Sermons

But Who Do You Say That I Am?

Dear Living God who is still active and alive in this world. Open our eyes, ears, and hearts to see and be a part of your works here on Earth. Amen

Good morning St. Marks! Summer is almost over, and I am excited about the new
program year that is about to begin. There is so much opportunity here to be part
of God’s work in this world.

Throughout the fall, we’ll continue our journey through Matthew’s Gospel. Over
the next few months, we’ll hear Jesus telling parables, talking about the kingdom
of God, calling himself the son of Man and giving instructions regarding the
assembly of followers often translated as the church.

You may have heard Michele preach last week about Jesus’ interaction with the Canaanite woman when he and his disciples were in Tyre and Sidon. Since then, Jesus and the disciples have moved on to Caesarea Philippi. We’ll pick up this story again next week as Jesus continues talking with his disciples, explaining that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things.. and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

But, today, we find Jesus and the disciples in the district of Caesarea Philippi. It is far away from the nexus of Jesus’ ministry. You don’t go there unless it is on purpose. It is located about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It was a political place that was home to a pantheon of gods, including the ancient Canaanite Baal. There is a place there called the Gates of Hades where the Greek god Pan was born, and the city was once called Pannanite. When the Romans took over, Harrod Philip was given this seat of power, and he named it for Caesar Augustus and himself. This place was a center of religious and political life. And it was against this backdrop, far away from Jerusalem, in a district named for the Roman Emperor and the son of Herod the Great, that Jesus asked his disciples, “But, who do you say that I am?” But before this question, Jesus asks them another question. “Who do people say the son of man is?” The disciples knew that Jesus referred to himself as the son of man. He does this 32 times in Matthew’s Gospel. This is not an unknown term for
people who know their Hebrew scripture. It comes from the book of Daniel, and I heard a priest once refer to the title- The Son of Man- as being at least Messiah adjacent. So there is already some messianic connotation in the way Jesus refers
to himself.

When Jesus asks this question- Who do people say the son of man is?- he gets what seems like some really odd answers. People don’t agree on who the son of man is. We hear that some say John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and still others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets. I think it would be an interesting digression to try to better understand these answers. But what I do think is important is that the people are at least partly right. Who Jesus is, is very important to this Gospel.
Matthew begins this Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus: “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Issac the father of Jacob…”and so on.

In addition to his biological lineage, the musings of the crowds put Jesus’ ministry in a long line of God’s prophets, who would have been well-known to them. Then Jesus asks the disciples “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter responds
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Peter is suddenly the star student. 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.”

Now, this acknowledgment is not completely new. In our Gospel reading just two weeks ago, we heard the story of Jesus walking on water and saving Peter from drowning. In this passage, we heard that “When they got into the boat, the wind
ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” But Peter levels up “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

“But who do you say that I am?”

In just a moment, we will collectively affirm that “We believe in God the Son: Who has been raised through transforming love and lives now in our hearts through faith, and calls us to this same loving transformation in our own lives” and in the
Nicene Creed, we of course, get much more specific than this about who Jesus is and what we collectively believe.
I think, though, Jesus’ question here was very direct and personal to the disciples.

“But, who do you say that I am?”

The disciples had been following Jesus for some time now, and they were far away from their home and out of their comfort zones. Perhaps it was a way of Jesus asking them, “Why did you leave home and become my followers? Why are you still following me?”

This is a question I ask myself often in various ways. As an Episcopalian who grew up in the conservative deep south, I wasn’t always comfortable invoking the name of Jesus or being known as a Jesus follower. Give him a title, and it was easier- Lord Jesus Christ rolled off the tongue much more easily than just Jesus. Growing up in the Deep South, I constantly heard the phrase “In the name of Jesus.” There were billboards that proclaimed to all who passed that “Jesus Saves.” We were often told that Jesus loved us, but we knew that came with a catch. There was a personal connection to this Jesus that I didn’t relate to. I remember my dad saying one time about a colleague of his “She thinks Jesus tells her when to defrost her refrigerator.”
No, I was not comfortable with that Jesus, and it took me a long time to find the Jesus I was looking for. As my faith formation continued as an adult, I would get glimpses of a Jesus that made sense to me. And as it turns out, he’s right here in the Gospels. You just have to listen and discern.

“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

I think that most people at St. Mark’s would call themselves followers of Jesus. I believe, though, that we need to ask ourselves who we say Jesus is continually. Standing there in Caesarea Philippi, Peter says that Jesus is “the Son of the living God.” He is not the son of Baal or of Pan. He is not the prophet of old. Jesus is the son of the living God that is at work in the world today.

I don’t believe in the personal savior of the billboards, but I do believe that we need to have our own personal understanding of who we say Jesus is. Mitzi Smith, Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, writes
that:

How we identify Jesus should be based on personal encounters with God,
even though informed by our readings and re-readings of the sacred text
and in dialogue with others. How we identify Jesus should be grounded in a
lifelong conversation with God whereby we adjust what we think we know
as necessary. Our denominations, our churches, our clergy, our mothers or
fathers, our siblings, our Sunday school teachers and others will have their
opinions, but in the end we have to decide for ourselves in conversation
with God how we will identify.

I believe Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God. My definition of what that means is constantly evolving through my own conversations with God. I believe our God is the God of the living and is still at work in the world. This means God is still speaking to us. God is speaking to this Jesus following assembly here at St. Mark’s, and I think God has more to say and more for us to do together.

Let me be clear, this doesn’t mean you’re not doing enough or that St. Mark’s is not doing enough. In fact, I think many of us are exhausted. What it means, though, is that we have reinforcements in our living God! God is here to walk with us, to spark creativity in us, to bring in new life and new love (XYZ, leadership) if we are open to discerning and listening to God.

So, I ask you to ponder a few things:

How can we continue to discern God speaking to us individually and collectively?

Where is God speaking to St. Mark’s?

Where is life and creation here, and how can we engage and encourage this?

What might it mean for this congregation to proclaim and live into the belief that Jesus
is the Messiah, the son of the Living God who is still speaking and still active with
us in this world?

AMEN