“Who do you say that I am?”

“Who do you say that I am?” It was an important question for Jesus’ first followers, and it is for us, as well.

In a postmodern era many good and uplifting truths have been brought out into the open. One of these is humility. In theory, at least, postmoderns have adopted a humbler stance toward almost everything. This, in general, is a good thing, paralleling Scripture itself which calls for a “humble and contrite” perspective.

Then again, we must not allow humility to be confused with weakness, thinking that a wimpy, gutless perspective on truth and life is what God is after. Neither, I would add, must we allow some supposedly humble attitude to keep us from (humbly but) courageously following the true Jesus.

Here’s what I mean: Jesus clearly expected his followers to come to grips with who and what he was. Indeed, answering his question correctly was an indication of God’s activity in one’s life. It’s not, of course, that the mere verbalization of some theological formula will suffice. Over and over again, Jesus warned us about such hypocrisy. However, it certainly does matter that we understand Jesus’ identity so that we can embrace him.

In response to Jesus’ question, a number of answers had been give. Some thought him to be a pretty good guy, maybe even a prophet. Perhaps, he was a real cool cat, a recyled version of some old-shool cool cat (e.g., John the Baptist). But none of these would suffice. The only proper response, the response that separates belief from unbelief, truth from error, blessing from something less, is that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. And, understand, we are not free to define Messiah in any way that is convenient. No, messiahship to Jesus entailed being God’s chosen Emissary, the divine Son of God. Of course postmoderns are right to question the hubris of a modern faith. Thus, when we act like we know Jesus exhaustively, that we pretty much have him figured out, that our mere formulas are the equivalent of saving faith, that we can tell who’s “in” or “out” based on our statements of faith, that our official doctrines are what please God most, we have set ourselves up for a fall.

Obviously, we must remain humble about all things, both theoretical and personal. But, along the way, we must not allow our obvious imperfections and incompleteness to keep us from this life-shaping question and the confession it calls for. Who do you say that I am? is relevant in any age, and the answer we provide will determine both the direction of our lives and whether or not we are being faithful in this or any age.