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"He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'"
(Matthew 16:15-16)
The interview of Bono by French journalist Michka Assayas was published in a book in 2005 entitled, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas. I do not agree with Bono on some important matters, but I do agree with his bold declaration of who Jesus is. Bono is a follower of Jesus, and when Assayas challenged Bono that to call Jesus the Son of God would be far-fetched, Bono replied, "No, it's not far-fetched to me." He went on to explain that Jesus Christ is more than a teacher or prophet; He is God incarnate, the Messiah. He also said Jesus was either the Messiah or a nutcase. Bono said, "I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned up-side down by a nutcase, for me that's far-fetched." (See Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, p. 239-40.)
Bono's statements remind me of C.S. Lewis's "trilemma" in his book, Mere Christianity:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. 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."
Peter knew who Jesus was and declared that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter believed in Jesus and trusted Him to be his Savior and Lord.
Who do you say Jesus is? There is no more important question you will ever answer. According to the Bible, your eternal life depends on how you answer this question. Do you believe in Jesus, that He is who He says He is, or do you not? I invite you to believe in Him. Trust Him that He is indeed the Son of God. You do not have to understand everything about God to believe. You will have questions until the day you meet Him. But do not delay. Receive Him as your Savior and Lord even now. Romans 10:13 says, "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
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