Who Am I?

Mark 8:27-38

 

Who I am?

          For Jesus that was a two part question.

                   Who do people say that I am? and

                             Who do you say that I am?

                                      And the responses were quite different.

 

People thought Jesus to be: John the Baptist, or Elijah,

          Or one of the prophets.

                   That’s not so different from today

                             Every time someone comes along

                                      They want to say:

          He’s the new Marlin Brando,

or she’s the new Marilyn Monroe,

or he’s the next Jack Nicholas.

          People like to reference back to what they know

                   And who they know and it’s no different

                             In the world of religion.

          If you are a black Christian leader

                   You will be compared to Martin Luther King;

          If you are a great evangelical leader

                   You will be compared to Billy Graham;

          If you are a pastor at Covenant

                   You will at some time be compared to Emery Roy.

                             It’s human nature.

 

But Jesus was redefining human nature.

          He was making it clear in this passage that

                   He was not John the Baptist, Elijah or a prophet.

          And if the disciples didn’t get it here, he reiterates

                   His point later on the mountain top where

                             He shows them Elijah and prophet Moses

                                      As if to say: That’s them, this is me!!!

Jesus does not only have to deal with peoples

          Perception of him based on their past experience

                   But he also has to deal with their expectation

                             Of him based on their future dreams.

          “Who do you say that I am??”

                   You are the Messiah, (the Christ or the Anointed)

                             To us that does not convey much baggage

                                      But to the Jewish people it did.

The Messiah was the vanquisher of foes,

          The new David, conquering King, Son of God

                   The one who would usher God’s kingdom

                             And crush all the enemies of God

                                      And God’s people, the Israelites.

          He was to be more than a personal

“Knight in shining armor” he was

          an avenger for years of persecution.

                   He was “The Messiah.”

 

So Jesus was battling both the past references

          And the future expectations as he asked “Who Am I?”

                   And the thing that he tried to communicate

                             That made him absolutely unique

                                      Was his “suffering and death”

and his “rising”:

                             The cross and the resurrection.

                   This set him apart as neither prophet of old

nor Messiah to come but the Son of God who “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders,

the chief priest, and the scribes, and be killed,

and after three days rise again.”

In other words Jesus was different than anyone

          That Peter and the disciples had ever met

                   Or anyone they expected to meet.

          Whenever we are confronted by something

                   Or someone who is radically new we are afraid.

Jesus is the incarnation of God’s love when they expected

          Jesus to be the manifestation of God’s vengeance.

                   If Jesus fully represented God then God must be

                             Different than the exacting, righteous God,

                                      That many told them to believe in.

          Could it be that God loved humanity so much that

he sent his only son into the world to save the world

          Could it be that God loves the whole world

                   And not just one little group.

No, that’s not the way we are.

          We like to be special,

we want revenge when we are wronged,

          and we want to win!! Decisively!!

                                      God must be like us.

So Peter rebukes Jesus. 

And Jesus rebukes Peter.

          Peter rebuked Jesus because he couldn’t fit Jesus

                   Into a neatly preconceived box.

                             Ironically when Peter goes to the mountaintop

                                      With Jesus in the next chapter,

                                                Peter literally tries to build a box

                                                          For Jesus, Elijah and Moses.

          But Jesus rebukes Peter, not because of his ignorance,

                   But because his lack of understanding

                             Will get in the way of his discipleship.

                                      It is only by understanding who Jesus is

                                                That Peter will understand what it is

                                                          To be a disciple of this Jesus.

                   We don’t imagine God in Christ based on who we are

                             Even our best self on a good day, but rather

                                      We discover who God calls us to be

                                                From the Jesus God sent to reveal

                                                          The fullness of God and

                                                                   The fullness of humanity.

 

“If anyone would be my disciple,

 they must pick up their cross and follow me.”

          Not only is Jesus willing to sacrifice for others

                   But if we are disciples we are called

                             To sacrifice for others.

Not only does Jesus die but as followers of Jesus

          We are called to die to our old life, old expectations,

And the worlds ideals and be born instead

                             To new life and new ideals.

 

That is poetic language but what might it really mean to us.

          How about the young father who had just figured out

              his work schedule so that he could care for his child

 and earn just enough to live comfortably.

          Then he gets a job offer that calls for- more hour away,

                   More travel, more money (a lot more)

 and more prestige.

          Everything in the world says that he should take the job.

                   In the business world to say “no” would be

                             The equivalent to professional suicide.

 

          “Whoever want to save his life will lose it, and whoever

                   loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

 

In other words the person and work and witness of Jesus

          Frees this young father to die to the worlds values

                   So that he can live for Christ, for his son

                             And for himself.

 

Our Mens’ prayer breakfast is studying Romans this year

          And we just encountered the passage in which Paul says:

                   “So you must consider yourself dead to sin

                             and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

          We talked about the pressures that are on men today,

                   To talk and act in a certain way that is destructive

And we discovered that our focus on Christ

          Opens up a whole new way of interacting with

                   Our families, ourselves, each other and the world.

          We are not limited by “Man Law”

as the popular commercial suggests

but rather we open ourselves to God’s grace

          through the life, death and resurrection

                   of Jesus Christ.

 

And it’s not just for men.

          Women have their own set of worldly standards

                   That seem to enslave women to certain fashion looks

                             and body types;

          Teenagers have a set of worldly expectiations

                   That try to define what teene like to look like

And listen to and are;

          Even children in grade school start to respond

                   To their peers and the expectation of their peers

                             More that the encouragement of their parents.

But the message of the Gospel today

          “pick up your cross and follow me”

                   is not an enslaving message but rather

                             a liberating message.

          We are not bound by the worlds expectations any more

                   than Jesus was bound by the world’s expectations.

 

Instead we are defined a followers of Christ, akaloothein Christo

          In fact that’s where our new sixth grade and senior high

                   Curriculum akaloo comes from- follower.

                             We are freed up from the demands of the world

                                      Because we are followers of Christ.

And that’s the double answer to the question Jesus asks:

          “Who Am I”- It refers not only to Jesus but to us.

                   Jesus is the only Son of God whom God sent

                             Into the world to save the world

Jesus is not the avenging wrath of God but

          The undying love of God for each one of us and

                   Because Jesus is the embodiment, incarnation

                             Of God’s love, as followers of Christ,

                                      Akaloothein Christos, then we also

                                                Are freed up to live for God.

          That may invoved picking up our cross as we die

                   To the world’s values and expectations but

                             It means that we are free to live for God

                                      And to share God’s love in the world

          Who am I?

                   I am a follower of Christ and that is the

                             Best honor and label I can have.  Amen