“Who’s Jesus?” That’s the title of this whole series of sermons from Mark’s Gospel. Just who is Jesus Christ? We are now just half way through this Gospel and that is the question Jesus asks his disciples.

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

In his own time people had different ideas about who Jesus really was. Everybody recognised that Jesus was different. He was special. But just who was he?

28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

People today have different ideas about who Jesus was. A really good person. A great example to follow. The greatest moral teacher who ever lived. A Hero. A healer. A prophet delivering God’s messages maybe? The best friend anybody could ever have.

Napoleon Bonaparte (cited by Vernon C. Grounds, The Reason for Our Hope) said this about Jesus.
“I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity…. Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by Himself. His ideas and sentiments, the truth which he announces, His manner of convincing, are not explained either by human organization or by the nature of things…. The nearer I approach, the more carefully I examine, everything is above me — everything remains grand, of a grandeur which overpowers. His religion is a revelation from an intelligence which certainly is not that of man…. One can absolutely find nowhere, but in Him alone, the imitation or the example of His life…. I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”

Napoleon recognised the uniqueness of Christ. And we have seen that in our sermons in Mark. Jesus preaches with a unique authority, not like other Rabbis who quote each other. Jesus preaches on his own authority. “Truly, truly, I tell you!” And Jesus demonstrates that authority by driving out evil spirits. Jesus calms the storm – even the wind and the waves obey Him. He walks on the water and feeds the 5000 with just five loaves and two fishes. And Jesus heal the sick, the blind, the lame, the deaf and dumb, the lepers. And Jesus even brings the dead back to life! Nobody can argue that Jesus was unique.

There’s no shortage of ideas around about who Jesus is. In Bible times the fool said in his heart there is no God. The modern fool shouts it so loud he gets a ten week television series to shout it. Jesus asked “who do people say that I am?” But then he cut to the chase with his next question.

29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Who do YOU say that I am? One of the most important questions any of us can ever answer. Who is Jesus to ME?

29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

“You are the Christ, the Messiah.” In Matthew’s gospel Peter’s answer is even more full.
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The Christ, the Son of the Living God.

For eight chapters Mark’s Gospel has led up to this point. Everything we have seen has been pointing to this one truth. He was indeed the Son of God, God’s Son. Peter the big fisherman is brave enough to speak for all the disciples. He dares to say what they were beginning to realise, that this Jesus they have been following is more than a man, much more than a man, no less than the Messiah the Jewish nation had been waiting for for centuries. And more than that. Jesus was no less than the Son of God!

This is what Jesus claimed for Himself. “I and the Father are one.” All His teaching and all His miracles demonstrated that Jesus was much more than just a wise teacher. He was the fulfilment of all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. He was more than a man. He was God made man, Immanuel, God with us.

Peter was the first of the apostles to express this faith in Jesus as the Son of God. When we recognise who Jesus really is, everything changes!

To the doctor He is the Great Physician.
To the educator He is the Great Teacher.
To the farmer He is the Sower.
To the geologist He is the Rock of Ages.
To the gardener He is the True Vine.
To the jeweller He is the Pearl of Great Price.
To the editor He is the Good News of Great Joy.
To the philosopher He is the Wisdom of God.
To the student He is the Truth Incarnate
To the overburdened worker He is the Giver of Rest.
To the Sinner He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
To the Christian, He is the Son of the Living God, the Savior, the Redeemer and Lord

29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Peter had the right answer! But Jesus had more to reveal about who He was and what his ministry would involve.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

The first half of Mark’s Gospel has shown us who Jesus is. The second half will show us what he came to do. To suffer and die and to rise again after three days.

Recognising that Jesus is the Son of God is only the first step to believing in Jesus. The second step is to recognise what Jesus has done for us by dying and rising again. The apostle Peter had made the first step. But he wasn’t ready for the second.

Not everybody who recognises that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, goes that next stage. Even Peter had problems with believing that the Son of God would have to die! To begin with Peter couldn’t bear the thought that His master and His friend would have to die.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus is the Son of God. That’s the message of Christmas. But many, many people never get beyond the message of Christmas to the message of Easter, the message of crucifixion and resurrection. Even if everything we understand and believe about who Jesus is is correct, we miss the point if we don’t go on to think about what Jesus DID for us and the difference it can make in our lives. Because the heart of the gospel lies in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the Son of God – dying on the cross – paying the penalty for OUR sin. Some people don’t like to think about the cross because it makes them feel too guilty. Realising that Jesus gave his life for THEM, to take away their sin and bring them back to God.

Just knowing who Jesus is, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, is not enough. We have to put our trust in what He accomplished for us through His death and resurrection.

“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asks. And then He asks each of us that vital question.
“What about you? Who do YOU say that I am?”