I'm pretty sure that just about all of us have heard countless sermons, studies, and Sunday School lessons about the time when Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do the crowds say I am?" And then he made it personal by asking, "But what you about you? Who do you say I am?" (Lk. 9:18, 20) And as we're often told, that's one of the key questions in the life of faith. Our relationship with God isn't based on knowing the right answers that other people give to religious questions, but on the answer that we give about Jesus and who we think he is.

 

But as today's word from Luke 9 reminds us, the answer that we give about Jesus needs to be grounded in his teaching about what his life and ministry were for! Because no sooner had Peter accurately answered that Jesus was God's Messiah than Jesus went on to clarify what being the Messiah meant: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law," he said, "and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (9:22)

 

In other words, the "right answer" about Jesus isn't just that he's anointed by God for power and glory, but that his power and glory get expressed through suffering and sacrifice. And that's so important, because—in his very next breath—Jesus went on to make it clear that giving the right answer about who he is also gives us the right answer about who we are meant to be: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." (9:23-24)

 

So today, let's believe the right answer about who Jesus is. And let's live the right answer about who Jesus is, as we follow him in the way of the cross. Amen. 

Alex L. Martin

Rev. Alex L. Martin, Pastor

Calvary Baptist Church

314 S. Franklin Rd.

Mount Airy, NC 27030

336/786-4778 (Office)

336/745-5803 (Cell)