Matthew 16.15-16 NLT
Then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Caesarea Philippi is located at the base of Mount Hermon in Northern Israel and, for centuries, had been associated with the worship of various gods. At first it had been a centre for the worship of Baal, but in the time of Jesus it was associated with the worship of the Greek fertility gods and of Caesar. It was, therefore, an absolutely natural place for Jesus to ask questions about his own identity. He enquired of the disciples who people were saying that he was and he got a wide range of responses. Some thought that he was a revived form of John the Baptist. Others thought that he was Elijah, believing that this great prophet of the Old Testament would return before the coming of the Messiah. And yet others thought that Jesus was Jeremiah or one of the other great prophets. Basically, there were lots of different theories and no general agreement about who Jesus was. But Jesus then turned the spotlight on the disciples themselves. Who did they think he was? Not surprisingly it was the ever enthusiastic Peter who got in first and who declared that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
If you were to ask people in the street today who Jesus is you would also get a very wide range of answers. Many people who never darken the doors of any church have a very positive view of Jesus. They know that he was a thoroughly good man, that he healed many people and was a powerful teacher. But most people would hesitate to call him the Messiah or the Son of God. You would get lots of different answers. But there comes the time when the spotlight lands on you and me. We need to respond. We need to declare who
we think he is. We can’t hide any more. And the answer to our question is all important because if we conclude that he was merely a very fine teacher and a remarkable healer, we can consign him to the pages of history and forget about him. But if he was truly God in human form, the very Son of God, then that needs to change every aspect of our lives. We need to hang on his every word, and bring our lives into line with his teaching. And we need to stand at the foot of the cross on which he died and praise him that through his death for us we can find freedom from our sin, and life that will never end.
Question: Who do you say that Jesus is?
Prayer: Lord God, we thank you for sending your Son into the world to be our Saviour, our Lord and our Friend. Amen

Released on 24 Mar 2022