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"Who Is Jesus?"
Lent 2-B
March 8, 2009Mark
8:31-38
In the Name of Jesus. Amen. A story is told about a young woman who had heard people talking about an interesting book that had just been published. She took the trouble to look for the book in bookshops until she found a copy and bought it. After reading the introduction and the first chapter, however, she put it away. It didn’t seem interesting to her. She just couldn’t get into it. A few months later, the young woman was traveling in a foreign country. She met a handsome young man, and fell in love. To her pleasant surprise, the young man was the author of the book she had bought and put away. Upon returning home, she found the book again, and started reading it. She found she could hardly put it down, from the introduction to the end. This time, it was the most interesting book she had ever read in her life. Many people, adults and youth alike, complain that reading the Bible is not very interesting; that, compared to all the other activities to choose from on any given day, even Sunday morning, Bible reading/study is fairly low on the list. The result over the last few generations is that in one of the most educated cultures in the world, “biblical illiteracy” has become a common reality, even among church-going people. There have been all kinds of reasons given for this by experts in such things, but I believe there is one primary reason. I believe, like the woman we just heard about, more and more people simply don’t know the author. Recent generations, even in our ELCA congregations, have learned Lutheran liturgy and perhaps even Lutheran doctrine; they can easily quote the church constitution; but they don’t know Jesus. We may know a lot of things about Jesus. But if we simply know a lot of information, a lot of facts about the Bible, without know the main character – Jesus, God in human flesh – the Bible easily becomes
First: who do you think Jesus was?
If all of these other religions think much the same thing about who their gods are that we think about who Jesus was, where does that leave us? It is obviously rather critical that we Christians, followers of Jesus, understand who Jesus was. But this morning’s gospel reading begs a more important question of us: Who do you say Jesus is? What unique claim does the Christian gospel, the good news of Jesus, make? If we can’t answer that question, neither the Bible nor Jesus himself will have any influence, and certainly no authority, in our lives – or anyone else’s – and the mainline Christian church in America will continue to lose members and decline as it has been doing for the last 25 years – not from outside pressures, but from the inside out. In this morning’s gospel, Jesus begins to teach the disciples “quite openly,” in Marks’ words. He tells them who he is: The Son of Man must undergo great
suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Jesus doesn’t describe himself as a charismatic leader, as the winner of a political popularity contest or election, or as an “all-American boy.” He says nothing about his role as teacher or prophet or healer or King of creation. He makes no claim to be the liberator-Messiah, freeing Israel from the rule of the Romans. He talks a lot about the Kingdom of God, but nothing about the founding of a new nation. None of the roles or descriptions by which we often describe him, does Jesus use to describe himself. Who is Jesus? We talked about this in 9th grade Confirmation class when we were discussing the Apostles’ Creed. Have you ever really paid attention to what the Apostles’ Creed says about Jesus? Besides being conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, think of all the things that could be said about Jesus; beyond all the things we’ve already mentioned this morning. But what are the critical, “bottom line” things the framers of the Apostles’ Creed decided needed to be said about Jesus’ life on earth, in a summary of the Christian faith. Say them with me, after being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, Mary, Jesus:
His entire life on earth in four words: suffered, crucified, died, buried? Isn’t there more to say about his life than that? No. Nothing that really matters. Miracle-workers, healers, great preachers and story tellers are a dime a dozen. They were then, they are now. In and of themselves, those things would simply place Jesus where a lot of people have placed him over the centuries – in a long line of admirable preachers and teachers and really inspiring guys. Who is Jesus? By his own description, Jesus is the one who suffers rejection by his own people, the one framed as a political traitor and religious heretic, the one given the sentence of capital punishment, the one who rises from the dead. All the other great people of the Bible died, and were buried. Period. The only exception is Elijah, who was taken to heaven by God in a chariot of fire – no suffering, no death, no burial. Jesus raised one, maybe two people from the dead during his lifetime. But no one raised himself from the dead – except Jesus, Son of God, Son of Man. Every other thing we can say about Jesus pales in significance, in comparison to this claim: that Jesus suffered, died a torturous death by crucifixion, was buried for several days, and then rose from the dead. No sweet chariot swinging low to swoop him up from this world of suffering and death. Oh no! Only after suffering, death, and burial, only then, did he ascend to heaven, where he continues his work of restoring all of creation to himself through his holy spiritual work in us. The writers of the Apostles’ Creed knew that only then do Jesus’ miracles, healings, sermons, parables, and clever debates with his detractors take on meaning. Just as there would have been no Easter without Good Friday, and no Christmas without Easter, those other things do not tell us who Jesus is: that Jesus is the only Son of the living God, and Savior of the world. Everything else we read in the gospels and the rest of Scripture answers the question which follows that affirmation, the question: “What, then, was he like? What did he teach us about God?” No wonder Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him. Peter volunteers to be the prototype of the modern “image handler” hired by politicians to handle the media and shape public opinion, do damage control when their client says or does something stupid. We can just imagine what Peter might have said when he took him aside: “Jesus, lighten up! You’re never going to get a following this way. Give us some of that Messianic glory stuff we’ve all come to expect. Appeal to our self-interest and ambition. All this talk about suffering and dying is a real downer! People are into self-esteem, being special, self-fulfillment…” To which Jesus responds, now rebuking Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.” The word “get behind me” literally means “follow me.” Jesus isn’t telling Peter to get lost, but to get back in step, to get back into the place Jesus called him to be – not his image handler, but his disciple, his student, walking behind him as he learns the will of God, and the ways of God’s Kingdom living. Who is Jesus? Jesus is God, in human flesh, crucified on a cross, raised from the dead, for the restoration of the world. He is the one in whom the fullness of God is pleased to dwell, who promises what only God can deliver, the one who gives his life as the last-ever sacrificial lamb for the sins not just of Israel, but of the world. He is the one who rises from the dead. He is the one who doesn’t count Godhood as something to be exploited, but empties himself, even to a shameful death on a cross. His words and actions speak Rev. Joan Gunderman, Senior Pastor
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
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