Luke 22:63–71
Be Still: Jesus, thank you that you are with me and that you have made your home in me. You couldn’t be any closer. And yet, I want to know you more. I want to understand who you are and your love at a deeper level today. Amen
Read: Luke 22:63–71
'If you are the Messiah,' they said, 'tell us.' Jesus answered, 'If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer.' (vv67-68)
Encounter: Throughout the gospels people are trying to grasp who Jesus is. In Luke 5:21 the Pharisees and teachers of the law ask, 'Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' In the storm (Matthew 8:7) the disciples ask, 'What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!'
The questions point to who Jesus is –Yahweh in the flesh. Only Yahweh can do what Jesus does; only Yahweh can forgive sins (see Luke 5:21). The Spirit that rested on Jesus was the Spirit that hovered over the disordered waters (Genesis 1) and who split the sea (Exodus 14). Now that same Spirit is bringing calm to the disordered waters on the Sea of Galilee. (Matthew 8:7) Jesus repeatedly reveals that he is Yahweh in the flesh.
Jesus invites everyone to decide who he is. In Mark 8:27 Jesus asks his disciples who people think he is. They say that some think he is John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets. Then he asks the disciples directly. Peter, unsurprisingly, pipes up: ‘You are the Messiah.’
That answer had implications for the whole of Peter’s life. It affected everything as he followed Jesus. If we have decided that Jesus is who he says he is, then that should have an impact on every part of our life. But does it? Does my decision to follow Jesus cost me anything?
Apply: I may declare: 'Lord, I choose to believe that you are who you say you are – you are the Son of God and the saviour of the world.' But has that decision worked its way out into every area of my life? I ask God to show me where the good news of the Gospel is yet to touch.
Devote: Thank you, Lord, that your mercies are new every morning. Please continue to outwork in my life the reality that you are the Son of God. Help me respond to the call to live in obedience to you.