Romans 12:1-8
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
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But I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
I was running errands the other day and the check-out lanes were all long and backed up. I was absentmindedly looking at the array of stuff lining the lane. Chapstick and extra batteries. Twix bars. Peanut butter cups. Tic Tacs. Chewing Gum. Magazines. And then, of course, a display of four different “news sources” with the following bogus headlines:
Princess Diana: Her Untold Story
Tom Cruise Escapes Death!
Taylor Swift: Shocking Courtroom Details
FBI Boss J. Edgar Hoover Killed Kennedy!
Ah, the tabloids. Where otherwise sensible people go to entertain themselves with gossip, half-truths, sensational fabrications, and the latest rumblings of the rumor mill.
I wonder what the tabloids would have said about Jesus while he was in the midst of his ministry.
Teenage girl gives birth to miracle baby!
Local man sees ghost walking on water!
Paralyzed man claims miracle cure - pictures on page two!
Jesus and Peter: The Untold Story
When Jesus arrives at Caesarea Philippi in today’s gospel, there is plenty of buzz preceding him. He’s been on a wild tear of miracles and teachings and parables; feeding thousands, walking on water, healing the sick, scuffling with the religious leaders, reaching across boundaries. He’s a political threat, a religious rabble-rouser, and a curiosity. The rumors about him are flying.
Jesus takes stock of the gossip. “Who do people say that I am?” he asks his disciples. The answers vary. John the Baptist, Elijah, maybe Jeremiah, maybe one of the other prophets.
Then Jesus looks the disciples square in the eye. “And who do you say that I am?” Boom. Challenge extended.
When we look at today’s gospel and try to figure out how we fit into the story, this question is at the center of things. Who do we say that Jesus is?
There are (at least) three important things that we can learn from today’s gospel.
First, that Jesus is far more concerned with relationship than with knowledge. Jesus challenges his disciples not just to know about him, but to know him. The conversation doesn’t end after the disciples answer the question, “Who do other people say that I am?” Jesus wants to know what the disciples have come to believe about him for themselves. Because faith in Jesus is not merely an act of accumulating knowledge or signing off on a series of theological statements. The Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith and draws us into relationship with Jesus. This is a relationship of grace, of forgiveness, of love and mercy.
The life of faith begun at baptism is a life of discerning the answer to the question, “Who do you say that I am?” It’s the point of our Christian education and confirmation ministries. It’s the purpose of sharing the Word together in worship and in personal devotion. It’s the goal of meeting Christ at the table in bread and wine. Not that we merely know about Jesus, but that we know Jesus, crucified and risen, and that this relationship with the living God makes us bold to proclaim our faith in the world and carry on the work of the kingdom that has been entrusted to us.
Second, we only truly know Jesus when we know him through the lens of the cross. Jesus is about to teach the disciples all about his suffering and death and resurrection, and he wants them to know that his truest identity is not found in the wonders and miracles he’s been doing, but in his work on the cross.
If we want to know who Jesus is and if we want to know how Jesus works in the world, we have to look at the cross. Jesus on the cross puts himself in solidarity with all those who in this world are suffering and dying. Jesus on the cross reveals the depths of God’s love for everybody who struggles, everybody who doesn’t have it all together, everybody who stumbles, everybody who knows pain. Jesus comes to forgive, to heal, to resurrect; he comes to destroy evil and stomp down death underfoot. But the power to do these things comes through meekness and not through might. So answer the question, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” we must proclaim a Jesus who walks alongside the vulnerable, and not a Jesus who endorses our own delusions of grandeur. We must live our lives of faith accordingly.
Third, Jesus calls his followers to be brave in what we believe and how we live. For the disciples, life is getting a little bit uncomfortable. The religious leaders and the political leaders are mounting a campaign to arrest and kill Jesus. Following Jesus is becoming riskier and riskier. Faith and the empire are clashing. It is time to pick sides. Jesus wants to know where the disciples stand. Are they brave enough to claim their relationship with Jesus? Are they going to stand up, even when it is unpopular or dangerous? Can they be trusted to carry on the work of the kingdom, even after Jesus has been taken away to the cross?
The stakes are high for the disciples. The stakes are high for us.
