Who Do You Say I Am?

~ By Jordan Cavanaugh ~

Who do you say I am? That question has been buzzing through my head all summer and the beginning of this fall. How would I respond to Jesus today? How does my life respond to that question? Do I live like He is truly the Christ and the Son of God or just another guy in history who did a lot of really great things?

Jesus said in the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news." When I came across this recently I had no idea what Jesus was talking about. What in the world does He mean repent and believe the good news? This is the very beginning of Mark nothing good has happened. No message has been declared, just this phrase repent and believe the good news. I couldn’t help but wonder how I missed this verse in Mark 1:15 all these years. How come whenever I read this verse I assumed when Jesus says good news that He is talking about the death and resurrection, but after reading it this time how could it mean that, the book has just begun! That would not make any sense! How did I miss this?

My prayer for this year is that our ministry would not miss the simple beautiful truths in scripture because we feel like we already have the answers or have read the passage before; that we would be able to embrace Jesus Christ with new eyes and not make assumption based on what we have already been taught or told.

So what does Jesus actually mean when He says

good news in the beginning of Mark? I believe what Jesus is trying to do here and what the author of Mark is trying to communicate is: pay attention right now, because what I am about to share with you is the good news of kingdom of God. Mark goes on to list story after story of how tangible this good news is. This good news is not impersonal or far off, it is right here in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

Immediately you encounter the demon-possessed man who is trapped in darkness and is set free by Jesus. Then we watch as Jesus does the unthinkable and actually touches a leper and heals him. We observe as Christ not only heals the paralyzed man, but also forgives his sins. This is the good news! These stories are the good news of Christ, because of Jesus there is freedom from bondage and darkness. Because of Jesus there is dignity given to the outcast, because of Jesus we no longer carry the guilt of our sin and shame, but have been forgiven. "The kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news" I cannot help but get excited, because my heart knows that this is truly good news. It bubbles up inside of me and I have to testify that this is our God! This is Jesus who brings good news. I look forward to the journey with our students this year as we look at the good news in the gospel of Mark. We pray that our students would taste and see how good this news actually is and that they would not be able to contain themselves. That they would be so impacted by these words and this person Jesus that it would radically change the way they do life.

We are so excited about this journey through the gospels and encountering Christ with our high school students. If you are a high school student or know one who is looking for a place to get plugged in, Sr. High Youth is going to be an exciting place to be a part of this fall. For more information about Sr. High Youth Ministries contact JordanC@CrossRoadsChurch.ca.