Third Station of the cross on the road to Via Dolorosa

In Matthew 16:13 Jesus asked his disciples a question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is.”  It is, on the surface, a very simple question and yet, Jesus did not receive a simple, clear answer.  “They replied ‘Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah.’ “  The people, who have been listening to Jesus preach, observing Him healing the Canaanite Woman’s daughter, curing many people as he walked by the Sea of Galilee and having just witnessed the feeding of the multitudes from seven loaves of bread and a few fish, still were not sure who Jesus was.

In the Bible classes that I taught I would ask the question, If Jesus were to come into this room and say four words, that would encapsulate His earthly mission, what would they be?   I would suggest that before you read on that you would stop and see if you could come up with those four words.

No, there isn’t any passage of scripture that directly quotes Jesus saying these four words and I do not believe that I received any charismatic message from heaven telling me what the four words would be.  I have, however, thought long and hard about the above passage and what my response would have been.  I believe that these four words are implied from the question that Jesus asked of his disciples (apostles).  If you are like most of the people in my classes you might have come up with some of the following; “come and follow me” or “come and love me.”  These are both good and they are certainly what Jesus wants us to do, but then I would ask them another question, If I were to ask you to follow me wherever I want to go, or to love me, what would it take for you to do that?  What would it take for us (you) to follow Jesus where he wants to take us (you), to love Jesus the way He wants us (you) to love him?

I believe that Jesus would say to us, “come and know Me,” don’t just know about me, observing me from a distance, but spend time with me and really get to know me.  Only then will you be able to truly take up your cross and follow me, to truly love me. Only then will you be able to say who I really am rather than who you want me to be.

In Matthew 9:32-34, after Jesus drives a demon out of a mute person, the crowds were amazed but the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.” Rather than trying to really get to know who Jesus was, they just found it more to their own liking to come up with their own conclusions about who they thought Jesus was. To know who Jesus really was would mean that they would have to change what they believed, how they lived and how they treated other people. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.  You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.  Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.” (Mt 23:27-28).

To get to know anyone (our spouses, our children and our friends) requires patience, time and a desire to want to know who they are rather than just knowing about whom they are. It is about taking ownership of our relationships with each other, with our relationship with Jesus.  Today is a good day to begin.  Ask yourself the question, do I know who Jesus is or do I just know about who Jesus is?