Life is filled with questions. Some are vital; others, not so. Questions about what we will wear or eat or watch on TV (or not watch TV at all) are daily questions, but they’re not really all that profound. We choose the green patterned dress instead of the red shirt with blue jeans, or we opt to grab a burger instead of fixing a salad at home.
There are other questions that are life-affecting. Should I marry, and, if so, who? Should we have children? If so, how many? Where shall I go to college? What career do I want to have? These questions (not necessarily in that order) are more fundamental to life than clothing and a meal.
And there are deeper questions, questions that reach to the very core of our existence. These questions and how we answer them shape our ethics, our integrity, our very existence as a person.
The Bible is filled with questions of this third kind. Early in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, two questions appear in the third and fourth chapters that profoundly affect the lives of Adam and Eve and their son, Cain. To Adam and Eve, the question is, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11). The questions forces Adam to confess his sin before God. The second question of Genesis comes from Cain in response to God’s question about where his brother Abel is. Cain’s response to God’s question is, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9b). In this telling question, Cain both declines to confess his sin of murder and also raises the very real question of are we, in the end, our brother’s keeper?
In relation to that question, a lawyer asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), which leads Jesus to tell the story of the Good Samaritan, ending with a question from Jesus: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? “ (Luke 10:36).
The Bible has other questions, as well, and each of the questions raise issues which men and women have struggled with for ages.
But there is one question that is the most important question, and it is one that every person has to answer at one point in their life.
The Most Important Question
Jesus’ ministry was one of constant, insistent crowds. As His fame grew, the crowds grew, too, and their demands on Him and His time increased with each passing day. Jesus did what He could to teach, to minister and to guide the crowds that followed Him.
But He also knew the importance of the down time. For Him, this down time was a time alone with the disciples, sort of a “corporate retreat,” if you will. It was time to get away from the crowds, to decompress and to reassess things. While this retreat is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), the most detailed account comes from Matthew.
Jesus and the twelve had retreated to a place called Caesarea Philippi, and while they were there, Jesus asked the disciples to tell Him what people were saying about Him. They answered, and then Jesus got to the Most Important Question. Having heard what others were saying about Jesus, He then asked His closest followers, the disciples, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15).
The reason this is the most important question is because each one of us has to answer that question at some point in our lives. While it is not a given that everyone in the United States has heard of Jesus, it is a safe bet to believe that the vast majority of Americans know the name, if not the person. How we answer the question, “Who do I say Jesus is?” determines eternal issues and sets me on a path that will either bring me closer to Him or further away from Him.
When Jesus asked the question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13b), the answer He heard was, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (v. 14). In other words, the people of Jesus’ day regarded Him as a prophet, as one of the great prophets of Israel. There was no question among most of the common people that Jesus was sent from God, but there was no acknowledgement that He was the Immanuel—God made flesh—or the Word made flesh that dwelt among us (cf. John 1:14).
In today’s world, people who are trying to be polite will often say that Jesus was a noted teacher, a prophet or a religious leader. There are those who deny His existence, or at least deny He ever claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God sent by God to redeem us from our sins. They consider Jesus to be a moral leader, but stop short of giving Him His full due.
And that’s fine. Well, it’s not fine; such an answer has a deadly consequence that remains for all eternity. But it’s fine that people will speak out their perception of Jesus. The problem is that too many people rely on their knowledge of Jesus only in superficial ways. They hear about Him around Christmas and/or Easter, usually intertwined with the stories of Santa and Frosty, of Easter bunnies and baskets with pretty eggs. Their grasp of Jesus is often determined by what the read in the newspapers about Christians and Christian activities. Lately, the news has not been favorable, and a large of that is of Jesus’ followers’ doings. But that’s for another discussion.
