The Jesus Question
“The Beast” was a 150 pound English Mastiff. A dog fenced-in and chained up his entire life with his yard bordering a baseball field where every day a group of nine teenagers would come to play a game. The teenagers called it “The Sandlot” and it was their sanctuary. With a great love for the game of baseball and only enough money to buy one ball per day, every home-run was bittersweet. Any baseball that flew over the fence and into The Beast’s territory was gone forever. The hitter was chastised by the other players for hitting a homerun because it marked the end of the game for the day. Over the years, rumors surfaced about The Beast. It is now believed that the last kid who tried to hop the fence and retrieve a lost baseball was killed and eaten by The Beast. Because of this, hopping the fence, for any reason, was out of the question.
One day in the middle of the summer an autographed ball by baseball legend Babe Ruth goes sailing over the fence. The ball is so important to them that they can’t just surrender it to The Beast forever. They must do something about it. After much debate, they conclude that one of them will hop the fence and go get it. So that’s exactly what they do. Their leader, Benny, jumps the fence, grabs the baseball and makes a run for it. The Beast breaks out of his chains, hops the fence, chases Benny and the other kids all over town and they eventually end up right back at The Sandlot. They are all exhausted and unable to run anymore and, in that moment, Benny’s teammate, Smalls, is approached by The Beast and ends up face to face with him, staring deep into his eyes. The kids are all terrified about what will happen next. In one quick motion, The Beast opens his mouth and licks Smalls’s entire face. Everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief and all break out into laughter. The rest of the summer, The Beast becomes their team mascot and beloved by everyone. They find out his name, Hercules, and welcome him in as the newest member of the team.
When we don’t know someone on a personal level we develop opinions of the person based on what we are told. When rumors spread, we hear them and accept them because we don’t have anything else to go off. We accept the rumors as facts and before we know it, we come to believe that a person is a certain way when in reality what we’ve been told may not be the least bit true. Everything that we’ve been told about the person quite possibly could be untrue speculations made by someone else who doesn’t know the person. It’s why we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about people until we’ve come to know them on a personal level and it’s why gossip is so toxic to relationships and to society.
This week we hear Jesus ask the apostles the question, “Who do people say that I am?” The answers vary but none of them turn out to be the truth. People have speculated on who this Jesus character might be and all kinds of rumors are going around. “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Everyone has their own opinion of who Jesus is but it’s all based on rumors. Stories they’ve been told or seen from a great distance. It’s gossip.
Jesus then turns to his closest friends and asks, “but who do you say that I am?” Had the apostles not known Jesus on a personal level the answers they gave would’ve probably all been different. They would’ve speculated, recited rumors they’ve heard, and based on pure gossip given Jesus the wrong answer and misjudged Him like the rest of the world. But knowing Jesus and having a deeply personal relationship with Him is what allows Peter to respond with his famous line, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
There is not one hint of speculation in what Peter says. His response is not based on rumors or gossip that he’s heard. He knows Jesus and doesn’t rely on the observations of someone else to form his opinion of the man he knows to be “the Son of the living God.”
Jesus and Hercules have a lot in common. Everyone talks about both of them and everyone seems to have a different opinion. Jesus and Hercules are both observed from a distance, speculated about, gossiped about, and ultimately misunderstood. Ideas are made up in everyone’s mind about them and none of them are based in reality. It’s not until Benny has an up close and personal encounter with Hercules that he can see him for who he really is. When he finally sees Hercules for who he really is, everything changes.
It’s for the same reason that Jesus is so consistently misjudged and misunderstood. Trying to understand and know Jesus from a distance and based on what other people say about Him doesn’t work. When we try to get to know Him in this way we end up making things up about Him that are not based in reality. Like people in the time of Jesus, if we don’t know Him on a personal level everything that we think or “know” about Him is simply a guess or speculation.
So, Jesus asks the question, “who do you say that I am?”
It’s time that we all come up with an answer to this question based on an up-close and personal encounter with Jesus. Don’t answer this question based on what you’ve heard or some perceived image you’ve developed of Jesus from a distance. Peter was able to answer this question so perfectly because of his own up-close and personal relationship with Jesus. He didn’t need other people’s speculation and opinions. He was assertive when he proclaimed, “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
What is your answer to Jesus’ question? Who do you say that Jesus is and what is the basis for your answer? Is your answer based on rumors, speculation, or gossip? Or is your answer based on an up-close and personal relationship with Him?
