And then he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to Him in reply, "You are the Messiah." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. Mark 8:29-30 (NAB)
These words sit heavy on my heart today as I think about who I am. Jesus meant something so much greater than just " Hey, when you look at me, what do you think about me?" When He begs the question, "Who do you say that I am?" He is digging much deeper. In essence, He is getting to the heart of who we are.
How many times do we skip over books of the Bible, like Numbers, or Leviticus, or even the first chapter of the Gospels before we even get to the birth of Jesus, simply because we can't pronounce all of those names listed in the genealogies? I am guilty as the next person. Sometimes, as we go from who begot who, to who begets who, I suddenly feel like I am reading a Dr. Seuss book, how about you? There is something so great about those genealogies that I think we're missing, not just in the way that we see Jesus, but in the way that we see ourselves.
When meeting someone for the first time and introducing ourselves, we usually go straight into what we do. It's just part of our culture that we give the laundry list of items that makes us who we are. We say things like,
I am __________ (fill in the blank with your job title). I am _______(fill in the blank with your status: married, single, divorced, widowed, etc.). I am _________ (fill in the blank with some new project you're working on or whatever else you do as a hobby or sport). The list could go on for the ways that we describe who we are. We describe who we are by the things that we do. But, what I gather from this question of Jesus is not who does Peter say He is based solely on what He does. But, who He is in relationship to others. Yes, he is the Messiah, but he warns Peter, after this response not to tell anyone about him. Now, I am no biblical scholar, but what I think is happening here is that Jesus wants to be known for who He is, not just what he does. I mean, think about it. If we don't believe in who He is, then what He did do doesn't even matter. We have to first believe that he is the Son of God, and the Son of Man--fully divine and fully human to get why it's important that he died for us. And, the only way to believe these things is to know who He was. And, so the genealogies are important. They show us who Jesus is in relationship to others, and folks, that really does matter.
It leads me to ask, who are you? I submit we are so much greater than the things we do. Before we are anything, we are simply people in relationships.
I am Eileen. First and foremost, a child of God. I am the daughter of Amy and Johnny. Step daughter to Jay and Karen. Sister to Paula, Nathaniel, Lauren, Autumn, Hope, Janssen, Kara, Marcellis, and Harrison. Aunt to over a dozen nephews and nieces. Grandaughter to Dalton and Ruth, Roy and June. Close companion to Emily and Richard, Mike and Mary as well as others. Friend to many. Mentor to many teens. I am who I am in relation to others. Relationships are what we live for..not what we do.
I invite you today, to think not about what you do to describe who you are. But, think about who you are in relation to others. Once you have done that, I guarantee that you will feel more inclined to make time for that phone call to a parent, sibling, or friend that you have been putting off because you are too busy "doing" things instead of "being" in relationship.
Let's pray:
Father, we thank you that we are all in relationship with one another. We thank you for the reminder that we are never alone, because we didn't get here alone. Above all things, we thank you for loving us just because of who we are, not for what we have done, or will become. May we live this day, and each day forward,"being" in relationships and less "doing" things that distract us from those relationships. Amen.
