Jesus asks his closest followers, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter gets the gold star:
“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’”
It would take more time and space than we have here to unpack the layers of meanings and interpretations in these two titles that Peter uses. Messiah was, and is, a mystical figure anticipated by the Jewish people, one who would save them from oppression and persecution. Many prophetic writings held that the Messiah would be of King David's line, whose kingdom was never to end. Not all strands of thought equate the Messiah with a divine person, and many assumed the Messiah would be a military savior, not a spiritual one.
And what does “son of the living God” mean? It could mean a divine person, which is what Christians understand the incarnate Jesus to have been. It could have meant a person anointed by God to carry forth his redemptive plan. It reveals God as “living,” not a dead idol but a living entity interacting with her creation. And the phrase clearly indicates Jesus as one specially chosen as God’s instrument.
Peter seems to have hit the nail on the head: “And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.’”
Jesus suggests this awareness is not one that he could have arrived at through reason, but only through revelation. Maybe that should help us to be less concerned when we perceive that faith and reason clash. Reason is a God-given gift for us to use; it is also a human faculty and can only take us so far. It is our spiritual intelligence, if you will, that we are to cultivate – and we can’t do that by working harder or thinking harder. We do that by learning to receive the Holy Spirit, who brings all the gifts and understanding we need.
What does “Son of the Living God?” mean to you?
Is God alive for you? In what ways?
How would you assess your “spiritual intelligence quotient?”
If we want to expand our “spiritual intelligence,” we don’t need to study harder, though study is an important part of a full spiritual life. We will do it by cultivating an attitude of praise of the Living God, and inviting that God to fill us with his life through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then we will find our perceptions sharpened to see what God is up to around us. We will find our faith emboldened to believe in the power of God poured out in blessing. We will grow in peace and joy and love, and all those gifts promised to Christ-followers.
And we will grow better at articulating the hope we have within us, what – or who – it is that we wait for with eager anticipation. We live now; in the fullness of time we will Live in fullness.
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