In 1796 the first elephant was brought to America from Bengal, India.

Did you hear about the blind men who encountered an elephant? One man held the tail of the animal, so he thought an elephant was like a rope. Another man had his arms wrapped around a leg, so he thought an elephant was like a tree trunk. The third man had hold of the animal’s trunk. There’s no telling what that man thought! Because the men were blind, they couldn’t see the animal and were limited to the part they encountered.

That’s often how it is with people and Jesus. If a person only sees part of Jesus, one aspect of his life, that person might form a wrong opinion of him.

One time Jesus asked his disciples what people were saying about him. They had a list of answers. They reported that some people said he was a religious radical; some thought Jesus was a spiritual leader; others said he was a great teacher. Those ideas were correct, but each one gave only part of the picture. Then Jesus asked who they, his close followers, thought he was. And Peter gave the right answer: “The Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Today people probably would give similar responses. Everyone seems to have an opinion about Jesus. Some would say that he was a very good man. Others might mention his life-changing teachings and great moral example. Some might even say that Jesus was God’s Son. But the whole picture includes all of that and more. The truth is that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. He came to earth to live a perfect life, to die on the cross for our sins, and to rise from the dead. He’s alive!

Do you have the whole picture?

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13–16).

To Do

Go over your list from yesterday (evidence for Jesus’ true identity). Think of how you would have answered Jesus if you had been there that day and Jesus asked you, “Who do you say that I am?”

Also on this day . . .

This is National Peach Cobbler Day.

1743—Thomas Jefferson was born.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.