Who do You Say that I am?
Sermon for 9-13-09
Scripture Mark 8:27-38
From the time of this scripture lesson to the current day, we hear a form of this question about Jesus “Who do they say that I am?” and a great variety of answers, both among Christians as well as non-Christians. You know sometimes it is very hard to communicate effectively. Let me tell you a story: A priest and a rabbi were fishing a creek along the side of a road one afternoon, when they realized they needed to make a sign. They pooled their resources and came up with a sign saying, "The End is Near!!" and decided to show it to any car that might come along. The first driver that drove by didn't appreciate the sign and shouted at them: "Leave me alone, you religious nuts!" In a few seconds they heard a big splash. They looked at each other in shock and the priest said to the rabbi, "Maybe we should just put up a sign that says 'Bridge Out'…"
Back to the question of the day, “Who do you say that I am?” The more conservative Christian voices, from fundamentalist and some evangelical churches, have a clear answer about Jesus’ identity based on the literal reading of the Gospels. These voices agree that Christians need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and to convince others to do the same. The voices that are more liberal or progressive are more into defining Jesus by how he lived his life and how they encounter him in prayer and life, believing that God is Still Speaking.
This morning before I get further into this sermon I want to ask you to take a pen or pencil and write down on your bulletin the first 2 or 3 words that come to your mind as I ask again, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” Many of us still have the answers that we were taught early on in Sunday School. For some of you the answer you had at age 7 or 8 no longer makes much sense but that is all you have. Don’t feel bad if it’s difficult for you to pin Jesus down; it’s difficult for us whose education and vocation are all about Jesus.
Marcus Borg, a minister, scholar, and author, talks about two paradigms for seeing Jesus. A paradigm is a comprehensive way of seeing a whole, a large framework within which we see. One paradigm is belief-centered, emphasizing the importance of having specific beliefs about Jesus, as well as God, the Bible and so forth; the other paradigm is way-centered, emphasizing that Christianity is about following Jesus on a path to transformation.1 Most UCC churches and pastors, including myself, tend to follow the second paradigm; the Gospels and the rest of the Bible are holy and sacred, yet not divine products that are inerrant, without error. I do not interpret the gospels literally but as a historical product coming from the memory and metaphors of the early Church. Borg says and I agree that the Gospels are not God’s story of Jesus but early Christianity’s story of Jesus, their memories of Jesus. In the same way the Jewish Bible, our Old Testament, is not God’s story but the Israelites’ memory of the history of that time.2
Mark is known as the earliest gospel to be written, probably somewhere between 60 to 75 or 80 CE, at least 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet from Mark’s writing, this early Christian community was still trying to come to grips with who Jesus was. Jesus as usual could sense what was going on, so he asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And then, “who do you say that I am?” Don’t you love Peter, so impetuous, so out there?! He answers, “You are the Messiah!” Did you know that Peter was the first person to ever call Jesus Messiah? Messiah means “anointed one” and the Jews had been expecting such a one for centuries. Yet this Jesus was not anything like the popular notion of what the Messiah would be like. These disciples were trying to let go of the idea of a messiah who would establish peace through violence and conquest. It was so hard for them to hear Jesus say that instead he would be the one to suffer and be killed.
After Jesus talks about his suffering and death, Peter jumps right in again, forgetting who was teacher and who was student and took Jesus aside to straighten him out. Jesus was so disturbed by this discussion that he called Peter Satan. After this conversation with Peter, Jesus felt like he needed to call the crowds together and tell it like it was with these words, “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 for my sake … will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (v.34a-36) This was a disturbing text to his followers then as well as for us now. Not only was Jesus going to suffer but if they (and we) wanted to serve him, they too (and we) would suffer, even lose our life. I wonder how many of us are ready to accept that cost of discipleship. Taking up one’s cross is not just accepting any burden, but rather being prepared to put one’s life on the line for the sake of Jesus and the gospel.
If we are going to put our life on the line for Jesus, we’d better be clear as to who he is. You know we can say who Jesus is by the way we live our lives, in our choices about how we use our resources, in our decisions about how we respond to others in our world. We say who Jesus is when we welcome children, when we reach out in support and concern to individuals, when we support mission and ministry with our pledges and our prayers. We say who Jesus is in the way we relate to one another. We say who Jesus is by how we treat both the poor and the powerful, both family and friends and neighbors near and far.
It’s also important that we use words, and especially that we are clear for ourselves as to who Jesus is. Who is this Jesus for you? Is he Lord? Savior? Friend? Brother? Teacher? Prophet? Christ? Do you see him as more of a social reformer, a radical healer, a miracle worker or a suffering Messiah? Your answer can be a word or a short sentence. Who is willing to share?
