"Who Do You Say That I Am?" Sermon for Pentecost 11, 2014

Sermon:

Text: Matthew 16:13-20

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

            Who do you say that I am? Jesus asks the disciples in the streets of Caesarea Philippi, a town in the north of Israel upon the Mediterranean coast. It’s the city that the Romans built as their capitol for the whole region. As a real Roman city and not just a Jewish city that they occupy it is full of their temples and altars to their many, many gods. Each altar or temple probably contains some kind of idol or statue representing whatever god it is dedicated to. As Jesus and the disciples walk on the roads of the city, they can’t help but see all these idols and statues, these dead items supposedly representing a god.

            Who do people say that I am, Jesus asks. The disciples respond, Oh! Some say your John the Baptist reborn, others say you’re Elijah returned, others think you may be Jeremiah returned or another of the great prophets.

            But, who do you say that I am? Jesus asks.

            Peter, looking around himself at all the dead idols on the street corner altars answers immediately, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

            You are the Messiah, the Hebrew word for the anointed one, the one chosen by God to save God’s people, in Greek the word is Kristos, the Christ. You have come to redeem and save.

            You are the Son of the Living God. It is little different than what we heard from the disciples a few chapters ago. When Jesus and Peter get into the boat after Peter’s failed attempt at walking on water the storm calms and the disciples worship Jesus as the Son of God. But, here Peter calls him the Son of the Living God. Not a huge difference really to the disciples, both terms connect back to God. But, in the midst of this city full of dead idols and statues, temples to dead Gods, Peter is declaring that Jesus is different. Jesus is Son of the Living God. God who continues to walk amongst us, caring for us, watching out for us, protecting us from sin and death, a living God who will go to death for us.

            Who do you same that I am? Jesus asks. Not just to the disciples, but to us as well. How often do we actually try to find our answer to that question. And not just by reciting the creed, light from light, true god from True God, Begotten not made, or by repeating Peter’s words or the words of theological confession, the messiah, or the second person of the Trinity. Jesus asks each one of us, Who do you say that I am?

            Take out your taking faith insert. I’m going to give some homework to you. School has started, it's not fair if only the kids get homework, right kids? If you have a pen or pencil circle Jesus’ question in the verse of the week. Then take this home and put it in a place you know you will see it, on the fridge, the dinner table, your bedside table, and throughout this week I want you to write down ideas or images that come to mind. Now I’m not actually going to collect these and there’s no perfect correct answer anyways. But, it’s something that I feel is very important, because there are so many people in this world who don’t know who Jesus is, and if the time comes where they ask, will we be ready to answer?

            Here’s my attempt at this. Who do you say that I am?

            Jesus is God. I’ll start simple. To echo Peter I think Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Living is two senses of the word. Jesus is still active and alive in this world, Jesus walks with us through the paths we find ourselves on, whether it's the path that God has drawn for us, or whether we’ve gotten ourselves lost, Jesus still walks beside me. And Jesus isn’t just sort of here, but Jesus is really and truly here with me. In Jesus, God came deep, deep down to us, entered into our very lives, and died for us, saving us from all the powers of sin and death that seek to overwhelm us in this world. The fear of disease among the people of West Africa, the fear of violence in the people of Palestine and Israel, the fear of racism and class struggles as seen in Ferguson. In becoming Truly Human, Jesus enters into each and everyone of these situations, faces them right beside us, and holds us through the struggles and doubts that arise from them. But, Jesus is living in the second sense of the word. Not just that Jesus lived among us and experiences what we do, but that Jesus died, and was resurrected. Jesus is not just living, but living again. And through our baptism, we have died with Christ, and through his resurrection, we too will live with him. Jesus stands with us, holds us strong, and through his actions on the cross, promises that nothing we may endure will ever take him away from our side.

            I must confess, asking you to do this exercise is not just so that you can answer the question if someone else asks it to you, but so we can answer it for ourselves. Because I think the person who asks this question the most sincerely and desires to find the answer the strongest is ourselves.

            And how we find this answer is not through ourselves, but through God. You don’t have to have gone through years of training at a seminary, you don’t have to have come to every bible study available, you don’t even have to have read the bible everyday. Because how we find this answer is through God. Jesus says to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

            When Jesus asks us “Who do you say that I am?” We need to take the time to hear Christ’s question, and then take the time to look around our life to see where the Son of the Living God is active, where is Christ walking with you? Where is Christ supporting you? Where is Christ laughing with you, crying with you, reflecting with you, remembering with you? It is in those moments that we find our answer.