"Who is Jesus Christ?!"

My biggest disappointment this week was that I didn't have the story of Moses and the burning bush to work with since we're talking about "Who do you say that I am?"

My second biggest disappointment was that I was so drawn to the Gospel reading that I couldn't work with the First Lesson from Exodus about Moses being picked out of the water by Pharaoh's daughter...and the two Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah who saved many a male child with their cunning and devotion to God. 

But the Gospel did provide me with some things to say. 

I chose not to dive too deeply into the conversation that I had with Bishop Howard. If you really want to get more of that story, I refer you to this entry from earlier this year.

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Texts: Matthew 16:13-20; Romans 12:1-8

 

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?”

I’m pretty sure I’ve already shared this story with y’all, but given this Gospel lesson, it’s worth telling it again.

About ten years ago… after wrestling with this nagging idea that God was calling me to ordained ministry… I told my then rector at my church in Tallahassee that I was going to have to leave his church and transfer my membership to St. Thomas in Thomasville.

Given how active I was… this distressed and alarmed him. So he made a call to Bishop John Howard of Florida and requested that the bishop meet with me.

The bishop agreed and my rector went with me.

We made the long thunkity-thunkity drive along I-10 to Jacksonville.

We prayed before we went into the offices on Market Street.

And then I endured a 45-minute oral examination on the catechism by the bishop.

I remembered that I was in the middle of answering one of his questions when he abruptly stopped me with yet another question:

He demanded to know: “Who is Jesus Christ?”

(Now, in my head, I’m thinking, ‘You’re a bishop and you don’t know who Jesus Christ is?!’ Of course, I didn’t say that).

I remember smiling, and with almost that Peter-like wonder and certainty, the words spilled out of my mouth:

“Jesus Christ is the greatest liberator from oppression ever!”

It wasn’t some rehearsed answer.

It wasn’t something I picked up from a book.

It was something that came from the very depths of my heart… from the experiences I had had of a love and a life that knew me… the whole me… and gave voice to how Jesus kicks open the closed doors that limit our sense of self… and self-worth… and gives us the strength and courage to stand for justice and respecting the dignity of ourselves and all human beings.

When I said those words… my body was flooded with a warmth that Peter must have felt when Jesus blessed him with the nickname, “The Rock.”

Simon…now nicknamed “Peter… The Rock” had given voice to something greater than anything he could’ve asked or imagined on his own.

And he made this bold confession in the presence of the others… all of whom had attempted to give a “right” answer to the question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

Now… to be fair to the disciples… Jesus’ question was about “What’s the buzz on the street” about his identity. And they were being truthful.

People really didn’t know what to make of this itinerant rabbi… and they were falling back on the things they did know.

They knew about the prophets.

They knew about John the Baptist.

They also knew the hardships and yet faithfulness of Jeremiah standing in the midst of the ruins and crisis of the Jewish diaspora.

It’s also important to know where Jesus and the disciples are when he’s asking them this question.

They’ve been on quite the trek through the Palestinian countryside.

As we heard last week… they were in region of Tyre and Sidon with the Canaanite woman along the Mediterranean Sea.

They’ve traveled down along the Sea of Galilee up a mountain where Jesus healed and fed four thousand people.

And now they’re standing in the middle Caesera Phillipi… which is about twenty miles north of the Sea of Galilee almost to the Syrian border… so about the distance of here to Lakeland. 

This city has changed hands several times. And while there are Jewish residents…it is largely pagan territory.

In fact… scholars believe this whole exchange with Jesus is happening in front of a grotto dedicated to the birthplace of Pan… the Greek god of nature, fields, forests, mountains, flocks and shepherds.

So this discussion about the identity of Jesus is occurring in a place and at a time when this fledgling movement he’s leading is coming more into focus.

Jesus and the disciples are distinguishing themselves as Jews with a slightly different focus from that held by the scribes and the Pharisees.

In a way… Jesus’ question to the disciples is a little bit like crafting the mission statement for who this group is going to be.

How do they envision living and practicing and being this movement?

How do they know and understand what it is to be a follower of the ‘Son of the Living God’?

As much as these questions are about honing in on the identity of Jesus… it is also helping the disciples become clearer about their own identities as part of the Jesus Movement.

And—again—these questions posed and asked and pondered so many centuries ago remain the same questions for us today.

When we think about who is Jesus Christ…how do we answer that question?

How do we make a Peter-like confession… especially in our world where there are fewer and fewer people who profess a belief in Jesus Christ or even bother to associate with the Christian Church at all?

Do we recite the rote answers we learned in Sunday School or a catechism class?

Or do we allow Jesus’ question to lead us to our own break out moment of finding the words… the images… or the phrases that tell our story and what Jesus has meant to us?

Is Jesus a liberator?

A friend?

A model of a life to emulate?

If you don’t have an answer to that question today… or even tomorrow… that’s OK. Prayer and time are all part of the work of discipleship…and discipleship isn’t a destination; it’s a lifelong journey.

In Paul’s Letter to the Romans… he notes that we are all given different gifts… different ways in which God is working in us and through us to accomplish the mission of God to bring relief to those in need…and freedom to those getting weighed down.

When we know who Jesus is…who Jesus was… and continues to be for us…it’s like a supercharge to those gifts so we can make strides toward ending the various “isms”—racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism—that continue to keep us divided and angry as a people.

When we know Jesus then we too will be like Peter…the rock upon which God’s dream for this world will become more fully and beautifully realized through us and our interactions with others.

In the name of God….F/S/HS.