“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Matthew 16:15 NIV
“Who do people say the Son of Man is?” was the opening of the dialogue in verse 13 of this chapter. The disciples replied with various opinions of the people. I can imagine them wondering and perhaps asking themselves, ‘why is He asking about the people’s opinions?’. Little do they know that the question was coming for them.
At times, it can be easy to get swept away by the opinions and actions of the majority. However, in the case of Jesus and the crowds that followed Him, the Lord was not deceived by the sheer size of His following. His definition of success has never been about the size of the ‘follower’. Therefore, He raised this question to measure the people’s knowledge and understanding of Him. Many people were only following because of what they can get from Him, such as miracles and food. Among the followers also, are those whose primary focus is just for the record that they also saw Him. But the Lord was seeking to restore the broken relationship between God and human beings.
Furthermore, the Lord Jesus did not assume closeness with His disciple to define that they truly know Him. So, He asked them: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”. One way we can view this is the Master is interested in the crowd’s conversion as much as He is in the disciples. Another view is to say that the Master was more concerned about the disciples’ knowledge of Him, especially, since they were to become fishers of men. Therefore, their knowledge must be accurate if they would become a correct ‘fisher’. So, it would be unfortunate for a ‘believer’ not to have a clear and tangible understanding and testimony of Jesus.
Meanwhile, as the Master turned the question to the disciples, it is important for us to note that He was more interested in their individual understanding instead of their perceived congregational opinions. The same is true even today; the Lord is asking you as an individual: “who do you say I am?”. How well have you known Jesus? How would you describe Him? Who is Jesus to you?
How I wish that your response would be because of a personal experience instead of hanging on others’ testimonies. How I wish that you too would boldly declare a faultless truth about the Son of Man. Perhaps all that you have to say about Him is based on other people’s experiences. May I inform you that the Lord is ready to engage you in a personal relationship. It is not sufficient to hold onto other people’s testimony; you must have a personal and real experience of Him as well.
Do you know Jesus? Does He live in your heart?
