Who do you say Jesus is?

(c) 2014 C. B. Park, all rights reserved

 

A Baptist, a Roman Catholic and an Episcopalian die at the exact same nanosecond and go to heaven. St. Peter meets them at the gate. He apologizes and says that because of a theological glitch, only one of them can get in since they died at exactly the same time.

“However,” Peter said. “The good news is that Jesus himself is going to conduct the entrance interview to decide who gets in.” So, Jesus comes to the gate and, after apologizing again for the bad theology, begins the interviews.

“Who do you say that I am?” he asks the Baptist.

“Well, the Bible says…”

HONK – “Wrong,” says Jesus. “But thank you for playing. Then he turns to the Roman Catholic.  “Who do you say that I am?” he asks.

“Well, the Pope says…”

HONK – “Wrong.” says Jesus. “But thank you for playing.” Exasperated, Jesus turns to the Episcopalian.  “Who do you say that I am?”

The Episcopalian replies, “You are the Messiah. The Son of the Living God who has come from heaven to save the world from sin.”

Overjoyed, Jesus says to the Episcopalian, “Thank heaven! Come right on in.”

And then the Episcopalian says, “But, on the other hand…..”

Okay…this is a light-hearted poke of fun with today’s Gospel, but Jesus didn’t ask that question lightly.  He was in need of information.  In his world, honor was an attribute with a limited quantity. To be listened to, to make a difference, you must be afforded honor by those who follow you.  Of course, since to get honor for yourself, you would have to be given it or have taken from someone else who had honor.  No wonder Jesus said that a prophet had no honor in his home town.  So, Jesus is checking out his street cred with the disciples. What kind of honor does he possess? Just how dangerous is his mission getting?

Then, he gets personal.  What do the disciples think? Will they buy in? Do they support this amount of honor in him? Is Jesus another John the Baptist? Is he another prophet sent from God to tell them why they are in this mess?

Is he the One to lead them away from Roman oppression?  Then Peter speaks, as usual without pondering for just one moment over the consequences of his actions.  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

Right answer, Peter.  Thank you for playing.

Who do you say Jesus is?  Do you use words like “Personal Savior” or “Son of God” or “Messiah?”  Do you say he is a prophet? a rabbi? a teacher? a physician?  All or none of the above? The problem in today’s context is that these titles or labels for Jesus have become institutional jargon that means nothing.  They no longer carry honor.  We have to go more deeply to connect to Jesus these days.  What are the actions that lie beneath those titles or labels?  What does it mean to be Messiah? to be a personal savior? Is it like a personal trainer?  A life coach? Maybe. Maybe not.  What matters is that we sell Jesus short by reducing his identity to something that can be printed on a business card.  Jesus is not his job description.  

(hint, hint – neither are we)  

If Jesus asked me today who I say that he is, I couldn’t answer in 140 characters or with a lovely photo scene on Instagram or Facebook.  Jesus is a relationship.  And relationships are messy and, well, complicated.  Good relationships are full of love and at the same time laced with tension. Sometimes Jesus is a big brother who protects me; sometimes he is the mother who feeds me. Sometimes, Jesus is the provocateur who forces me to widen my thinking and challenges my presuppositions and assumptions, just like he was challenged by the Canaanite woman.  Sometimes, I’m the Canaanite woman challenging him.*

Who I – who you – say Jesus is can only be a first step on our journey.  Remember our friend Peter?  After his verbal blurt, Jesus doesn’t pat Peter on the head and say “Good job, Rocky, now it’s Miller Time.” No. He says, “On this rock I will build my church.”  To further his ministry and mission, Jesus is putting all his faith in the testimony of a less-than-perfect human being.  The reward for recognizing Jesus for who he is – for affirming his relationship with him – Peter is now responsible for building the community further.  This is our reward, our privilege, as well.

Jesus may feel like MY big brother, but a relationship with Jesus isn’t just a personal one.  We have to share him.  If things aren’t already messy enough, we have to be in relationship with all the other people who claim him as a “personal savior.”  When Peter declared Jesus to be the Son of the Living God, he actually encapsulated what Jesus had been teaching: that God is for everyone.  It’s no wonder we just want to worship him and be done with it.  Following Jesus is work.

Following Jesus means looking hard at the examples he set for us: Listening to and engaging people in ministry without looking down on them; touching people who are sick; taking time to pray and honor the Sabbath; being challenged by but not getting defensive with people of other faith practices.  All of this requires much more from us than being ‘nice’ and showing up once a week for an hour or so. Because we believe he is what we say he is, and that confession compels us to follow his example, Jesus requires of us a 24/7 commitment. A Christian is always on call. (And you thought this was reserved only for clergy!)  What might that look like?

 

A friend of mine, a nurse at a local hospital, told me one time that she had a particularly difficult patient on her floor one day.  One of the staff told her that she wouldn’t tend to the patient because of the person’s behavior and language.  The staff member was wearing a gold cross.  My nurse friend could have approached this situation from a supervisory point of view, but she didn’t.  Instead, she took the staff member aside and asked if the gold cross was indicative of her faith as a Christian.  The staff member said yes.  That’s when my friend said, “Then, go do what a Christian would do. God do what Jesus would do. Take care of the patient because he is a child of God.  He’s just having a temper tantrum at the moment.”

On the other hand, it might look like the EfM mentor I recently met who welcomed back into her class a woman who had had a stroke and wanted to finish her 4^th year.  Even though she wasn’t able to speak, the mentor and her group made a space for the woman so that she could be in community as she began to heal.

On the other hand, it might look like a dad coaching a soccer team and teaching the kids more than just the game.  Coaches have the opportunity to teach the rules, but they also teach about disappointment and how to recover from loss, and how to win gently, upholding the honor of the opposite team’s members and coaches.

On the other hand….well, you tell me.

Amen.

*Bishop Price commented: “Sometimes?”

(c) 2014 C. B. Park, all rights reserved