Matthew 16:13-17
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
This scene opens with Jesus asking his disciples the following question “who do men say that I am?” The disciples answered variously “some say you are–––, others say you are–––“, and so on and so forth. Jesus, however, asked again “who do YOU say that I am?” To which Peter gave the landmark answer “you are The Christ the Son of the living God!”
I am not going to focus on Peter’s revelation that Jesus was the son of God, but on the phrases ‘who do men say that I am, and who do YOU say that I am?’
The fact is that so many times we base our opinions on what “people say” rather than what we “say” as individuals. The disciples parroting who others thought that Jesus was required no thought at all; but Jesus pointedly asking them the question “who do you say that I am”, forced the disciples into thinking mode at which time the Holy Spirit was able access their mind leading to the establishment of that foundational principle that holds up the church today. What am I’m trying to do is to bring our attention to that scripture from Romans 12:2, which states: ‘do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’. In essence, do not make knee-jerk, crowd-pleasing, decisions based on unproven theories, information, and or impressions, because as rightly seen in the interchange between Jesus and his disciples what people say, is usually as far from the truth as the east is from the west. Conclusions arrived at through inspired thought, however, gives rise to revelation through transformation and revelation brought to the human mind by the inspiration of the Almighty. As Scripture says: there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding… Job 32:8.
The trigger point for the thoughts expressed above came from a conversation I had recently with someone who said, “you know how they say so so and so…” to which I answered that the fact that so so and so says so so and so does not mean that is what is going to happen, and it does not mean that their surmise is correct…
Bishop Garlington once said that the strange thing is that when ‘they’ say something, what ‘they’ said usually end up being wrong…
So what will you say in any situation that confronts you? What people say, or what YOU say?
© AdePero Mettabel, 11.20.13.
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