Sermon 8/21/05
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Earlier this year, on Trinity Sunday, we talked about how we define God. In our efforts to understand God, we’ve tried to box God in in different ways, labeling God, describing God, putting God into creeds and doctrines. We talked about how the early church struggled with understanding God and how they articulated, drawing on the scriptures, this idea of Trinity – God as our parent, God as Jesus Christ, and God as the Holy Spirit. The Trinity remains hard to explain, hard to pin down – and for this, I am sometimes frustrated, but mostly grateful. God is beyond our definitions, and I think that is a good thing. But what about Jesus, whose life unfolds for us in the gospels? Do we know who Jesus is? Have we boxed him in too? Do we know what his character and his nature is? Who is Jesus – how do we define him?
Jesus wants to know the answer to these questions too, as we read in our gospel lesson today. He and his disciples have just arrived in Caesarea of Philippi. By now, Jesus has been preaching and teaching and healing around the countryside, and people have been talking about him. He’s name is on people’s lips, and the gossip is about this Jesus-character. So Jesus wants to know, naturally, what is being said about him. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” he asks. The disciples respond: “Well, some have been saying you are John the Baptist,” which doesn’t make much sense, of course, since Jesus and John were cousins. But after John’s beheading, apparently some people thought Jesus was John come quickly back to life again. Others say Jesus is Elijah – the Jewish people believed that Elijah would come again as a forerunner to the Messiah. And still others called Jesus Elijah, or another prophet. Then Jesus gets to the heart of it, saying to his disciples, those closest to him: But you, who do you say that I am? Jesus wants to know what they think, because after all, if they don’t get it, who will? Peter answers: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus likes what he hears, and gives Peter a blessing, telling him that God has revealed Jesus’ identity to him, and that Peter will be given the keys to the kingdom, and will become the rock, the foundation on which the church is built. But Jesus then concludes that the disciples aren’t to tell anyone of his identity as Messiah. I’ve wondered about the last part of this story – why doesn’t Jesus want his disciples to tell others that he is the Messiah? Aren’t we supposed to share this message? Why did Jesus want to keep it hidden? Why did Jesus want to know so badly if others had figured out who he was, only to want it kept a secret once they found the answer?
I’ve recently been subscribing to a magazine called Relevant Magazine, aimed at twenty and thirty something Christians. In the most recent issues, I happened on an article entitled, “O Jesus, Who Art Thou?” The author, Jason Boyett, talks about society’s quest to figure out what kind of Jesus they want. He looks back through time and categorizes the Jesus’ we have loved: According to Boyett, there’s Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild, the Jesus pictured in the most classic paintings, where Jesus his nicely brushed blonde hair and delicate features; Or there’s Christ Hippified, where Jesus is “the ultimate hippie,” wrapped in a tie-dyed robe. There’s also, among others, Romanticized Boyfriend Jesus, and The Wild-Hearted Jesus, and, most recently, the Jesus Is My Homeboy phenomenon. Boyett concludes his review saying, “so here we are. It’s 2005, and again, Jesus is the new ‘it’ guy. Who do you say that He is?” (1) The article is meant to be somewhat humorous, but it also seriously describes how we have attempted to mold Jesus into our own image, to make Jesus conform with our own agendas, instead of molding ourselves into Jesus’ image.
The world of fiction has also been fixated on defining Jesus lately. Recently, all the rage in books has been over Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code. Many have turned through its pages with great speed, enjoying every plot twist and turn. Some have welcomed the book for the intriguing and provocative religious questions it raises. Some have been convinced of the facts that the book claims to uncover, believing a conspiracy in the church has taken place to cover up Jesus’ true identity. Others have been horrified by the book, feeling that it will only lead faithful Christians astray and confuse them about traditional doctrines. After hearing that many of you had read the book, I decided to read the novel myself. I certainly enjoyed the book as a good mystery, and like most books, I found it to be a mixture of fact and fiction blended together to make a thought-provoking story. I don’t want to spoil the novel for any of you who haven’t read it, but might. So let me simply say of the story that the plot revolves around the quest for the Holy Grail, and, wrapped up in it, the identity of Jesus. The book seeks to get at who Jesus was – after all, our gospels record just snippets of Jesus’ life. The DaVinci Code toys with the “what ifs” and unknowns about Jesus, and I’m glad to recommend the book to you – for fun, and for a challenge, and for some intriguing fiction.
From my point of view, it is only natural, and even beneficial to our faith, to have all these questions about Jesus’ identity. We do want to know, don’t we, as much as we can about this Jesus who is the center of our faith lives. What was his everyday life like? Did he have a family? What did he do on all those days and during all those times that nothing is recorded in the gospels? What kind of relationships did he have with his disciples and the others who followed him during the down times? We say and sing that Jesus is our friend, our savior, our redeemer – but how well do we know Jesus? How can we know him better?
So, to answer my own earlier question about why Jesus didn’t want the disciples to tell others he was the Messiah – I think it is because we have to figure out who Jesus to us. I think the message Jesus has for us, in part, is that we all must determine our own responses to his question. Who do you say that Jesus is? Like the disciples, we’ve probably heard many possible answers to the question. In today’s society, some see Jesus as obsolete – someone who might have mattered long ago, but isn’t meaningful today. Others see Jesus as a great teacher. Others see him as the ultimate martyr. Others see him as divine and holy and perhaps a bit too distant. Or, like the article I quoted, we see Jesus as one we can fit into our boxes, a Jesus who will endorse our views and platforms and plans. Who do you say that Jesus is? In the end, Jesus doesn’t want us to use another person’s answer as our own. We must come to know Jesus as Christ by our own path, with our own struggles, on our own faith journeys. This means that no two of us will have the same experience. No two of us will come to know Christ in the exact same way. All of us get to have our own unique relationship. And Jesus will be your messiah only if you are ready and willing and open to seeing him in that role. Peter had evaluated the information he had. He’d seen Jesus heal and teach and preach. He’d heard what other had to say about him. He’d heard what Jesus had to say to him, how Jesus had called him and named him. And so, knowing all that, with all those experience, Peter was ready to say: Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
How will you define Jesus? Is he your friend? Your shepherd? Your savior? Your messiah? Who do you say he is?
Amen.
(1) Jason Boyett, “O Jesus, Who Art Thou?”, Relevant Magazine, July/August 2005, 40-43.