{"id":1536,"date":"2022-04-05T08:25:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T12:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1536"},"modified":"2022-04-05T22:50:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T02:50:00","slug":"who-do-you-say-i-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/05\/who-do-you-say-i-am\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Do You Say I Am?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For the four weeks leading up to and going beyond Easter, we’re looking at the life of Peter.\u00a0 Because he\u2019s so often at the center of both the brightest and darkest moments in the Gospels, he has always been a source of hope and inspiration for those endeavoring to follow Jesus.<\/em>


It\u2019s hard to visit Washington D.C. and not think, \u201cThis is a place where important things happen.\u201d
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The marble buildings and monuments evoke both memories and aspirations.\u00a0 The White House is the ultimate symbol of world leadership.\u00a0 A glance at the Capitol brings to mind America\u2019s commitment to the rule of law, but also the rancor of political debate and grass roots protests.\u00a0 The Supreme Court evokes the tensions of life-and-death cultural issues yet to be satisfactorily resolved.\u00a0
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We can picture Martin Luther King, Jr., standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial saying, \u201cI have a dream.\u201d\u00a0 And over there, just a few blocks away, we know that a commercial airliner slammed into the Pentagon \u2013 evidence that while many in the world see America\u2019s capital as a source of hope, others see it as a place that deserves to be destroyed.
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Visitors to Washington are often led to ponder important questions:\u00a0 If America is a great nation, what makes it great?\u00a0 If our nation has a mission, can we ever agree what it is?\u00a0 And who should provide leadership for what we do today and tomorrow?\u00a0
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That\u2019s the power of visiting a place that is laden with historical and global significance.
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There was a similar place associated with Israel during the first century. \u00a0
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No, it wasn\u2019t Jerusalem \u2013 even though most Jews believed their capital city, simply because it had the temple, was the actual center of the earth. \u00a0There was another locale, just beyond Israel\u2019s northernmost perimeter, that represented the interface of God\u2019s people with earthly and heavenly powers.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
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It was Caesarea Philippi, a pagan city that had recently been renamed and refurbished by Philip, one of the many descendants of Herod the Great. \u00a0Over the centuries, the area had become notorious as a center for idolatry.\u00a0 Statues of various deities dotted a dramatic landscape \u2013 all of it dominated by a 100-foot-high sheer cliff at the foot of Mt. Hermon, the highest peak in that part of the world. There was a shrine for the worship of Zeus, and the Dance Floor of the Sacred Goats (don\u2019t ask).\u00a0 The city was originally named Paneas in honor of the Greek god Pan, the \u201cwild child\u201d of woods and pastures.\u00a0 Pan was said to inspire terror in those who accidentally stumbled onto one of his hiding places \u2013 hence our word \u201cpanic.\u201d\u00a0
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In the midst of this plethora of ancient gods, Philip authorized the worship of Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor for whom he named the area.\u00a0 About the time Jesus was born, the successors of Julius Caesar had begun to present themselves as divine \u2013 despite ample evidence that they were all too human.
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Caesarea Philippi was also a special place geographically. \u00a0It\u2019s the only spot on earth where three continents come together.\u00a0 The ancient International Highway, which connects Africa, Europe, and Asia, skirted the hills just a few miles to the east.\u00a0 In a sense, \u201cthe whole world\u201d could be expected to show up sooner or later in this neck of the woods.\u00a0
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As if that weren\u2019t enough, the city was also thought to be where this present world \u2013 the world of human beings and their concerns \u2013 intersects with the underworld, the realm of evil spirits and the dead.\u00a0 There was (and still is) an enormous cavern, out of which gushes a cold stream.\u00a0 Locals believed that at the back of the cave there was an entrance to Hades.\u00a0 Thus the yawning mouth of the cavern was known as the Gates of Hell.\u00a0
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Heaven and hell, empires and nations, gods and humans \u2013 all the Powers That Be were on display in Caesarea Philippi.\u00a0
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If you journeyed to this place in the first century, you might well be led to say, \u201cThis is where important things happen.\u201d
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Which is almost certainly why Jesus brought his disciples to this place when it was time for a crucial conversation.\u00a0
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\u201cWho do people say the Son of Man is?\u201d (Matthew 16:13)\u00a0 As far as we know, this is the first time Jesus had ever asked this question.\u00a0 He had been coy about his identity, intentionally dampening expectations.\u00a0 But now he wants to know what his apprentices have concluded.
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\u201cThey replied, \u2018Some say John the Baptist;\u00a0others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what others<\/em> are saying.\u00a0 Jesus now makes it personal.\u00a0 \u201cBut what about you?\u00a0 Who do you<\/em> think I am?\u201d\u00a0
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It\u2019s time for a DTR \u2013 to \u201cdefine the relationship.\u201d \u00a0Twelve men have been following Jesus \u2013 listening to his teaching, watching his actions, witnessing his miracles.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re in a place named for a phony emperor-god, with phony idols on the left and phony idols on the right.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to fish or cut bait, paint or get off the ladder.\u00a0 Who exactly do you think I am?<\/em>\u00a0
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Peter jumps in to fill the silence:\u00a0 \u201cYou are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.\u201d
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It\u2019s his greatest moment \u2013 and arguably one of the greatest moments in spiritual history.
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Tomorrow we\u2019ll take in Jesus\u2019 amazing response.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the four weeks leading up to and going beyond Easter, we’re looking at the life of Peter.\u00a0 Because he\u2019s so often at the center of both the brightest and darkest moments in the Gospels, he has always been a source of hope and inspiration for those endeavoring to follow Jesus. It\u2019s hard to visit Washington D.C. and not think,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[423,421],"class_list":["post-1536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-confession-of-faith","tag-peter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1536"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1540,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1536\/revisions\/1540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}