Listen

He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Mark 8:29-30

Think

I wonder how long it took Peter to answer Jesus’ question.

“Who do you say that I am?”

I wonder if all the disciples stood there awkwardly, shifting their feet back and forth, their eyes cast downward, trying to figure out who was going to break the silence first. They had just told Jesus who other people said that Jesus was, but Jesus wasn’t particularly interested in that. He wanted to know what his disciples thought.

Finally Peter, unable to handle the silence anymore, blurts out what he’s been thinking: “you are the Christ.”

When Peter calls Jesus “The Christ,” Peter is saying that Jesus is the “anointed one” – the One we’ve been waiting for, the One who knows God’s hope, wisdom, anger, and longing, and will lead humanity into that reality.

Who do we say that Jesus is? Do we want to think of him as simply a great teacher, or a superhero ready to solve all the world’s evil in a single bound? How does The Christ lead you?

Allie Scott

Pray

Holy One, you can be all things to all people. Speak to me as I am, so I may know you as you are. Amen.

Go

I’m here, God. Send Me.

from Isaiah 6:8