In Matthew 16, Jesus asks His disciples an important question: “Who is Jesus?” He starts off asking them how other people answer that question, and then He drills down to them: “But who do you say that I am?”
This past Sunday at the Super Bowl, I saw something that I’ve seen happen many times before – generational lines went up around the Super Bowl Half-time show and this guy named Kendrick Lamar. Everyone at the student Super Bowl party here at church here knew who Kendrick Lamar was and I think a few were eagerly expecting his half time show. But then I saw other people complaining on social media, “Who is this guy?” I’m sure that in a few households there were teaching conversations about who Kendrick was, why he had “a beef” with another guy they may not have heard of named Drake, and various other points.
Jesus isn’t like Kendrick Lamar. The most isolated person out of any generation is still going to know who Jesus is – but they may not answer the “who is He?” question the same. Some will respond that Jesus is their Savior – someone sent to save them from sin. Others will say, “Jesus is my Lord,” bringing more of an acknowledgment of the authority of Jesus and their obedience to Him. Others will say that He is a teacher of love. Others will say that He was simply a religious revolutionary. Some people will say things that are correct and incomplete. Other people will say things that are misunderstandings of who He is.
All of this means that just like after the Super Bowl, we get to have conversations about Jesus. I’ve seen and heard conversations about Kendrick after the big game (maybe because the game itself wasn’t much to talk about), and it makes me wonder about how we have conversations about Jesus. Maybe we just need to ask Jesus’ question to our neighbors: “Who do you say that Jesus is?” and then see how the conversation flows from there. We may even have the chance to confess like Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”