In later warnings to the disciples, Jesus will say, “Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray.”
Answering the question, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” involves a great deal of soul-searching and a great deal of discernment and a great deal of courage. Because Jesus is asking you which version of him you will cling to and which version of him you will decide to follow and which version of him you will proclaim, and he challenging you to resist any version of him that would lead people astray from God’s love.
Because many will come in Jesus’s name, carrying torches and saying, “white lives matter most.” Many will come in Jesus’s name, throwing our GLBTQ siblings out of the church and saying, “love the sinner, hate the sin.” Many will come in Jesus’s name, stockpiling wealth and saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” Many will come in Jesus’s name, clutching the Bible like an insurance contract and saying, “Jesus could keep you out of hell, but you have to choose him before he will choose you.” Many will come in Jesus’s name, clinging to an exclusive view of God’s love and saying, “I am justified in hating and fearing those of other faiths.”
Friends, if these are the loudest voices that the world hears, then many will be led astray.
This is why Jesus is posing the challenge to us, right here, right now: “Over and against these false voices, who do you say that I am?”
Are we brave enough to answer?
I’ll be honest with you. I’m not always brave enough to answer that question, and especially not publicly. Truth be told, I would much rather become an expert in what other people have to say about who Jesus is than stand up boldly and answer the question for myself. I’d much rather hide behind ELCA Social Statements and quotes from my favorite theologians and beautiful words from my favorite poems and excerpts from my favorite commentaries. I’d much rather put the burden of testimony on other people, so that if I’m questioned or challenged, I can point a finger away from myself.
But if I claim to be a follower of Jesus, then it’s not good enough to hide behind the faith and the words of others. Because right now, our world needs brave voices that claim the name of Jesus, without shame, and that speak the cross-shaped truth about who Jesus really is. The world needs faithful people who are willing to answer out loud the question, “Who do you say that I am?”
If it helps, you already know one answer to this question. Jump on in if you feel so moved.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
From here, there are more things that we can say.
I believe in Jesus Christ, who loves all people and died to save all people, without exception. I believe in Jesus Christ, who calls us to love for God, neighbor, and enemy, who proclaims forgiveness and calls us to forgive one another. I believe in Jesus Christ, who proclaims healing for all who are sick, injured, suffering, and dying. I believe in Jesus Christ, who denounces wealth if it turns a blind eye to justice. I believe in Jesus Christ, who opposes and dismantles racism. I believe in Jesus Christ, who gives of himself to raise up the poor and to liberate the captive and who calls me to do the same. I believe in Jesus Christ who blesses peacemakers and the poor in spirit and those who mourn and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. I believe in Jesus, who with his life, suffering, and death, rejects in his very body all politics of oppression. I believe in Jesus Christ, who brings us the kingdom of God and who opens the covenant beyond all old boundaries of “in” and “out.”
These are the bold proclamations, in word and deed, upon which Christ builds his church.
Jesus builds up the church out of Peter and out of all who are bold enough to profess the truth about Jesus, that he is the son of God, the savior of the world. Jesus builds the church out of every soul brave enough to believe that Jesus is exactly who he claims to be, and every voice courageous enough to say out loud, “I believe in the power of Jesus to change my heart and to change the world.”
Jesus blesses our bold professions of faith and Jesus makes of us one body, the church. Jesus uses you and your faith - whatever you gifts, whether teaching or leading or generosity or cheerfulness or compassion or exhortation - Jesus uses our faith and our gifts to do the holiest of work: binding up the brokenhearted and loosing the power of sin and death and evil, as we are empowered by Christ’s Holy Spirit.
Friends, our faith, our courage, our proclamation: these are all gifts of God’s grace. In a world right now that is quick to anger, quick to insult, quick to violence, we need more than a measure of God’s grace and hope, and our world needs more than a measure of God’s grace and hope and reassurance. The world needs your voice. It needs you to speak the deepest truths about compassion and justice and hope and renewal.
Be bold, my siblings in Christ. Encourage one another. Stand shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand. You have a message to share with the world. Because you know Jesus. Let the proclamation of Jesus’ name be on your lips and on your tongue and in your heart, and be brave to share this truly good news with all our aching world.
But I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
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