"BUT WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?"

    When Jesus fed the 5,000 hungry men, women and children(in Luke 9:16-20)--
                     #He never asked them if they were active church members.
                     #He never checked the temple records to see if they faithfully tithed.
                     #He never cross examined them on their biblical beliefs.
                     #He never questioned their denominational affiliations or if they were
                       Pharisees or Sadducees or if their political opinions were "politically correct."
                     #He never made the 5,000 feel guilty or ashamed that they were hungry and                          

----He never even questioned how they fell under circumstances whereby they could not afford to feed themselves.
---- But there were two questions Jesus asked His disciples after he had fed the 5,000 and the first question was simply this:
                                                   "WHO DO PEOPLE SAY I AM?"
                 
           And the disciples said:  "WHY LORD, SOME OF THE PEOPLE SAY YOU
                                                    ARE JOHN THE BAPTIST, SOME SAY YOU ARE
                                                    ELIJAH, SOME ALSO SAY YOU ARE ONE OF THE
                                                    ANCIENT PROPHETS, COME BACK TO LIFE."
              Then Jesus asked His disciples this second question:
                                                         "BUT WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?"
            And Peter replied immediately and boldly:
                                            "YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE MESSIAH, THE ANOINTED ONE--SENT BY GOD."

    I believe Jesus is asking us today in this world full of 5 billion people, the same
     question He asked over 2,000 years ago:
                                            "WHO DO THEY SAY I AM?"

    Unfortunately, just like the 5,000 fed in Jesus' day, our world still doesn't have a
    clue to who Jesus really is--"PERHAPS YOU ARE BUDDHA, PERHAPS YOU
                                                  YOU ARE MOHAMMED, PERHAPS YOU ARE AN
                                                  ANCIENT ONE REINCARNATED.  PERHAPS YOU
                                                  ARE A MYTH.  PERHAPS YOU NEVER EXISTED
                                                  AT ALL."
   So now here comes Jesus to His believers, to his modern day disciples and
   He asks:  "BUT WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?"
   Who do YOU say Jesus is?
   If we answer like His original disciples: "THE CHRIST, THE MESSIAH,
          THE ANOINTED ONE--SENT BY GOD"-- then we MUST feed the poor, the
           homeless, clothe the naked, and minister to the incarcerated.  For when we feed
            the hungry, when we clothe the naked, when we shelter the homeless, when we
           minister to the incarcerated--we are actually telling the world ,that really doesn't
           know Jesus, who Jesus Christ is: THE SON OF GOD.
                It is through us, acting through the Love of Christ, that the 5 billion people
            on this planet will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Anointed Messiah
            sent by God and the True and Only Bread of Life.

                     WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?
       

            --Mark Glenn