Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
Raise your hand if you know who Elon Musk is. What about Simone Biles… Taylor Swift… Mr. Beast?
If somebody asks you: “Who is this Elon Musk guy?” How would you answer? How well do you know him? What he values, what motivates him, how he treats people around him? How do you get to know someone you cannot talk to? Well, you read or watch news about them, or perhaps you read their biography.
Now, let’s say you want to know who Jesus is. How do you get to know him? You read his biography in the Bible. In fact, we as a church are going through his biography as written by doctor Luke. And as we have been reading Luke’s account in the past weeks, we see that Jesus is becoming more and more popular. His miracles are mind-blowing. The way he talks, and teaches, and treats people, they all are appealing and intriguing. People want to be around him, they want to listen to him, as they wonder who this Jesus is.
In the passage of today we find Jesus himself asking: “Who do you say I am?”. How would you answer that: “Who do you say Jesus is”? You may not realize it, but this is the most important question you will ever have to answer, and I am not using hyperbolic language, I really mean it. “Who do you say I am?” Jesus is asking you today. As we read Luke 9:10-27, look for answers to this most critical and fundamental question.
10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” 13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
This passage offers two answers to the question “who is Jesus?”:
- Jesus is the Provider who supplies for my needs (v. 10-17)
- Jesus is the Christ of God who suffers and dies for me (v. 18-27)
Let’s start with answer 1, “Who do you say Jesus is?“
1. Jesus is the Provider who supplies for my needs (v. 10-17)
Let’s go back to the beginning of verse 10
10 On their return the apostles told him all that they had done.
As you may recall from the message last week, Jesus had sent out his disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God, giving them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. So they go through the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
Then in verse 10, the apostles return from their short mission trip and tell Jesus “all that they had done”. How the demons submitted to their authority, and how they healed people, both signs of the kingdom of God breaking through.
At that point Jesus takes his disciples away from the busyness, but
11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.
When the crowds follow him, he does not get irritated or angry at them, he does not tell them: “go away, I want to be alone”! He actually welcomes them, and keeps doing the same work he sent his disciples to do, the work that he himself was sent by the Father to do: he speaks to them of the kingdom of God, and cures those who need healing.
12 Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.”
The day is about to expire, the sun is declining, it is getting late and the disciples start getting worried: “Jesus”, they say, “this is a large crowd! It has been a long day, they are probably very tired and hungry and we are far, far away from any Costco or Safeway, there is not even a Wawa around. Send them away so they can sleep and eat.”
Now I do not know how it is for you, but for me being tired and hungry is a really bad combination, it is a recipe for disaster. I get grumpy, irritable and harsh. Having a large crowd with many people getting tired and hungry can get very interesting, so the disciples cry: “Jesus, send the crowd away”
13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”
Sometimes Jesus pushes his disciples over the edge, although always with a purpose. “No”, he says, “let’s not send them away. ‘You give them something to eat’”! And the disciples come back: “Are you out of your mind, Jesus? We do not have enough food! There are barely five loaves of bread and two fish, but what is that for this huge crowd! We will need to go somewhere and buy food for all of them, and this is not a tiny group”
14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 And they did so, and had them all sit down.
Now here the math is presented in a way very easy to understand.
5 loaves 5,000 men 50 the size of each group
We have 5 loaves of bread and 5,000 men, and they all sit down in groups of 50 (5 & 0).
When trying to explain this miracle some people think: “maybe the loaves were really big and able to feed the crowd”. Yes, right! Imagine the size of a loaf of bread that can be divided into a thousand pieces, each piece able to satisfy the appetite of one man and his family. Simple math does not work here, not even with imaginary numbers! (That is a geeky joke!)
Speaking of imaginary, can you imagine how it would be to experience this scene in real life? How would it feel to be with a large crowd, sitting on the field, getting hungry for dinner? I experienced that once. Sort of. Some of you may have heard about this TV series called The Chosen. It is about the ministry of Jesus. There is an episode about the feeding of the 5000 and I was one of the extras in the crowd. I am not making this up. I have pictures to prove it.
[Pictures] Here I am with the crowd. And then with the director and his wife. They are wearing t-shirts with the numbers 5&2, for 5 loaves and 2 fish. I could not get a picture with the actor that plays Jesus, but at least I got one with his double made of cardboard. Overall, it was a great experience to be around a large crowd, with kids, dads and moms, all sitting down in a remote place.
Now back to the real story. If a crowd this size, of 5000 families, is going to be fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish, a remarkable miracle needs to happen!
16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish and looks up to heaven, where his Father is, in reverence of and dependence on him.
Jesus blesses the food, breaks the loaves and gives them to his disciples. There is no hidden trick, no act of illusion. It is all done in front of their eyes. They carry the pieces of bread in their own hands and they distribute the food to everyone.
17 And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
The disciples walk through the field distributing the bread and the fish to the whole crowd. Not to a few, not to some, but to all 5 thousand men and their families. They all eat and get full. Nobody says: “I am still hungry”. They get doubles and triples, until they are completely satisfied. And to top it all, they get 12 baskets of leftovers. Each of the 12 disciples could have taken home one basket.
This is incredible, unbelievable. It is a miracle of epic proportions!
Last week we read that Jesus sent out his disciples saying: “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money”. As Dr. Redd pointed out, Jesus wanted his disciples to trust in the providence of God to supply for their needs. Today’s story reinforces this picture of God as provider, but the passage today explicitly portrays Jesus himself as mediator of the Father’s provision. Jesus and the Father act in unison, miraculously providing for the needs of the people, to fully satisfy their need for food.
“Who do you say I am?”, asks Jesus. Answer 1: Jesus is the Provider who supplies our needs
But our needs go far beyond physical bread and food. That will become evident with answer 2:
2. Jesus is the Christ of God who suffers and dies for me (v. 18-27)
Let’s read verse 18 again:
18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
There is a change of scene. After the miracle, Jesus and his disciples get away from the crowd. Jesus is praying alone, but he is with his disciples and he asks them: “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
The crowds have all sorts of theories about who Jesus is. We actually read last week that Herod, the king of Judea, is asking that question about Jesus: “Who is this?” Some people think he is John the Baptist, but John was beheaded. Some people think he may be Elijah, and others a prophet from old who has come back to life.
20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
Jesus now asks the question directly to his disciples “But who do you say that I am?” and Peter replies: you are “the Christ of God”!
Somehow Peter has this momentary lapse of brilliance. This is the first time in the Gospel of Luke that any of the disciples recognize Jesus as the Christ. Peter says: “You are not John the Baptist, nor Elijah, nor a prophet of old, you are the Christ of God”.
Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah which means the “anointed one”. It is a royal title that links Jesus to king David. Christ is the promised King who is expected to restore the glory of Israel. When Peter says: “You are the Christ”, he probably pictures the promised King who will deliver them from their enemies.
Now, let me ask you the same question: “Who do you say Jesus is?” At the core, who do you believe Jesus really is? Your eternity depends on how you answer that question. Perhaps you don’t even care who Jesus is. Or maybe you think he is just a nice guy, an eloquent teacher, a great example for humanity, a historic figure, a good model to follow.
No, he is not just that! Would you join Peter and declare: “Jesus, you are the Christ of God, the Messiah, the King who will deliver us”
21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,
Why not tell anyone? If he is Christ, the King, why hide it? Why not announce to all: “the King is here, the savior has come to restore the kingdom, to deliver his people”?
Although he is indeed the promised King, he will show the world that his kingdom is fundamentally different from the kingdoms of men. The Christ of God had a conquering strategy that no creature fully understood, a veiled plan of cosmic magnitude.
Jesus continues
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Although he is Christ the King, he must suffer, and be rejected by the religious leaders who were supposed to know the law of God and understand who Jesus was, but they didn’t. They rejected him, they hated him, they made him suffer and ultimately killed him, they executed Jesus on a cross as a vile criminal. Why? Why would the King of the universe have to be crucified and suffer such an unthinkable death? It will become clear in a moment, but for now …
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Let’s assume I believe that Jesus is the Christ of God, the promised King. How do I come after him? How do I become part of his kingdom?
Jesus says: “If you want to come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me”
“Take up my cross daily”? What does that mean?
Perhaps that phrase is not that surprising to you. After all Jesus died on a cross, so taking up yours kind of makes sense, right?
But consider this: at this moment in time, when Jesus says “take up your cross daily” he had not died on the cross yet. In fact, the reference to a cross was really shocking, even disgusting to the original audience.
The cross was a cruel method of execution adopted by the Romans and reserved for foreigners or slave criminals convicted of murder or rebellion.
Both Romans and Jews despised the cross intensely. Romans rejected it for its shameful association with the execution of low criminals. The Jews despised it because a man hung on a tree was considered cursed by God, according to the law.
The words of Jesus would sound like this today: “If you want to come after me, sit on the electric chair daily and follow me”
The electric chair? Why? Why would Jesus ask me to sit on the electric chair daily? The image of an electric chair is not pretty, it is not inspiring, it is not a symbol of selfless sacrifice. It is an extreme and horrifying way of executing really bad criminals. Can you imagine witnessing someone being electrocuted to death? The images that come to mind are repulsive. It is a shameful way to die reserved for people who have been so evil that they deserve to be executed in such an awful way.
Why would Jesus ask me to sit on the electric chair daily?
This is what John Stott says in his book The Cross of Christ:
“To take up your cross is to ‘put oneself into the position of a condemned man on his way to execution’” - John Stott in The Cross of Christ.
I have to admit, I do not fully grasp this. When I think about myself, I do not think that I am so evil that I deserve the electric chair. Don’t get me wrong. I am not deluded, I know I am not perfect, I know that I have my blind spots, that sometimes I get angry at my kids and my wife. I know I can be secretly proud, but probably you too. I think I am a good guy in general, at least compared to others.
To daily think of myself as a condemned criminal deserving to be executed requires some significant spiritual illumination.
This seems to go against my nature. Certainly, it strongly opposes the mainstream culture of our time. What this world tells you is to think of yourself as good and extremely worthy. To project a great image of yourself so you can realize the best version of yourself. But that is not what the Bible tells me. And that is not how the kingdom of God works, for it is an upside-down kingdom!
24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
If you want to save your life, you have to lose it first, you have to abandon yourself to the mercy and the grace of God, and stop trying to earn your worth by your own efforts. You have to consider yourself as dead so you may live, you have to lose your life so you can save it.
25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Say you think of yourself as a moral person. You are respected and admired. You work hard to keep the rules and earn your way up. Would it matter at the end, when the King comes back in his glory to judge everyone? Would it matter if you gained the respect and admiration of the whole world while ignoring and being ashamed of the words of Jesus? When you get in front of the holy judge presenting your accomplishments and your good works only to learn that they were not good enough, that you did not make it, when you hear from his mouth the dreadful verdict: “depart from me, you worker of lawlessness”?
What Jesus is telling you today is: “If you really want to come after me, if you want to join my kingdom and save your life: do not cling to your own moral accomplishments, deny yourself, day by day consider yourself as a condemned criminal who deserves to be executed, take up your cross daily, die to self and then follow me”.
Despite how good I perceive myself to be, the Bible seems to imply a different reality of my moral standing before God.
Why is it that in the Bible and in this passage the King of all kings, the most powerful, omnipotent, perfect and holy God had to come to this earth, taking human form, to suffer as a man, to be rejected, to be killed and executed as a vile criminal, why, why, why?
Because my sin required it! Because when all the good and bad is added and subtracted, my morality before God is so corrupted, so filthy, so defiled, that in light of the infinite holiness of God, I am a vile criminal that justly, righteously and imminently deserves to die and to be executed on the electric chair, to be shamefully crucified so the world will see and learn about the immaculate, incorruptible justice of God.
But here comes the King, the Christ of God, my savior, and he stops the prosecution, and says: “I will take it for him, I will sit on the chair in his place, I will take up his cross, I will shamefully die and be executed in his place, I will die for him so he may live”
Who do I say Jesus is?
Jesus is my Provider who supplies for all my needs, physical and spiritual, including my need for a savior who would rescue me from imminent death.
Jesus is the Christ of God, the King who suffered and died in my place, but after three days was raised victorious with my eternal freedom in his hand. Alleluia!