I live in a community where there are a lot of misconceptions about who Jesus is. He is called many things, including “Just another prophet”, and “The God of the West”. These are so widespread, that I feel I must come up with a strategy to deal with them. Where there misconceptions this crazy when Jesus was on earth? How did He handle them?
In Luke 9:7-9, the author records for us 3 rumors that reached the ears of Herod because of all that Jesus was stirring up: John is back from the dead, Elijah has reappeared, or one of the old prophets has risen. Herod quickly discounts the first rumor--he had John beheaded, and you can’t come back from that--and is skeptical of the other two as well. So he seeks an audience with Jesus.
Jumping ahead to 9:18-20, these same 3 rumors about Jesus’ identity come up again when Jesus asks His disciples who the crowds think he is. Now, Jesus could have taken His inner circle aside and systematically broken down for them why each of these three misconceptions were wrong. But He does not waste His time with that. He has already displayed through Spirit filled action and authority that He is sovereign over the physical world (Lk 8:22-25), the spiritual world (Lk 8:26-39), and over life and death (Lk 8:40-56). He has also demonstrated His uniqueness above the prophets of old (Lk 9:10-17). So, He simply asks someone who has spent substantial time near Him who they have seen Him to be. Peter then has a chance to declare the truth--Jesus is the Messiah who has come from God.
My tendency when I hear the misconceptions that have been spread about Jesus is to begin by analytically attacking those misconceptions. But, this often only leads to arguments and defensiveness. So, I am learning to instead approach these rumors as Jesus Himself did--by skipping over them and revealing His true self through His work and authority. If I am truly striving to walk with Him, and also truly walking openly with those around me, then they will see His work and power in my life. To those who are given the grace, they won’t need the rumors to be analyzed and disproven; they will simply see the truth themselves, as Peter did.
--Richard
Photo by Mitya Ivanov on Unsplash