Who do you say that I am?
Speaker: Mick Bartlett
Date: Aug 29, 2010
Series: Road Trips
Key Passage: Mark 8:27-30
In the middle of Mark's gospel, Jesus asks his disciples a question on which the whole narrative turns, "But what about you - who do you say that I am?"
Perhaps even today, there is no more significant question for Christians to be able to answer for themselves than this. Who do you say that Jesus is? And does your life demonstrate your answer?
Everything that has happened up to this point in Mark has been in anticipation of Peter's confession that follows - "You are the Christ" and everything that happens after it can be seen as Jesus fulfilling the role of the Christ - the Jewish Messiah.
But what did it mean for Jesus to be called Christ? And why did he choose the very strange place of Caesarea Philippi as his setting for the command to his followers to "take up their cross and follow me?”