Who Do You Think I Am?

Sermon-Proper 16A/ Pentecost +10
August 21, 2011
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my tears, all my ignorance.
My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my fears and fractured promises.
You, my God, know all this, all this;
How poor I am, how small I am;
You, my God, know all this, all this.
Yet what I have, my God, I give to you.”
[Paul Verlaine 1844-1896]
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.


In a recent movie comedy race car driver Ricky Bobby is saying grace with his family. This is how his blessing over the food goes:
Ricky Bobby: Dear Lord Baby Jesus, Dear tiny infant Jesus,
Carley Bobby (his wife): sweetie, Jesus, did grow up. You don’t always have to call him, baby [in all your graces]. It’s a bit odd and all putting the cradle and baby.
Ricky Bobby: I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m saying grace. When you’re saying grace you can say it to the grown up Jesus or the teen age Jesus or the bearded Jesus or whoever you want.
(his wife): Carley Bobby: You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good so that God will let us win tomorrow.
Ricky Bobby: Dear Tiny Jesus, golden fleece diapers, with your tiny little balled up fist
I like the baby version the best
Ricky’s best friend Cal Naughton, Jr. I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt, ’cause it says like, “I want to be formal, but “I’m here to party, too”. ‘Cause I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party, too.
(his son Walker): I like to picture Jesus as a Ninja fighting off evil samurai
Ricky Bobby: Dear 8lb 6oz newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, still all powerful, “boogety boogety amen (Pastor Joe Nelms)
Jesus as an all powerful infant, Jesus as the one who helps us win races, Jesus who likes to get down and party, Jesus as a ninja.
Who do you say that Jesus is? And does it really matter what you say?
As usual, First, some background. The town of Caesarea Philippi was built by Herod Philip just about the time Jesus was born in what is now called, the Golan Heights. It’s about 2000 feet above sea level and is much cooler in the summer, which is why Herod made it his summer home. It had a long history as a place of spirituality-the Greek god Pan had been worshipped there. The city is on the slopes of Mount Hermon, and there are many caves and sulfur springs nearby. Residents had long believed that these caves, because of the gases that came out of them, were the entrance to the underworld or Hades. Wayne Brouwer and Schuyler Rhodes write: “Over the centuries a variety of religious sects had used the place as a cultic shrine. They cut niches in the rock walls of the mountain just above the burbling caves and set up statues of gods they thought might be resident there. They even gave the place a spiritual name. They called it "The Gates of Hades."”
So now Jesus has returned back from the wrong side of the Sea of Galilee (last week’s gospel) and is back where he grew up. It has been a tough time in the last few chapters with many misperceptions and much confusion about he who is and what his purpose is. Finally Jesus asks the disciples, the band on people following him-Why are you doing this, why are you here, “Who do you think I am?”
In a sense Matthew the gospel writer has been building up to this. It is a powerful scene. Jesus is surrounded by this group of close friends that he has been traveling with for a couple of years, and has yelled at them several times as “men of little faith”. Now he asks them, like he might ask us, “you’ve been walking with me a long time, we’ve been through a lot, you’ve seen me, heard me, struggled with me, nearly drowned-who do you think I am?” Obviously they’re afraid of giving the wrong answer, so they sort of guess, “uh John the Baptist? Elijah? Jeremiah? And so Jesus puts their leader on the spot-ok, Simon, who do you think I am? And in this moment Peter doesn’t just give an answer-he gives an answer that will change his life forever. It’s one of those moments where the next words you say will change everything. And so Simon answers: “You are the Messiah”, the savior. And Jesus answers, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” You are the rock, and the future of the world will depend on what you believe. Can you imagine what a difference Peter’s words meant for him? Because he gave the answer he did, his whole life was different. He would one day die, crucified upside down, because of these words. Statues and churches would be built in his honor, because of these words. He would become famous for thousands of years-because of these words. And during his lifetime he would be isolated, hated, and vilified-because of these words. Do you think this moment in the gospel of Matthew is important?
