Meeting Jesus and Following HimSample

MEETING JESUS AND FOLLOWING HIM In the text from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asks His disciples an important question : “Who do you say that I am ?” (Matthew 16 :15). We might think that these men knew Jesus, after all it has been several months since they left everything to live with Him, follow Him everywhere and they had even been sent out by Jesus to proclaim His Kingdom and manifest His power. However Jesus wants to know where they stand in their hearts. It is Peter, who replies first, and does so impulsively, and he is surprised by the words that come out of his mouth : “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16 :16). Peter resembles us : he often speaks before thinking and it is why he finds himself surprised, which shows that his answer wasn’t intellectual, this spontaneity allows him to unveil what the Holy Spirit has revealed to him in his own heart. Meeting Jesus isn’t something that is rational or intellectual, because we live out our relationship with Christ in our heart and our spirit. So, it wasn’t Peter himself that he was able to say this, he couldn’t make it up. People thought that Jesus was a prophet, a good man, a teacher etc. Everyone had a human opinion about Him. The true answer comes from God, it is a revelation. That is why Jesus replies : “This was not revealed to you by flesh and blood (human thoughts) but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16 :17). It’s the same today, people have their own opinion about Jesus, but too few know the truth of who He is. We can be around Jesus, read the Gospels, have a great deal of knowledge, have all kinds of opinions about Jesus, about the Bible. But none of this replaces the personal revelation that God gives us in our own hearts, in fact these things can be an obstacle. The revelation that we have of Jesus will determine our way of living as a disciple of Christ. We need to grow in this revelation of who Jesus is, His nature, His character, His persona, His power… At the moment when Peter received this revelation, his heart was touched and his entire life changed. That is why Jesus told him : “You are Peter”. (Matthew 16 :18). The change of name from Simon to Peter marks the change in the nature that was produced within him. Because in Hebrew thought, our name is directly linked to our identity. In 2 Corinthians 5 :17, Paul writes : “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come : The old has gone, the new is here !” To be a disciple of Christ, is to walk in accordance with our revelation of who He is…What’s more, to be in Christ signifies to be united in Christ, having recognised that He is the Lord and Saviour for our own life, that He is God’s answer to our problem, the only one who can free us from sin in order to reconcile us with God. It is like when someone exposes their skin to sunlight : they become tanned, they can’t hide it. In the same way, a person who has met Jesus personally is transformed, and that manifests itself in every area of their life. In the Gospel of Luke 19 :1-10, we discover how the entire life of a man named Zacchaeus was transformed when Jesus came into his life. From a thief, he became generous. Because of Jesus, he was no longer ashamed of his acts and would face up to his old enemies by reimbursing them and by loving them. What a transformation ! His meeting with Jesus made him a disciple and gave a sense to his life. He had found his destiny : to be a source of blessing for many…Before meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus knew how to make money, but he kept it for himself. When Jesus transformed his life, he began to be a blessing for other people by being generous to other people…Meeting Jesus leads us to become disciples and to enter into our destiny, the reason why we are on Earth. We all need a reason to live, a cause for which we are ready to live and die ! Walking as a disciple allows us to live in such a way… In the same way, in regards to us, the revelation of who Jesus is and of what He has done for us must produce a change in our life and our behaviour…It is not just an intellectual membership, it is a lifestyle change which affects all areas of our being. It is a metamorphosis. Salvation is not just an adjustment in our lives, and likewise, Jesus is not something that we just add to our lives, an extra…We cannot live as a disciple of Christ without accepting that our lives are completely transformed by His life, His love and His power…This transformation is revealed in our actions, our thoughts, our decisions, our words, etc. For Peter everything began when he accepted to follow Jesus. As for Zacchaeus, he simply had to respond positively to Jesus’ invitation to come and eat at his house. In the same way for us, meeting Jesus is not sufficient, we need to know what answer we are going to give when we meet Him…As such, meeting Jesus and recognising Him as your Lord and Saviour, is to be saved and to enter into a life where you are dependant on Him. And if we want to follow Jesus as His disciples, we certainly need to understand what the reality of salvation is. Just as for a house, the foundation is essential so that the rest of the structure is solid, in our own lives, our foundation of faith is important so that the entirety of our lives is solid and allows us to build and to change our world. REFLECTIONS : Meeting Jesus, is seeing your life being changed and shaken. Read Matthew 16 : 13-23 and take a moment to answer the following questions : ➤ What question does Jesus ask ? What is Peter’s answer and what has inspired it ? How do you explain the change in Simon Peter ? ➤ In 2 Corinthians 5 :17, Paul talks about being in Christ. What does that mean ? MY DECISION : What I have understood for my own personal life : What I am deciding to do in my life based upon what I have just learnt : What you decide to do today will determine who and what you will be tomorrow ! Adapted from "un disciple en marche" copyright 2018 by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse.  All rights reserved.