SERMON FROM 21 Aug, 2011
14 "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."
15 Then he asked them, "But who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah,* the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John,* because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means 'rock'),* and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell* will not conquer it.19 And I will give you the keys of the
20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Who is Jesus? “Who do you say I am?” The early church, prior to the 4th century, had a huge spectrum of beliefs the whole Jesus question – including a whole lot of other issues as well. It spanned the spectrum:
He was a wise itinerant rabbi,
he was a very special man (perhaps even somehow touched by God, or even used by God),
he was the return of one of the prophets (it’s in the text above-“Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or the other
prophets.”)
Some even thought later that he was part God – perhaps even 50% each.
Some said he was totally spirit, and had no physicality at all!
He was God’s son, and was made so at his baptism…
at his birth…
he was God even prior to his birth!
This variety of belief, as you can see, spanned a real diversity of thought!
Jewish tradition had, and still has, a long history of being held together among even real “difference of beliefs”. What makes/made you a Jew? If we were Jews, we’d say… we live a Jewish life! THAT is what would make us Jews!
Christianity, even in its variety, was different. As a Christian, what distinguished you? What made you a follower of “the way”, was your BELIEF! This is reflected in the story today… “but who do you say I am?” “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.” This story, and particularly what Peter responds, started out as, and has remained since then, a statement of the Christian faith!
Let’s personalize this. If we’d lived in the time of Jesus, how would our experience of the Jesus of history have impacted us? How would this have impacted our theology? Impacting questions of who God was… what God was… what God expected from us… how we were supposed to live?
How would personal experience of Jesus have impacted us? If you’d been there – and seen Jesus – and heard him speak, about life and God and how we fit into the whole thing – and seen some miracles or something – how would that have impacted your beliefs?... the way you would have lived your life?
Had we been there then… how would this have impacted us?
The thing is… we didn’t live back then! We live NOW! With our theology, our understandings, the things we agree with and disagree with, the theology we accept, and the theology we don’t accept.
I’ve heard theologians critique American Christianity as a “cafeteria style” theology. There are a lot of beliefs out there- Christian and non-Christian… and everything in between. And they see us as going through the cafeteria line, picking and choosing, putting what we like on our trays, and avoiding all together what we don’t like.
I’ve even heard of some pastors who’ve left the ministry because they couldn’t reconcile their personal beliefs with the beliefs of the church. There was too much tension between the two sides; the church and their personal beliefs.
“Who do you say I am?”
The general Christian churches menu of who Jesus is, is much narrower now than it was back in the first few centuries after Jesus. The official church “choices” of who Jesus is, is today rather limited. There are many people –even here perhaps – who still come to church, but still consciously pick from another menu concerning the question… “Who do you say that I am?”
So, here I am… In a religion – Christianity... in a denomination – Lutheran… in a congregation perhaps… where peoples personal beliefs may not agree with church doctrine.
But I am also part of a church of history – a church of doctrine – a church of faith – transmitted from one generation to the next through our teachings, through our beliefs. From generation to generation, our fundamental beliefs are passed on.
“Who do you say I am?”
The church says – this is who Jesus is: 100% God and 100% human, with a life like ours, with experiences like ours, with an origin like ours… except different.
The Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed are a way of moving that faith from one generation to the next, handed down from age to age. And we take our place in this line of saints to receive and hold.
To receive and hold perhaps in tension with the faith we must put into practice in our own lives, in our own time, sometimes through the meat-grinder of our own experiences.
What is the answer to “Who do you say I am?” – in the edgy experience of the inner city
What is the answer to “Who do you say I am?” – from someone living the busy suburban lifestyle
What is the answer to “Who do you say I am?” – as people suffer hunger, disease, underemployment, homelessness
What is the answer to “Who do you say I am?” – as a pregnant teen girl
What is the answer to “Who do you say I am?” – to those suffering with deep guilt or remorse or anger or resentment
What is the answer to “Who do you say I am?” – in the “developed” world – full of it’s technological magic, versus the third world, where life is often a lot harder and a lot shorter.
Who do you say I am? …if our faith has not been tested, or been tested severely?
…if the church says one thing, but your heart and mind say another?
…if doctrine says one thing, but your life experience says another?
Who do you say I am? When the faith of history says this, but the faith of your present says that?
Can we be faithful to the question – Who do you say I am?... really faithful… and hold the two sides in tension… and live in that tension?
Maybe for some, there is no tension at all. Maybe for some there is too much tension, threatening to tear life apart for a while. But maybe for most of us, most of the time, there is enough tension to keep the question very much alive… to keep the faith very much alive… to keep Christianity very much alive… in us!
Maybe we can walk in the footsteps of our spiritual ancestors… maybe we can carry their faith, as charged to us by them… maybe we can look at the pieces – study them – and blend them into our lives… knowing the answer to the question “Who do you say I am?” has a definite start point, but not necessarily a definite end point.
So let’s walk with that, let’s start with that… and let’s look eye to eye with Jesus and – with the gifts of our ancestral past and the gifts of our life experience – begin to answer the question.. .”Who do you say I am?”
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