Mistaken Identity

As I was in a store admiring merchandise in a display some time ago, I felt a small hand reach up and take hold of mine. Somewhat surprised, I looked down to find a small child standing beside me, waiting patiently for me to finish my shopping. Normally, I would not have thought anything about it, but I did not have any idea who this little girl was. I looked down the aisle and saw a man about my height looking at another display with his wife. I walked the child down to her parents and explained what had happened. My height and build were right, but I was not who she assumed I was.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited his people!" And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Luke 7:16-17

Jesus was going about doing the business God had sent Him to do. He had just healed the slave of a Roman officer without ever having laid eyes on him and now He had raised from the dead the son of a widow as he was being carried in his coffin to be buried. As was the case with His entire earthly ministry, amazing things were happening everywhere Jesus went. Lives were being changed both physically and spiritually. As amazing as it may seem, even in the face of all these miracles, there were people who just didn’t get it.

This passage documents the reaction of the crowds that had witnessed the miracles that Jesus was performing. Three things draw attention in these verses. First of all, even though they praised God for what they had witnessed, the people saw Jesus as a prophet. While He did spread the Good News, He was so much more than a prophet or a teacher. Next, they attributed the miracles that Jesus performed to the hand of God at work in their midst. This is definitely true, but they missed the fact that it was not only the hand of God, but God Incarnate come to earth to provide payment for their sins. Finally, they reported all of the things that Jesus had done to everyone they could – instead of reporting on who Jesus was.

Isaiah had prophesied this phenomenon when he said: “You will hear my words, but you will not understand. You will see what I do, but you will not perceive its meaning.” (Isaiah 6:9) It even took the disciples some time to grasp the concept of who Jesus was. After Jesus calmed the storm as they went across the lake, the disciples asked each other who this man was that had the power to control the wind and the waves. (Luke 8:25)

The essence of becoming a child of God is recognizing who Jesus is - then acting on that revelation by accepting Him as Lord and Savior. The people who were seeing what Jesus did were missing the boat. The Pharisee that Jesus went to eat with saw what Jesus was doing when He allowed the immoral woman to wash His feet with her tears and anoint them with expensive perfume. The woman came because of who Jesus was, and consequently her sins were forgiven. (Luke 8:36-50)

We must make sure that the people around us know who we really are – children of the King!

We serve an awesome God!!!!!