Sermons Archive

Who Do You Say That I AM?
The Rev. Janice Robinson
September 17, 2006

How many of you have either heard of or read, Walking the Bible, written by Bruce Feiler? The author wrote this book as a way of exploring the Hebrew Bible. He went to the various places named in the bible, and read the text that was related to the pace. One of the things that he learned is that the places named in scripture did impact the stories we read.

Take this morning’s gospel for example. Jesus is said to have taken his disciples to Caesarea Philippi is an area that was part of the Decapolis, its northern most part. It is south of Damascus, where the headwaters of the River Jordan can be found. In the time of Jesus, this was the pace tow which Rome sent her soldiers from the eastern front of the empire for rest and relaxation. Today it is a State Park.

So this was not a quiet pace to which took his followers. Jesus was not taking them away to some quiet spot for retreat, but to a rowdy, raucous place where soldiers were bent on drinking as much as they could and having, “fun.” It is on the way to this place that Jesus asks his disciples who other people thought he was. His disciples were probably a little stunned at being asked such a question and were probably speechless initially. Finally they answer by telling him the names of some of more flattering people Jesus was thought to be, John the Baptist, or Elijah. The former was the great evangelizer, preacher, baptizer who spoke the truth to power. The latter, was the prophet, thought to be the one who was to make an appearance when the end of time, as we know it, was near.

I’m sure that there were some not so flattering names Jesus had been called, but they were sharing any of those. Scripture has reported that some accused him of being, “Beelzebub/Satan.” Like the people in the Church to which James was writing, people praised God in one breath, and cursed God’s creature, made in the image of God, with the next breath. In addition to the particularity of the place it is important to know that this teaching takes pace shortly after Jesus had fed the 5,000, which had left people wanting to be near him as a miracle worker, and not for who he was nor what he was offering, food for their hearts and minds and spirits as well as for their bodies. Jesus does not separate and split apart the whole of our human hungers.

Jesus is not interested in flattery, but in the substance of how he was being perceived. So he asks his disciples who they thought he was. Again they were silent. Whether out of fear or that they really still did not “know” who this Rabbi was after all this time, I don’t know, but trust Peter to be Peter. In his usual blunt, direct way, Peter blurts out, “You are the Messiah.” Note Jesus’ response to this confessional statement, “He sternly ordered them to tell no one about him.” In this place, bustling with Roman soldiers, discretion was the better part of valor. You could never be sure who was listening. In just a few minutes later we find Jesus calling the crowd, along with his disciples, to listen to him.

The word “Messiah” was synonymous with insurrection, and violence. Many who followed Jesus thought that he would in fact lead them into battle with Rome; that there would be a violent confrontation and Israel would be freed from her bondage. So then this place, the, “villages of Caesarea Philippi,” was a place where Jesus chose to explore with his friends and the crowds what their assumptions were about Jesus. The same question is also put to us, “Who do you say I am?” What is your Jesus like? What do you assume about him?

For a while there was a fad, “What would Jesus Do?” (WWJD). Frankly I never knew how to answer that. For we all too often put to the biblical text a question that would have no meaning in the time that Jesus walked the earth. They are questions we must answer based on who we think Jesus is and what Jesus was trying to tell us in his teaching, preaching, and healing ministry. Does your understanding of Jesus place a magic wand in his hand? Do you believe that Jesus should take away of all our hard times so that we only have “good” times? Disappointment and disillusionment will surely follow that line of thinking.

Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that he was going to go through a rough time where he will suffer, be rejected by the religious leaders, and finally be killed and rise again. That is a lot to take in. There were some who thought that the religious leaders were a “bit much” from time to time, but they would never have thought that they would cause their Rabbi to suffer. While they may not agree with him and his understanding of the scriptures and the wisdom handed down by their ancestors, they surely wouldn’t kill anyone. Jesus thought that they really needed to face reality.

Anyone who would challenge the status quo, unchallenged for hundreds of years, sharing a new understanding of the same scriptures as the people read in synagogue, was subversive. Some modern day authors have talked about the New Testament and Jesus’ teachings as, “subversive speech.” Jesus’ stance regarding the poor, his teachings about marriage, money, hatred of one another, murder, theft, sin, forgiveness and reconciliation, and obedience to God did not sit well with many, including the religious leaders.

So Jesus wants his friends to really examine what they thought about him and learn that to follow him was dangerous work. Peter can’t handle the reality, and being very emotional, and not thinking very clearly, he rebukes Jesus. Jesus’ next comment harkens to an earlier time, “Get behind me Satan!” It is reminiscent of Jesus’ temptations in the desert before he began his ministry. If you recall, that encounter, in the Luke’s gospel ends with the words, “he [Satan] departed from him until an opportune time.” Was this, that time or was it when he appeared before Pilate, with his life being threatened; perhaps it was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Perhaps it was all of those times, and others as well.

I do think that this was one of them. All he needed to do was to say, Okay, Peter you are right. Those bad things are not going to happen to me. It may have made Peter fee good, but it would not have been the reality. It would have given us the impression that nothing very hard, or serious, or dangerous is required to follow Jesus. There is no risk involved. That would not be true either. Jesus wanted his friend to know that if they were really going to follow him, they would have to do more than have theological debates with other people. It would be more than warm and wonderful friendship circles where they prayed together, and broke bread together. They would have to take unpopular positions, challenge the status quo when it did not further the demands of the kingdom.

One’s position in this world and one’s being seen as “right” may not be seen the same way in the kingdom of God. No wonder such understanding kept Jesus on his knees, metaphorically and literally, in prayer. Jesus calls the crowd together with his disciples to pay particular attention to his next statement about discipleship, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life fro my sake, and the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

So then following Jesus is risky business. It is important to figure out who Jesus is for ourselves and see whether our assumptions about him and what he asks of us squares with Jesus’ teachings about being a disciple. Did you honestly believe that you would have to carry a cross in this life because of him? How are you doing? Have you allowed anyone to be your Simon of Cyrene when all has been just too much for you to bear, or do you just go it alone saying, “No one understands, nor will they help?” Have you found yourself finding ways on which you can help to make an impact on the life of those who have insufficient resources to get the basic necessities? How have we allowed responding to the needs of others precede meeting some of our own our own needs, and I am not talking about being a martyr? How have we kept ourselves informed about policies that affect the lives of our most vulnerable citizens and participated in challenging those that seem to keep those without from gaining what they need? How did our understanding of being a disciple of Jesus, influence how we cast our votes in the Primary last Tuesday?

If I hear Jesus correctly, our very lives depend upon how we answer, and live into our assumptions. I agree with the Rev. Herbert O’Driscoll, priest, author, and teacher, “There are many levels of meaning in all of these warnings. But most obviously we are being called to a life that challenges and clashes with much that we take for granted and with the unthinking and selfish choices we make every day.” Who do we say Jesus is, and what does that mean for what we are called to do? What does our life thus far, say about what it is we believe, and just who we are following? Our reality check is meant as a way for us to make corrections not depress us, nor to judge us. It provides us a needed opportunity, and does not spell failure. Remember, Jesus teaches and preaches forgiveness. There is lies our hope and our salvation. Who do you say Jesus is?

Amen