As I finish reflecting on Matthew 16, I come back to the most important point of the entire chapter.
It's where Jesus asks His disciples a fascinating question:
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” — Matthew 16:13
The crowds respond:
John the Baptist.
Elijah.
Jeremiah.
One of the prophets.
And what’s interesting is that they weren’t entirely wrong.
John represented boldness and truth.
Elijah represented power and miracles.
Jeremiah represented compassion and sorrow.
In many ways, Jesus embodied all of those things.
But … He was infinitely more.
The crowd was partially right—and completely wrong.
Because Jesus did not come merely as another prophet.
He came as the Messiah, the Christ.
The Son of the living God.
And we see so many people still make the same mistake today.
We create versions of Jesus that fit comfortably within our own preferences…
A political Jesus.
A therapeutic Jesus.
A prosperity Jesus.
A social justice Jesus.
A revolutionary Jesus.
A motivational Jesus.
Everyone wants a Jesus made in their image.
Very few people want the real Jesus.
This also reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ famous “trilemma.”
Jesus did not leave us the option of calling Him merely a good moral teacher.
A man who claimed to forgive sins, receive worship, judge the world, and exist before Abraham—by no means—a wise teacher.
He is either:
A liar.
A lunatic.
Or He’s precisely who He claimed to be:
Lord.
The crowd had opinions about Jesus.
But eventually Jesus turns the question around and asks:
“But who do YOU say that I am?”
And that remains the most important question any human will ever answer.
Because our eternity doesn’t hinge on who the crowd says Jesus is.
It hinges on who He is and our acceptance of Him.
— Drew
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