Who Do You Say I Am?

The Continuing Series Through the Gospel of John

It didn't take long for the crowds to grow. It took even less time for the lines of decision to be drawn. Word moves fast in Galilee. One highly visible healing, one public confrontation with the religious leaders, and suddenly people are coming from everywhere. Some are looking for the miracle worker, some are looking for hope, some just come looking to see if the rumors were true.

It may have begun with curiosity and wonder. And for a while, that's all it was. "Come and see," the crowds said. But then Jesus started to ask for much more.

A man who hasn't walked in thirty-eight years picks up his mat and carries it home, on the Sabbath, no less. A crowd of thousands sits down hungry and stands up full, and nobody can explain where the food came from. A man born blind sees his mother's face for the first time. The signs keep multiplying, and so do the arguments about what they mean. Everyone wants to know who Jesus really is. And everyone will be forced to take a side.

Prophet? Deceiver? Madman? Rebel? An agent of Satan? Was he the Messiah? Take your pick, but you have to pick something. Nobody gets to stay undecided.

That's what this series is about.

Who Do You Say I Am? picks up where our journey through John left off. The invitation of the early chapters, to come and see, starts giving way to something harder understand. Jesus stops simply calling people to follow Him. He starts telling them exactly who He is, the hard truths, that some people are just not read to accept.

"I am the Bread of Life." "I am the Light of the World." "I am the Good Shepherd." "I am the Son of God." These are the kinds of claims that can get a person killed. They are the kinds of claims that can divide families. They can also change your life.

The Gospel of John never lets us admire Jesus from a safe distance. Every sign open another layer of Jesus's identity that has to be dealt with. And underneath all of it, the same question keeps surfacing, a little louder each time.

Who do you say I am?

We're still being asked that today. Our culture like the idea of a Jesus who stays where in a box that can be understood. Maybe he's a wise teacher or a moral example...a name to run to when you're having a hard day. Respected. But kept at arm's length.

Jesus was never interested in being your safe contingency plan. He asked people to believe Him, to accept hard things, and to follow Him. To hand Him everything over and trust He actually is who he says He is.

Over the next several months, we're going to walk through the growing signs, the confrontations, the opposition that keeps building. And through this we'll come to the understanding that John was never just telling us what Jesus did, he's asking what we're going to do with this man called Jesus.

Everybody answers eventually.