Digging Deeper – Do You Recognize the Son of God?

Have you ever been around someone regularly and never really known who they were? I mean, you would think that if you saw someone daily, you’d get a good understanding of who they are. But the truth is more complex than that. We see people through our own eyes, and how we see them is often more about who we are than who they are.

Take Coach Criddle from the Monday illustration. I always thought he was a jerk and, to be honest, not very smart. I saw him as cocky and bumbling at the same time. But as I was writing the Digging Deeper, I got a bit nostalgic and Googled the old coach. He passed away a little over a year ago, and I found his obituary. Let me list a few of the points it made:

• He was a Marine Corps veteran and played football for WVU from 1962 to 1964.

• He coached three different high schools to the state AAA title game and had undefeated seasons at two of those schools.

• He coached future NFL players Robert Alexander, Carl Lee, Derek Christian, and Bimbo Coles.

• He is a member of the West Virginia Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The quote in the obituary that stood out was, “To say Homer Criddle was a success on the West Virginia high school football scene would be quite an understatement.”

He didn’t impress me when I had him as a teacher, but I never knew him in the place where he excelled.

In the passage we are examining, it strikes me that the disciples are suddenly awestruck by the presence of Jesus. If you’ve been reading the Gospel of Matthew up to this point, you’ve witnessed miracles and teachings that amazed everyone. And yet—they are just now realizing who He truly is? You can be around someone every day and still not fully understand who they are.

What about you? If you’re reading this, you’re likely someone who makes an effort to spend time with Jesus every day. But when was the last time you were just bowled over by who Jesus is? When was the last time you marveled at the life and death He endured on your behalf? When was the last time you truly grasped how incredibly fortunate you are that He loves you—not despite who He is, but despite who you are?

This week, we’ve seen that Jesus is more than enough to conquer your fears. We’ve seen that He has more for you than you could ever imagine. We’ve seen that He upholds and protects us—even when we don’t realize it.

I heard someone say recently that the most important thing about you is who you believe Jesus is—and I believe that to be true.