More On “Enough?”
Jesus went away with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
They told him, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say one of the prophets.”
“But who do you say I am?” he asked them.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%208&version=EHV>
In my writing, I have some explicit points that I would like to make; there are also some implicit points that I try to express. As with all forms of communication, sometimes I get it on point. That sentence, did you catch it?, has both explicit and implicit connotations.
In some discussions on the past two Family Table Devotions (Enough? and On Enough?) it was suggested that this follow-up should ask the question Jesus asks all of his disciples: “Who do you say I am?” To my mind, this is always the implicit question of our faith. We read the Bible, we listen to sermons, we read devotions, we live our lives, and if pressed we can talk about Jesus; the obvious question then is that Enough?
Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “The law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘Believe in this,’ and everything is already done.” There is a quote attributed to several different people, “We are human beings, not human doings.” As God’s creations under the Law, we try to be human doings. The Law demands “do this.” This carries over to God’s creations under Grace, still living as human doings. It is a natural reaction to his Grace: he has done everything for me, what can I do to respond to him? How can I just “be?” The supernatural response to Grace is (as Luther said) believe in this and everything is already done! It is enough.
Jesus is enough, and yet he still asks, “Who do you say I am?” With that question comes the implicit query, “Is that enough?” Three devotions in, and I am still struggling with “Enough?” as a concept. I have not used the following phrase in quite a while, and as we approach the season of Lent, I will drop it here:
Oratio, meditatio, tentatio
What is enough? The world may never know.
Trust the Promises,
Steve Skiver