Scripture: Matthew 16:15-16
Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Thought for the Day: If this had been Jeopardy, Simon Peter would have had the correct answer, except that he didn’t put it in the form of a question. This was a major declaration, and the writer of the Gospel uses it as a means of communicating the identity of Jesus. Simon Peter offers us two important titles: Messiah (Christos or Christ) and Son of the living God. Messiah/Christ means anointed one of God. Throughout scripture, different individuals were anointed for a purpose, a God-purpose. It was understood that the anointed one would deliver and redeem the people, the task of changing them from one way of living to another. The language of Son of the loving God is a bit more complex, as it carries with it a lot backstory. But to simplify it, I like to guide people to common language of the day – someone is the son of the baker, the son of the carpenter or the son of the legal expert. In each case, it was not simply letting you know what the father did, but to suggest: like father, like son. To declare Jesus as the son of the living God is to tell your readers that if you look to Jesus then you will know what God is like. We have too often allowed these titles to lose their historic meaning, and in doing so, we have turned them into proper names instead of key sources of revelation.
Prayer: May Jesus become my mentor and model for living in your ways, O God, for you are the One who first loved me. Amen.
PRAY FOR
YOUR CHURCH
THIS DAY