I love Jesus. For me Jesus is my teacher and my guide. He’s also my friend, someone with whom I can share my deepest thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t matter to me whether he was born of a virgin; how he died, or whether or not he ascended into heaven. For me he is alive, alive in my heart and soul! He is Christ, he and God are One and also I believe that each of us have within us the Divine Spirit and are One with God and each other. I love to share him with others. So I thank you very much for allowing me to share Jesus with you week after week as well as your being willing to share Jesus with me. Amen and Amen
1 Borg, Jesus, p.14-15.
2 Ibid., p.24
Scripture Mark 8:27-38
From the time of this scripture lesson to the current day, we hear a form of this question about Jesus “Who do they say that I am?” and a great variety of answers, both among Christians as well as non-Christians. You know sometimes it is very hard to communicate effectively. Let me tell you a story: A priest and a rabbi were fishing a creek along the side of a road one afternoon, when they realized they needed to make a sign. They pooled their resources and came up with a sign saying, "The End is Near!!" and decided to show it to any car that might come along. The first driver that drove by didn't appreciate the sign and shouted at them: "Leave me alone, you religious nuts!" In a few seconds they heard a big splash. They looked at each other in shock and the priest said to the rabbi, "Maybe we should just put up a sign that says 'Bridge Out'…"
Back to the question of the day, “Who do you say that I am?” The more conservative Christian voices, from fundamentalist and some evangelical churches, have a clear answer about Jesus’ identity based on the literal reading of the Gospels. These voices agree that Christians need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and to convince others to do the same. The voices that are more liberal or progressive are more into defining Jesus by how he lived his life and how they encounter him in prayer and life, believing that God is Still Speaking.
This morning before I get further into this sermon I want to ask you to take a pen or pencil and write down on your bulletin the first 2 or 3 words that come to your mind as I ask again, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” Many of us still have the answers that we were taught early on in Sunday School. For some of you the answer you had at age 7 or 8 no longer makes much sense but that is all you have. Don’t feel bad if it’s difficult for you to pin Jesus down; it’s difficult for us whose education and vocation are all about Jesus.
Marcus Borg, a minister, scholar, and author, talks about two paradigms for seeing Jesus. A paradigm is a comprehensive way of seeing a whole, a large framework within which we see. One paradigm is belief-centered, emphasizing the importance of having specific beliefs about Jesus, as well as God, the Bible and so forth; the other paradigm is way-centered, emphasizing that Christianity is about following Jesus on a path to transformation.1 Most UCC churches and pastors, including myself, tend to follow the second paradigm; the Gospels and the rest of the Bible are holy and sacred, yet not divine products that are inerrant, without error. I do not interpret the gospels literally but as a historical product coming from the memory and metaphors of the early Church. Borg says and I agree that the Gospels are not God’s story of Jesus but early Christianity’s story of Jesus, their memories of Jesus. In the same way the Jewish Bible, our Old Testament, is not God’s story but the Israelites’ memory of the history of that time.2
Mark is known as the earliest gospel to be written, probably somewhere between 60 to 75 or 80 CE, at least 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet from Mark’s writing, this early Christian community was still trying to come to grips with who Jesus was. Jesus as usual could sense what was going on, so he asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And then, “who do you say that I am?” Don’t you love Peter, so impetuous, so out there?! He answers, “You are the Messiah!” Did you know that Peter was the first person to ever call Jesus Messiah? Messiah means “anointed one” and the Jews had been expecting such a one for centuries. Yet this Jesus was not anything like the popular notion of what the Messiah would be like. These disciples were trying to let go of the idea of a messiah who would establish peace through violence and conquest. It was so hard for them to hear Jesus say that instead he would be the one to suffer and be killed.
After Jesus talks about his suffering and death, Peter jumps right in again, forgetting who was teacher and who was student and took Jesus aside to straighten him out. Jesus was so disturbed by this discussion that he called Peter Satan. After this conversation with Peter, Jesus felt like he needed to call the crowds together and tell it like it was with these words, “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 for my sake … will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (v.34a-36) This was a disturbing text to his followers then as well as for us now. Not only was Jesus going to suffer but if they (and we) wanted to serve him, they too (and we) would suffer, even lose our life. I wonder how many of us are ready to accept that cost of discipleship. Taking up one’s cross is not just accepting any burden, but rather being prepared to put one’s life on the line for the sake of Jesus and the gospel.
If we are going to put our life on the line for Jesus, we’d better be clear as to who he is. You know we can say who Jesus is by the way we live our lives, in our choices about how we use our resources, in our decisions about how we respond to others in our world. We say who Jesus is when we welcome children, when we reach out in support and concern to individuals, when we support mission and ministry with our pledges and our prayers. We say who Jesus is in the way we relate to one another. We say who Jesus is by how we treat both the poor and the powerful, both family and friends and neighbors near and far.
It’s also important that we use words, and especially that we are clear for ourselves as to who Jesus is. Who is this Jesus for you? Is he Lord? Savior? Friend? Brother? Teacher? Prophet? Christ? Do you see him as more of a social reformer, a radical healer, a miracle worker or a suffering Messiah? Your answer can be a word or a short sentence. Who is willing to share?
I love Jesus. For me Jesus is my teacher and my guide. He’s also my friend, someone with whom I can share my deepest thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t matter to me whether he was born of a virgin; how he died, or whether or not he ascended into heaven. For me he is alive, alive in my heart and soul! He is Christ, he and God are One and also I believe that each of us have within us the Divine Spirit and are One with God and each other. I love to share him with others. So I thank you very much for allowing me to share Jesus with you week after week as well as your being willing to share Jesus with me. Amen and Amen
1 Borg, Jesus, p.14-15.
2 Ibid., p.24
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:00 PM
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