9/18/09

Who Do You Say That I Am? - Pentecost 15 (September 13, 2009)


Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 116:1-8
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-28

“Who do the people say that I am?” This is the question that Jesus asked his disciples near the city of Caesarea Philippi. And, of course it seemed that everyone had an opinion about Jesus – Some say… “John the Baptist, still others, Elijah, or one of the prophets.” Things haven’t changed all that much in 2000 years. No matter whom you ask people have an opinion about who Jesus is. But Jesus then asks his disciples the same question, “Who do you say that I am?”

It is important to recognize that Jesus asked all of his disciples this question, though it was Peter who gave the answer. Thus it is important to recognize that Jesus invites us all to answer for ourselves: “Who do you say that I am?” Before us today is Peter’s answer, as recorded by Mark, where he says quite directly, “You are the Messiah.” But then Jesus says something quite remarkable in response: he tells them not to tell anyone about him.

The next time we are tempted to say “The Bible says this…” or “Jesus says that…” with the purpose in mind of setting someone else straight or correcting what we might think is an error in their belief, or their theology, or something about their conduct or how they choose to live their lives, we might do well to stop and ponder one of the very few direct instructions he ever gave to those who followed him: not to tell anyone about him. It is not without cause that James warns us in his letter that “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

And it’s none other than Peter himself – he who gave this great confession that Jesus was the “Messiah” – who proves this very point moments later. After Jesus tells them that he must undergo great suffering, rejection by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and then be killed and raised on the third day, Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. Now, we don’t know exactly what Peter said, but it’s not difficult to imagine him saying, “No, no, Jesus, you must not say these things! It cannot be that the Messiah of God would become subject to death.” Jesus response is direct: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Now, I have to wonder, how often is our confession that Jesus is the Messiah (the Christ) encumbered by our setting our minds on human things rather than on the divine? How often is our confession of Christ as Savior compromised by our expectations of what Jesus is like? How he would act? What he should do for us? How he would regard those around us? What he would expect from us? What we would hope that he would expect from us? I dare say if we are honest with ourselves, we should fare little better than Peter did on this occasion.

This leads me to say something that may shock you on first hearing: What we confess with our mouths is not nearly as important as what we do with our lives. Now this might sound at first like a complete and utter rejection of the Gospel as we have become familiar with it, as it was presented to us as children, as we taught it to our children, and as we teach it from the pulpit and in our Sunday school classes. Surely, there are those who might say that I have just run roughshod over the whole Reformation teaching on Justification by faith. So let me say this clearly and categorically: what we believe about Jesus as Christians is important, very important. Indeed, if we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved. But what good is such a confession if we fail to do as Jesus has done?

Look what happens next in our gospel. Jesus calls the crowd together around his disciples and then he says to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Now consider what he didn’t do, especially in this context. He didn’t say, “Hey, I’m the Messiah. If you want to be my disciples, you have to believe that I am the Messiah sent by God. You have to believe that I am the fulfillment of your Scriptures, Israel’s hope and consolation.” Now, again, I believe that Jesus is all these things, and I also think it’s pretty important that we believe these things. But the call to discipleship is not primarily about a set of propositions and belief statements. Rather it is about how Jesus can be seen in us – his followers – in the way we pick up our crosses and follow him.

Whoever we say Jesus is, he should be seen in what we do, in how we act, in the people we spend time ministering to. (Often these are not the people we find ourselves naturally drawn to. But they are the people that Jesus was drawn to: tax collectors, sinners, the lame, the sick, prostitutes, and so on.) This is the real challenge in our Baptismal promise: to pick up our cross and follow him.