A BBC magazine answered the “101
greatest questions of all time.”[1] What did they include? Well, questions like “What is OK short
for?” Answer? “OK comes from ‘oll korrect’, a
deliberately misspelled writing of ‘all correct.’ It was popularized in Boston
The
#1 “greatest question” was “Where is
the safest place to stand outside in a thunderstorm?” And, in case you must know the answer, it is
“A car or other enclosed metal structure is the safest place to be in a
thunderstorm.”
Jesus asked a question that should have been first
on the list. He and the disciples were
in Caesarea Philippi. Call it the
shopping mall of religion. It was
located in a region known as Paneon, or the home of the Greek god Pan. Once it had been a center of Baal worship. A temple was located there dedicated to the
godhead of Caesar. And other temples of
Syrian gods dotted the landscape.
Plenty of gods to choose from in Caesarea
Philippi. So Jesus asks his disciples
this question: "Who do you say I am?" (Mark
8:29). Oh, at first he asked them what
others were saying about him. The
answers came back in rapid fire: “Some say
John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the
prophets.”
But Jesus was more
concerned with their answer to his question, so he asked, “Who do you say I
am?” They all looked at this homeless
carpenter and thought about that question.
We don’t know how long they thought before Peter replied, “You are the
Christ.”
Who do you say he
is? Have you given it much thought? Some say he was crazy, claiming to be God but
just a man. Some say he was just another
liar, that he knew exactly what he was saying but was deviously misleading
those around him.
But there are those who
have said, along with Peter, that Jesus is the Christ. He is “God in the flesh.” He is the King. He is the Savior. You may know where to stand in a thunderstorm. And you may think your life is OK. But this week, if you have not answered this
question from Jesus, then go to your own Caesarea Philippi, and let him ask
you, “Who do you say that I am?”
Your answer will be the
greatest one you will ever give.
[1]
“Greatest 101 questions of all time: 1-20” found at www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/
4696372/Greatest-101-questions-of-all-time-1-20.html
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