Risk and Vulnerability
Read Matthew 16:13-20
Faith is alway fraught with risk and vulnerability. We want to declare truth as people of faith, but have a harder time coming to consensus about who's truth. There are questions that need answers, but what if the answers offered don't satisfy the questions? How can we know how to move ahead if the territory that is to be tread has never been walked upon before?
Jesus asks Simon who people say he is? It's a complex question and one that requires a lot of discernment. Simon tries all the known answers. He declares all the ways people have already answered this question. But Jesus isn't satisfied with the known answers. He seems to want more from Simon.
"Who do you say I am Simon?" asks Jesus. Simon tries an answer that perhaps nobody has yet offered. "You are the Messiah, Lord, the One we have been waiting for!" It's an answer that comes out of Simon's willingness to try something new. Simon's answer comes from a place of risk and even vulnerability.
And Simon is rewarded for his answer. Jesus announces that this answer has not come from Simon at all, but has come from above. Simon has tapped into the power of the Spirit in his willingness to be vulnerable and to take a risk.
Who do you say Jesus is? Are you using all the known answers, the things you have heard others say? Or are you willing to be vulnerable with God? Are we willing to be vulnerable with each other? Are we willing to take a risk and to try an answer that hasn't been tried before?
Together we might just find an answer to build a church upon.
Faith is alway fraught with risk and vulnerability. We want to declare truth as people of faith, but have a harder time coming to consensus about who's truth. There are questions that need answers, but what if the answers offered don't satisfy the questions? How can we know how to move ahead if the territory that is to be tread has never been walked upon before?
Jesus asks Simon who people say he is? It's a complex question and one that requires a lot of discernment. Simon tries all the known answers. He declares all the ways people have already answered this question. But Jesus isn't satisfied with the known answers. He seems to want more from Simon.
"Who do you say I am Simon?" asks Jesus. Simon tries an answer that perhaps nobody has yet offered. "You are the Messiah, Lord, the One we have been waiting for!" It's an answer that comes out of Simon's willingness to try something new. Simon's answer comes from a place of risk and even vulnerability.
And Simon is rewarded for his answer. Jesus announces that this answer has not come from Simon at all, but has come from above. Simon has tapped into the power of the Spirit in his willingness to be vulnerable and to take a risk.
Who do you say Jesus is? Are you using all the known answers, the things you have heard others say? Or are you willing to be vulnerable with God? Are we willing to be vulnerable with each other? Are we willing to take a risk and to try an answer that hasn't been tried before?
Together we might just find an answer to build a church upon.
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