C.S. Lewis wrote that those who claim Jesus was merely a 'great moral teacher' are foolish! Because although Jesus was a great moral teacher, he claimed to be God, or the 'Son of God'. A man who said the things Jesus did about himself is either a lunatic, a liar or the LORD.

You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Jesus was certainly NOT what the Jews were expecting in a Messiah. The Messiah as a descendant of King David was expected to BE like King David. A warrior who would swoop in and single-handedly, save them from their enemies; or like Joshua, who lead them in Battle to gain the Promised Land. They were thinking too small, you have to look at the bigger picture.

Who was their greatest enemy? Who is the greatest enemy of all humankind? Lucifer, Satan, the accuser, Ash-Shaitan, he whose greatest weapon is SIN, which gives him an open doorway into our lives, and put a barrier between God, who is Holy and us. What is Sin really? It is Disobeying God!

The 10 Commandments were a gift, they are actually universal laws that were finally written down, so we knew where the boundaries were and would stop hurting God and each other. We had to know what the consequences were when they get broken. There had to be consequences because God is a just God. Sin has a price – who was going to pay it? Who could? - That was what the Messiah was really about – the Jews were thinking too small, the real enemy the Messiah needed to defeat was Satan, sin and death.

The first one to recognize the truth, that Jesus was the promised Messiah, was Peter (our Gospel reading today). He got it, that the Messiah hadn’t come to lead an army and free them from the Roman tyrants, from earthly enemies, that he had a bigger enemy in his sights. Having won that battle, he returns to earth often in the spirit to heal, help and guide us. But one day he will return bodily, at the head of an army and he will ‘Rule the Nations’ (see our Old Testament reading).

So as C.S. Lewis indicated, you need to make a decision about Jesus Christ, was he a liar, a lunatic or the Messiah, the Lord, the son of God. Be careful what choice you make because it is a life and death decision. If you decide he is the Messiah, the life you live will change, starting with reading our New Testament reading today.