Written By Ben Dankaka
Meditation – Matthew 16:13
one day He asked His disciples, “Who do people say I am?” At that time, He was already well-known. His disciples and the crowd had heard Him preach the gospel. They had also seen Him perform miracles. No doubt, they were convinced that Jesus was a man of God because He did what could only be done by someone who had the anointing of God. He was not just like the kind of religious leader they were familiar with. They knew there was something different about Jesus. So when Jesus asked the question, the responses He got were, “Some say, John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets”.
Notice that their responses, gave the impression that the people thought of Jesus as a prophet. But they were wrong. Interestingly, even his disciples who were close to Him didn’t know who He truly was except Peter. But as Jesus commended Peter, He quickly told them that it was God who revealed the truth to him. In other words, there was no way, Peter could have known who Jesus was if it had not been revealed to him by God. As at the time that Jesus was on earth doing the work that He was called to do, many people, including those close to Him, didn’t know who he was.
If I were to ask you the same question, “Who are you?” You would probably tell me your name, your background and what you do for a living. These things do not define who you are. If they do, the right question to Jesus’s question would have been: You are Jesus, son of Joseph, the carpenter who has now become a prophet. But all of those things do not tell us who He really was. Although, His name is Jesus, raised by a carpenter named Joseph, in actual fact, He was the Christ – the Savior of the World. Though, he performed miracles, He wasn’t just a prophet. He was Christ because that was what defined His earthly purpose. Knowing Jesus as Christ makes us recognize Him as the messiah – the redeemer of the world.
In the same way, what you are currently doing for a living may not necessarily define who you truly are even though it might give us a clue. Like in the case of Jesus, your name or your background does not define who you are. Similar to what happened to Jesus, the people around you may not know who you truly are. Your family, teachers and friends may not even know who you are. What people think about you doesn’t matter. Just as knowing who Jesus was had to be revealed by God, knowing who you truly are can only be revealed by the same God. So if you don’t know who you are, then ask God.
Prayer: Lord, reveal who I am to me. Amen.
REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Matthew 16:13-20
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.