Mark 8:27-30
Peter's Confession of Christ
27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
28They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
29"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Christ."
30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Jesus asks "Who do you say I am?"...This is the most important question you will have to answer in this life, and your eternal life...C. S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity, tells us this question can have three answers...One Jesus is a liar...Second, He was a lunatic...Third, He is our LORD... Each of us must decide the answer in our lifetime...
Jesus claimed many things in His ministry...He claimed He was the bread of life...He claimed He was the good shepherd...He claimed He was the truth, the way, and the life...He claimed He was the resurrection and the life...He claimed that before Abraham was born He existed (I AM)...He claimed that He and the Father are one...And one of His most controversial claims is that no one comes to the Father except through Me...Is He telling the truth or is this a lie???...
C. S. Lewis says He could have made these claims and been a lunatic...But there are four biographies about Jesus, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...When you read these biographies, you feel they are real, planned out, that Jesus has authority, and one does not get the idea of Him being a lunatic...I am sure there are those who might thing this, but the Bible is the most studied book in the world, and I have not read one book about this lunatic theory...So Lewis' argument is narrowed to two choices...Is He a liar or is He LORD?...
Jesus claims to the Samaritan woman in John 4:25-26, when she says "I know that the Messiah is coming and will explain everything to us...He says "I who speak to you am He"...In Mark 2:7, He tells a paralyzed man "Son your sins are forgiven"...He said to the people in John 8:23, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world"... He tells us in Matthew 12:8 that "He is the LORD of the Sabbath", the day that is reserved for God...In Luke 22:70 when Pilate asks Him, "Are you the Son of Man, Jesus says "You are right in saying I am"...
Each of the gospels has parts that claim His divinity, and what about all His miracles....So as C. S. Lewis claims and everyone must ask themselves, is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or our LORD...