Critical Thinking & Faith

Have you ever had a light bulb moment, an epiphany, that moment when you see something clearly for the first time and go ‘aha’! After a time of ecstatic joy we often pose the question, ‘What does this mean for me?’ Great moments come with more work to do.

Peter has one of those moments. Jesus asks the disciples who he is (Mark 8:27-30). They reply what they have heard from others. When you speak to people about who God is they often reply with other peoples answers. Rarely do you hear what they think.

Peter gives his own answer. The Messiah. Jesus doesn’t applaud him. No gold star for Peter. The other disciples are told not to talk about who Peter thinks Jesus is. This is a light bulb moment, which is going to take an eternity to unpack. Don’t go off with undigested ideas.

Critical thinking is vital to our understanding of Jesus and faith. We need the skills of questioning, recognition, articulation and reflection to allow us to fully discover who He is. Under the questioning of Jesus, Peter achieves recognition. This questioning had been going on for sometime, always leading back to the ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter articulates what he has arrived at.

Jesus says don’t say anything to anyone. They were not yet ready to articulate what they had discovered. They didn’t have the language, knowledge or the lived experience to.

But when Peter gets it right on the day of Pentecost he is powerful and persuasive, fully possessed of the knowledge he only now glimpses. Jesus is right to allow them time to observe, reflect and experience the truth they discovered before letting them take into the rest of the world.

This Easter we only glimpse the possibilities invested in Jesus, yet as we observe, reflect and experience Him may we become empowered as Peter and the Disciples did.