In class, a teacher asks a question and if you don’t know the answer, you try to hide. The hiding is more difficult if you are sitting at the front.
People who most of the times don’t know the answer don’t like to sit at the front. Those who most of the times know the answer are comfortable sitting near the teacher. This, however, doesn’t mean they always know everything the teacher asks. They also have to "hide" when a difficult question is asked.
The kind of hiding students do in class is what I would call “Hiding in the open”. How actually do we hide in the open? We look away when we don’t know the answer—we can’t risk eye contact with the teacher when his question is begging our response. If we allow eye contact, he would definitely ask us to answer the question.
Jesus, the Teacher, had once asked a question that sent His students "hiding", except one front-sitter, called Simon Peter. In Matthew 16:13-16, Jesus asked one of the most important questions of our life.
The climax of the question He asked is one that people love to hide from. Why should this question prove to be very tricky for many yet the answer has been leaked for over two millennia?
This is a very fundamental question, the sooner we face it the better.
Who is Jesus to You?
Many are comfortable answering this question when it is pointed to other people. Like when Jesus asked, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matt. 16:13), answers were criss-crossing from all directions.
When the question gets personal, people usually play escapism or they go silent. Jesus has floated the question, “But what about you … who do you say I am?" (Matt. 16:15, italics, author's emphasis).
Have you ever answered this question directly and personally?
Most of the times we think that this is a question posed to people who have never received Christ in their life. Jesus, however, did not ask this question to people who were about to receive Him. He asked it to people who were already His disciples.
If we claim to be His disciples then we have to consider this question every moment: “Who do you say I am by the way you relate with people in your everyday life? Who do you say I am in your eating, drinking, talking, working, etc.?
Can you sit in front and look Christ in the eye in your work place and answer the question of who He is in a very personal way? Do you hide—looking away and/or sit at the back when the question about Jesus is asked?
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW
Read more articles by Daniel Owino Ogweno or search for articles on the same topic or others.
