Who do you say Jesus is?

I had a quick thought in church today. People develop opinions of individuals based on what they hear from others or what someone looks like. It's common place to draw conclusions on the character of an individual based on how they dress. At our core, we know it's wrong and still find ourselves and others doing it. Our culture and society have basically discredited this kind of behavior, right? People are encouraged and taught to look inside each person and know them for who they are. Except when it comes to Jesus.

I know many people who have drawn their conclusions and opinions of Jesus based on what others say and think. In fact, it goes a step further with Jesus, and people somehow are given a pass to make-up whatever they'd like to about him. Their opinions of who Jesus is are all over the map and much of them created to fit one's way of life, thought process or desires. They're not based on who he actually is.

I naturally formulate opinions about every single person I meet - usually before I even hear them speak. I dislike this about myself. If you're anything like me, it happens regardless if we want it to or not. However, I actively strive to remain open minded and let the individual tell me who they are. You know, don't judge a book by its cover... Our culture might stereotype people, but it also puts pressure on us to get to know the individual. Except when it comes to Jesus.

I've met many people who are content and satisfied with the presumptions of Jesus. They develop an opinion and stubbornly stick to it and refuse to get to know him. In everyday life, is it alright for me assume I know everything about another person because someone else told me about him/her? Absolutely not! Then, why does our society permit - and even encourage - us to think whatever we'd like to about Jesus? It seems like a double standard.

Who YOU say Jesus is is the most important answer you'll ever have to give in this lifetime. In Mark 8:29: "'But what about you?' He asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Peter answered, 'You are the Christ.'" Jesus asked Peter who he thought he was. He didn't ask Peter who his parents thought he was. Or what his friends thought. Or what his teacher, professor and even pastor thought. Some of us are basing our faith on the faith (or no faith) of others. "Who you say I am?" He asked.

He asks everyone this most important question. Getting the answer correct on this one is too important to ignore or to take someones word for. Each of us must get to know Jesus for who he is if we're going to accurately formulate opinions about him. As humans, don't we owe that everyone? I think so. And even more when it comes to Jesus.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. - C.S. Lewis 'Mere Christianity'