The Greatest Question is, “Who do I say Jesus is?” Once that question is answered, then the rest of life is spent in the pursuit of living out that answer. For the small minority of people who respond as Peter did, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16), then we are affirmed for our statement of faith, as Jesus reaffirmed Peter and the others (even knowing that one of the 12 disciples had a misplaced understanding of Jesus). The promises of the Bible open up to those who, like Peter, express a deep belief in Jesus.
Later on, after Jesus had taught a hard lesson on what it really means to be a disciple, there were many that turned away. Jesus turned to the twelve, and asked, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (John 7:67). Peter’s response was immediate: “Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 7:68-69). Peter’s response echoed the thoughts of the other disciples.
Each of us in life will be forced to answer the question about who Jesus is, and how we answer has eternal consequences for each of us.
But there’s another Most Important Question.
How Can There Be Two “Most Important Questions” and What Is the Other One?
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He answered with two commandments. The first was to love God completely with all our being, and the second was to love our neighbor as ourselves (cf. Luke 10:25-37). The reason Jesus gave two commandments as the greatest commandment is that the expression of the love of God is best revealed in the way we treat our neighbors, and Jesus’ definition of a neighbor is very broad and inclusive.
Using Jesus’ method of answering a question about one commandment by citing two, I also will add a corollary question, a 1a of the “Who do you say I am?” question. This second question also has profound implications, and it fits in very tightly with the first question.
This second question is one that is not asked by Jesus, but it is a question asked of Jesus. It takes place on the road to Damascus, and it comes from a man who had committed his life to destroying the Church.
Saul was a Pharisee, a man dedicated to preserving and obeying the Laws of God as given through Moses and the Prophets. He was zealous in his beliefs, and saw Jesus and the Church as one of the greatest threats to the true faith. In the book of Acts, it says that Saul began to destroy the Church (cf. Acts 8:3). He went door to door in Jerusalem, arresting and imprisoning followers of Jesus.
He was so zealous in his hatred of the Church and his love for the law that Saul received permission to carry out his persecution against Jesus’ disciples in Damascus. It was while Saul was on the road to Damascus that he was confronted by a brilliant light from heaven. The light was so bright that it dropped Saul to the ground. As he lay prostrate, he heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:8b). What follows is the Most Important Question, part 2.
While on the ground, Saul called out, “Who are You, Lord?” (9:5a), and that is the corollary of the Greatest Question.
You see, it’s not enough to answer the question, Who do I say Jesus is, if I don’t let Jesus also tell me who He is. After all, there are a lot of people who answer the first question in a way that indicates they want to believe in Jesus, but they fail to ask the second question, and as a result, they never really get to know who Jesus is and who they are really following.
Our greatest mistake as believers is trying to define Jesus on our terms rather than allowing Him to teach us and show us who He really is. When we presume to know Jesus, we begin to put Him in a box, one that is not of His making, but of our own making. Without letting Jesus define Himself, we have a tendency to overlook some of His more troubling lessons and expectations. We tailor the more familiar to suit our lifestyles, rather than letting Him shape us into His own image.
The answer to “Who are You, Lord?” is an answer that takes a lifetime of learning, and even at the end of that lifetime, we will know that there is still so much to learn that we have only scratched the surface of Who Jesus Is.
Sometimes, we recoil from getting to know Jesus too well. We want to have the assurance of His salvation without the expectations of discipleship. We want the benefits without the responsibilities. We want to think that our relationship with Him can fit into a life of church attendance and participation and the mentioning of His name as we pray at mealtime. And when we fail to ask Jesus who He is, then we miss out on so much.
We miss out on knowing so much about how He works in us and shapes us, how He sets us free to reach our fullest potential in Him. We fail to grasp the depth of His love and wisdom and we fail to see new ways of seeing our world and ourselves in relation to Him.
Conclusion
Life is filled with questions. Sometimes, we ask the questions; other times, the questions are asked of us.
But in life, it all boils down to two equally important questions, one asked us and one of our asking.
Who do you say Jesus is? And Who does Jesus say He is?
© 2019 Glynn Beaty