A million years ago they used to have weekend retreats every year for all the people who thought they might be called to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, called BACAM. Bishop’s Advisory Commission ____ Ministry. I was at one in Carbondale, Illinois in 1975/76. And they had this grizzled old man who had been a parish priest for 1000 years (younger than me) running our weekend. We spent 3 grueling days of interviews, tests, consultations, and examinations answering questions where everyone felt pretty stupid about our faith. When you talk about what you believe it always sounds so small, and inadequate. Finally, on the last night we got to interview HIM, the old priest. We sat around in a circle with a chance to pelt him with questions. He handled them all pretty well, and finally the last question was, “So, describe as clearly and as theologically completely as possible, Jesus-and your relationship?” We waited, expecting this long, dense, very sophisticated, nuanced answer. And finally he looks at us and says, “My Lord and my God.”
How often does your name change? How often do you change what you are called? The words we say every Sunday without thinking, the words that escape from our lips without thought or reflection, changed Peter, and changed the world: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Think of the words that have changed your life: “Congratulations, you’ve graduated”, “you’re hired”, “it’s a boy”, “I do”, What if each time some short sentence was uttered you changed your name. That would make you remember those words, that moment, wouldn’t it? For centuries we have said that one’s last name was the family name, but your first name was your _______(Christian name) the one given you at baptism. Who do you say Jesus is? What if your answer would completely change your life, your future, the world?
David Lose, Marbury E. Anderson Biblical Preaching Chair Luther Seminary , wrote this: “Andy Andrews wrote a little book called The Butterfly Effect in which he catalogues the extraordinary impact of simple and courageous efforts. Except when you go back, you can never really tell which efforts made the biggest difference. So, for instance, should Norman Borlaug, who developed high yield, disease resistant corn and wheat be credited with saving two billion lives from famine, or should Henry Wallace, the one-term U.S. Vice-President, who created an office in New Mexico to develop hybrid seed for arid climates and hired Borlaug to run it. Or should we credit George Washington Carver, who took a young Henry Wallace for long walks and instilled in him his love of plants. Or should it be Moses and Susan Carver, who adopted the orphaned George as their son. Or should it be... Well, you get the idea. Andrews points out how inter-connected our actions are, creating an unforeseen butterfly effect that can ripple across time and space to affect the lives of millions.”
We think our words, our beliefs are relatively unimportant-or only important to us. But what if what we say, what we believe, what we say about what we believe changes our names, changes our future, costs us everything? Do you think Simon thought to himself, “man, the answer I give to this question will change my life forever?”
I have been telling you for several weeks of Jesus’ frustration with his followers, disappointment with the crowds, distress with those who didn’t understand who he was. And now someone does. Simon “gets” it. He has finally figured out who Jesus is-and that means that Simon’s will be forever changed.
Who do you say Jesus is? Whatever your answer, says as much about you-as it does about him. Does it matter what you say? Does it matter what you believe? If your answer doesn’t change you, doesn’t send you in a new direction, doesn’t become one of those moments that you remember forever-maybe you haven’t discovered the right answer yet. Maybe you’re not sure, maybe your Jesus is still a ninja or wearing a tuxedo t-shirt still.
Brouwer and Rhodes tell this story: “One of the college courses I often teach is called "Which Jesus?" In it I take my students through Jaroslav Pelikan's book Jesus through the Centuries (Yale, 1999) and the writings of the New Testament, and reflect on the variety of ways in which people think about Jesus. Each time I teach this course I ask my students to write a paper requiring that they talk with their parents about how Mom and Dad view Jesus. Invariably I get some papers still wet with tears from students who never before knew the Jesus of their parents' religious devotions. Too long they had passed by one another snickering at the religious folly of others while never having to face the question of Jesus' identity themselves. Only when this tender moment of forced query was ordered did the light of faith break through, and relations of mystery become bonds of grace.”
Who do you say Jesus is? Is your answer important enough to change your name? your identity? Would your answer be worth dying for? Or even more importantly, be worth living for? Who do you say he is, for you? Would your answer change your life?
Jarolsav Pelikan. Jesus Through The Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture.