Just who is Jesus?
Mark 8:27-30. Is it an accident that our reading through the Bible book of Mark this year has brought us to this question on the weekend when we launch our Saint James -Kingstowne site? I mean, who Jesus is and how he impacts our lives is a central question for us Jesus-followers. Interestingly enough what each follower sees in Jesus has its own nuances and flavors. In the end (I hope I’m not giving too much away of my message/sermon for the weekend) each us has to decide for ourselves. We do not change who Jesus is by deciding for ourselves but we do change the way we respond to his message and sometimes we even change who we are or thought we were.
I am beginning my week of reflection on this passage by trying to figure out who others say Jesus is. In general my experience of both churchy and non-churchy people is that they have a healthy respect for Jesus; sometimes I’ve actually found more respect outside the churchy setting for Jesus because sometimes we churchy people are so sure we know what Jesus is about we don’t stop to consider we could have missed his point altogether. Sometimes we churchy people are so busy selling the following-Jesus-thing that we lose sight of Jesus himself; we re-make him in the image that sells best. Sometimes we churchy people aren’t willing to listen to what anyone else may have to say about Jesus either. I guess it goes to show you that we’ve got the same challenges today as Jesus faced 2000 years ago.
Those are some of my initial thoughts as I read and re-read this Bible passage from Mark this week.
[...] been continuing to read the Mark passage from Mark 8:27-30 about who people are saying Jesus is. (read my blog from earlier this week) It seems to me that simply saying who Jesus is falls far short of what [...]