Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Tuesday, 2 December 2014 "God’s anointed one (Messiah, Christ), God’s son"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Tuesday, 2 December 2014 "God’s anointed one (Messiah, Christ), God’s son"
Today's Scripture: Psalm 72: A Solomon Psalm
1-8 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God,
    the gift of just rule to the crown prince.
May he judge your people rightly,
    be honorable to your meek and lowly.
Let the mountains give exuberant witness;
    shape the hills with the contours of right living.
Please stand up for the poor,
    help the children of the needy,
    come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
Outlast the sun, outlive the moon—
    age after age after age.
Be rainfall on cut grass,
    earth-refreshing rain showers.
Let righteousness burst into blossom
    and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Rule from sea to sea,
    from the River to the Rim.
Matthew 16: Son of Man, Son of God
13 When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17-18 Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
19 “And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”
20 He swore the disciples to secrecy. He made them promise they would tell no one that he was the Messiah.
Reflection Questions:
Scholars call Psalm 72 a “royal psalm,” one that almost certainly originally prayed for Israel’searthly anointed king. But as the decades and then the centuries rolled by, it became painfully clear that no merely human king could possible fulfill the hopes that the psalm expressed. The hope rose anew as Peter and the disciples followed Jesus. They saw him as “the Christ,” the true king who could bring justice, peace and righteousness forever.
• Note carefully all the qualities Psalm 72 asked God to give to the king. How thankful would you be if any of the leaders we recently elected, or the president we will elect in 2016, fully lived out all those qualities? What kept Israel’s kings (and our leaders) from being able to fully live them out? What made Jesus uniquely qualified to be that ultimate, eternal king?
• In answer to Jesus’ question, the disciples said people identified him as “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” That was no insult—those were great, respected names. Yet they fell short of what the disciples saw in Jesus. To what extent can you join Peter in declaring that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God”? What factors shape what you believe about Jesus?
Prayer: Lord, the carol says “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Thank you for rekindling hope in me, and for giving me strength to live beyond my fears. Amen.
Insight from Rev. Glen Shoup
Rev. Glen Shoup is the Executive Pastor of Worship and a Congregational Care Pastor.
It all pretty much comes down to how one answers the question.  That can’t accurately be said of any question; but it certainly can be said of the question Jesus poses in the 15th verse of today’s second reading.  Who do you say that I am?  And perhaps surprisingly to some, there’s actually not nearly the latitude of answers to this question that we often pretend there are.  Frequently, we seem to assume, either directly or indirectly, that one can actually choose any number of responses to who Jesus is; but in actuality, what one can make any number of choices regarding are the reasons/perspectives/life experiences that shape how they decide who Jesus is.  However, when it actually comes to deciding who Jesus is, there are only two possible (intellectually honest) responses: Jesus is Lord (which was the earliest Christian creed)…he is God’s Messiah and anointed or he’s delusional (because he repeated claimed to be God’s Messiah and the Lord).
As C.S. Lewis poignantly named in Mere Christianity, either Jesus is Lord or he is a lunatic to be ignored and marginalized on the mounting historical scrapheap of madmen.  Spare the platitudinal nonsense of him being a good moral teacher or founder of one of the world’s great religions.  Who do you say that I am?
And if (as would be the case for almost everyone reading a daily devotional) we respond to this question by confessing that Jesus is Lord, then it is imperative for folks who read a daily devotional to remember that confession changes and has import on nearly everything.
You see, I may not really want to see the other person’s perspective but I can’t say Jesus is Lord and simultaneously silo myself with my own preferences and prejudices.  I can’t say Jesus is Lord and let my political partisanship rule my perspective and opinions (cause like it or not, the teachings of Jesus aren’t completely reflected within either the Republican or Democratic platform…no matter how badly our prepackaged views on immigration, tax reform, health care or foreign policy would want to pretend otherwise).  I can’t say Jesus is Lord and ignore my children; hold grudges against my spouse or pursue my life as though how much I can acquire and consume were what’s most important.  If Jesus is Lord then I have no choice other than to forgive—whether they’ve asked for it or not.  If Jesus is Lord then I’m going to have to care about whether or not I’m doing anything to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless or visit the imprisoned.  If Jesus is Lord then that neighbor I can’t stand is going to have to become someone I’m consciously choosing good towards.  If Jesus is Lord, then I’m going to have pray for my enemies—like…literally.  If Jesus is Lord, then the Incarnation (God becoming flesh) is real and it’s messy because God-in-the-flesh—Jesus ultimately calls us to follow Him in en-fleshing God to the world around us so that His kingdom might come on earth as it is in Heaven.
Who do you say that I am?
I can’t think of anything of consequence that your answer to that question won’t impact.

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