One of the biggest challenges facing Jesus when he arrived on earth was helping people understand exactly who is was.

It sounds really simple for us (with the benefit of hindsight), but right from the start as a baby in a manger, Jesus had his work cut out for him.
Convincing people that you are the Son of God, in a helpful way, was vital for people to have their life with God restored and the problem of sin dealt with once and for all.

So how did Jesus do it?
We’ve been seeing how it is handled from Luke’s perspective in our ‘Is Your Jesus Plastic?’ series. But in Mark we see a different approach that also teaches us a great deal about Psalm 23, and he does it by ‘playing’ charades with the crowd in Mark 6:30-44
‘The Lord is my shepherd…‘ are some of the best known words in the English-speaking world, and most people know they are the opening words of Psalm 23. But few people understand that Jesus took those words (and the rest of the Psalm) and applied them to himself, saying ‘that was me that the Psalmist was referring to’!
Remarkable!

In the light of that, the Psalm might now read something like this:

The Lord Jesus is my shepherd,
so I will lack nothing;
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
The Lord Jesus guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake;
and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
for the Lord Jesus is with me,
His rod and staff are there to comfort me.
The Lord Jesus prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
He anoints my head with the oil of the spirit;
and my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Jesus forever.

But, as always, we have to ask: what does this mean for us? How does it change our lives, our relationship with God?
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