Cupcake says:
"I know which one I'm voting for."
Matthew 16:13-19
Psalm 9:2-7
"`For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the
government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince Of
Peace(Psalm 9:6).'"
In my sophomore year, I took a multimedia class. In this class,
we talked about writing, and metaphors. I thought the Aslan character
in the Chronicles of Narnia was a good metaphor for Christ, but I
hoped that someone would give a more neutral definition of the term.
Instead, one student said, "The story of Christ is a metaphor for
springtime." And, of course, the teacher was interested in this
theory, since we had been studying a book on mythic structure for
writers. I was upset by the whole thing.
I have also seen Islamic websites that say that Jesus never
actually said he was the Christ. Obviously, they were ignorant of John
10:30. I tried to e-mail them and ask if they had a response, but they
refused to reply to me.
These things remind me of Matthew 16. Here Simon says that others
think of Jesus as the return of John the Baptist, a prophet, or
Elijah. We have many of these same ideas about Jesus remaining today.
Joseph Campbell imagines Jesus as another aspect of the world
monomyth. Others think that he is a reincarnation of the
bodhivista(however that word is spelled) or the vishnu, godlike
entities in Buddhism and Hinduism. And others believe he is dead.
Islamic and people in the Jewish faith still believe that Jesus is
just a prophet. Islamic people don't believe God has sons, even though
nephilim were mentioned in Genesis. And people in the Jewish religion
have a special chair prepared for the return of Elijah, even though he
already appeared at the transfiguration.
Psalm 9 is also a point of contention with the people of the
Jewish faith. Officials in Judaism have changed this verse so that it
does not read `mighty God.' The verse is either omitted or changed,
denying the fact that Christ is the fulfilment of prophecy. (By the
way, this verse is where my home church gets its name. Prince of Peace).
This is what the world believes about Jesus. But the verse from
Matthew 16 still has relevence to us today. What is important is not
what others believe about Christ, but what we believe about Christ. In
this verse, Christ really asks all of us, "Who do you say that I am?"
I hope you all can reply like Simon does, saying, "You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God."
Dear Father in heaven, thank you for giving us your son to die for our sins. While people think and say all sorts of things about the nature of Jesus, I accept him as Christ, the Son of God. Help me to share this faith with other people. Amen.