Nov. 4, 2005

Liar, Lunatic, or Lord
Mark 8:27-30

In the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Peter and Susan go to ask the professors advise about a troubling situation. Lucy has claimed to them that she went into a wardrobe that has led her into another world. The other children do not believe her so she becomes very upset. Then, her brother Edmund also finds the world of Narnia but tells the others that Lucy is making it all up. Peter and Susan go to ask the professor who they should believe. This is his answer.

There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.

This is the same type of logic Lewis uses to defend Jesus’ claims to be the Son of God. He says that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, so he was either lying when he claimed it or mad when he said it, or else he was who he said he was. Lewis says this to point out that Jesus could not have been “just” a good moral teacher. He was either a devil or God.

In Mark 8, Jesus asks Peter who Peter thinks he is. Peter responds “the Christ”. Peter had been around Jesus enough and seen the things he had done to be convinced of this. Although I am sure Peter did not understand the full implications of this, Peter did believe it. The question we have to answer is “Who do we say Jesus is?” Is Jesus who he said he was? I certainly believe so.