² And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.


       "Who do you say Jesus is?" - is still a relevant question 2000 years later. Some say He is a mythical character. Well... there is more documentation out there from extra-biblical sources that He did exist, than any other historical figure. Not only that but look at the calendar - B.C. and A.D. Seems pretty clear that not a whole lot of thought went into that view of Jesus. Some say He is a good teacher or prophet. The problem with that is that a good man would not claim to be God - that would make Him an egomaniac, crazy, or a liar - and it's doubtful that a liar would take that lie all the way to a cross. Plus, He proved He was God by (vs.21-23) predicting His death, including how he would die, and that He would come back from the dead 3 days later and pulled it off.

     We have to consider the fact that He just might be the Son of God sent from Heaven to save us. This is what Peter came up with but as we see from other passages, even that conclusion was arrived at with the help of the Holy Spirit. But even in that answer, I wonder what he meant by Messiah. After all, the predominant view was that a Messiah would come to deliver God's people in a physical, earthly way rather than a spiritual, heavenly way. Peter, as seen in other gospels, actually rebukes Jesus when He talks about being captured and dying. That was certainly not in the Messiah's agenda, he thought. In the last few verses Jesus explains that, yes He has come to deliver, but it is a different kind of deliverance. It is a deliverance of the soul. It comes when one quits living for self and dies to self and lives for Jesus.

       As I recall the parable of the soils a few verses back, the difference in the soils stems from who they think Jesus is - this very question that Jesus asks them. Those that don't believe that He is God are the path. The conviction of the Holy Spirit does not get through to them. Those that believe that He is God, died for their sins and trusted Him for forgiveness but are still living for their own agenda, are the rocky or thorny soil. Peter is an example of this. He sees Christ as an Earthly benefactor and Jesus says that until you see that it is all about Him and not about us, we can't be His disciple. We can't be a follower of Jesus like that because we are actually asking Him to follow us.

       Have you understood this yet? This is what repentance is - an about face following Him rather than asking Him into your heart and continuing to live for yourself asking His divine blessing. That kind of salvation is no salvation at all. That is why the road is so narrow. Are you on that narrow road which goes against the flow and everything that the world is telling you?

        Lord, it is a daily dying to self I must experience because I keep wanting to get back on the throne. Forgive me! I surrender to You again today. Amen