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September 13, 2009

A Reflection of Our Beliefs

Sermon, 9/13/09 A Reflection of our Beliefs
Mark 8:27-38

If you’ve ever watched sports, you’ve seen winning plays followed by some kind of reference to God’s hand in the events. Running around the bases, a player points to the sky and then looks up, thumping his chest with this other hand. After making a touchdown, a player kneels in the end zone. Standing at the free throw line, a player makes the sign of the cross before taking his shot. And we’ve all heard a player from the winning team thank his Lord and Savior for helping him to achieve this victory.

Gratitude for your athletic abilities is healthy and shows some humility. Assuming that Jesus helped you hit that homerun, make that touchdown or win the championship game is quite another.

If… and this is some conjecture on my part, if Jesus happened to be around after the big championship game, I imagine he’d be hanging out with the team that lost. They’d need him more than the winners at that moment. As a beleaguered Cubs fan, I am more than willing to imagine Jesus in someone else’s locker room for a change…

Seriously, our image of Jesus is important—for a number of reasons. Jesus knows this and that is why he brings up the question in this morning’s gospel reading. Having been preaching, teaching, and healing throughout the region of Galilee, Jesus and his disciples head north to the region of Caesarea Philippi. At that time, Caesarea Philippi was a predominately Roman area where altars had been erected to a variety of pagan gods. People came here to worship these gods. It is in this place of pagan worship, that Jesus turns to his disciples and asks them, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples offer up a variety of Jewish prophets—Elijah, John the Baptist, and others (presumably minor prophets from the Hebrew Bible).

Public opinion has placed Jesus as another prophet from a nation that was familiar with prophets. In general, most Jewish prophets called someone to task—the religious leaders, the King or ruling class, or the people themselves. Most prophets reminded the people of God’s mighty acts in their history, called them to repent of their ways and return to God. Some prophets where known to travel around preaching and teaching. Some prophets healed people. So the public opinion, that Jesus was a prophet, was a good guess.

Jesus turns to his disciples for their personal opinion. “But who do you say that I am?” Peter, speaking for the disciples says, “You are the Messiah.” The reader is thinking, “Good job Peter. You have correctly identified Jesus.” But as soon as Peter says this, Jesus sternly tells the disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah. That seems funny, doesn’t it? Jesus’ actions have generated a lot of interest and attention from ordinary Jews and the religious leaders. If the disciples have figured out that Jesus is the Messiah, why not let them tell others? Let’s see if the text gives us any insight into why Jesus sternly ordered them to say nothing.

Now that the disciples have verbalized who Jesus is, Jesus openly, without parables, informs them of what will happen. The Messiah will endure great suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Peter ushers Jesus off to the side and reprimands him—“What do you mean? That’s not the way things are supposed to go. The Messiah is someone who is going to save us from our Roman oppressors. Our Messiah is going to help us overthrow Rome and usher in a new age. We’ve suffered long enough!” In other words, don’t mess with our image of the Messiah. This is what we are expecting and this is what needs to happen.

Jesus is stern with Peter. He doesn’t try to explain anything to Peter at this point. Jesus equates Peter’s rebuke with Satan’s hold on humanity and Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me. What I am saying is beyond your ability to comprehend right now.” Watch and see how God works. Then Jesus openly instructs them. “If any want to become my followers, they will have to relinquish control of their lives. It will mean surrendering to God’s divine agenda, not their human agenda. It will require more than a verbal pronouncement. It will require actions that match.

We’ve all read about the disciples’ behavior. How they deserted Jesus during his moment of need. How their words and actions didn’t match up. Eventually, we know that the disciples are able to express their faith Jesus. And they are able to express it in not just words but actions too. Their lives reflect their belief in Jesus so strongly that others come to know Jesus through them.
What about us? Jesus is standing before us right now and he is asking each one of us. “Who do you say that I am?” Have you given this question any thought? What would your response be? Are you able to articulate it for yourself or would you be saying what you thought Jesus wanted to hear? Like the early disciples, Jesus’ question challenges us to express our thoughts and feelings about who Jesus is for us. Jesus wants strong, dedicated disciples. This means having the ability to articulate our faith in a cohesive way through word and deed.

In many cases, I believe the church has failed to do a good job building strong disciples. Instead of providing tools and opportunities for people to articulate their faith, the church has become a social club. We have focused on our relationship with each other instead of our relationship with our neighbor and Jesus. The church has lost our way. We are not a place where lives are challenged and changed. Unfortunately, we’ve seen the results. We can do better. We will do better. One of the ways we become strong disciples is when we work out our faith together through questions, dialogue, and struggle rather than being given spoon-fed answers. Being a disciple is to reflect on who Jesus is and then to put flesh on this belief—through our speech, actions, and focus.

Who is Jesus to you? Is he a friend? What kind of a friend—a fair weather friend? Or does he stick with you even when you’ve ignored him for weeks or years on end? Is he the kind of friend who only hangs with people who are from the same economic, social or cultural background? Or does he challenge you to take the time to get to know people and not make snap judgments based on looks and labels?

Who is Jesus to you? Is he the great physician? One young woman shares her story about following Jesus through the illness of a beloved family member. She is willing to let go of her need for a physical cure because she has seen and experienced a different kind of healing in her life—a kind of healing that is counter-intuitive to our human need but happens when we allow God to work in our life.

Who is Jesus to you? Is he your victorious king? Do you evaluate your life on a scale of winning and losing? If I’m doing what Jesus wants me to do, I’ll be successful, a winner. Or do you realize that most situations in life have nothing to do with winning and losing, they are about peace and reconciliation? And how do you interact with people who don’t have God in their life? Do you to try to “win” them for Jesus by telling them what they need? Or are you willing to let go of your preconceived notions about what they need and really listen to them?

Jesus’ words to his disciples provide a strong reminder to us this morning. If we are going to dedicate ourselves to follow Jesus, our lives will change. It will be difficult. And we need to be in a community of other people who want to follow Jesus, who want to be dedicated disciples, so we can help each other stay on the path. To follow Jesus is to be challenged in ALL of our relationships in Jesus’ counter-intuitive way.

Like Peter, many of us will be quick to say, Yes, I want to follow you Jesus. But the minute we think we know how life should be progressing, and it is not; we take off on our rants and raves as we are prone to do. Being in Christian community provides us with the support and accountability we need to keep our commitment to follow Jesus. Authentic Christian community provides a place for people to be real; to ask questions and share doubts; to be vulnerable and admit our tendency to hold onto what we are comfortable with rather than deny ourselves so that others can share in the bounty.

Jesus continually asks that question, “Who do you say that I am?” If we don’t hear the question, then maybe we’re not listening. As those who have gathered here this morning because we want to follow Jesus, his question is directed at us. It challenges us to reflect, articulate, and live out who Jesus is to us—not just once in a while but every day. It stands to reason then, that our mission as the church is to invite others to embark on following Jesus with us. Not so we can spoon-feed them the “right” answers. So we can invite them to struggle with Jesus’ question along with us…
Who do you say that I am?

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM