Sermon Proper 19 B

Who is Jesus to you, today?

Proper 19 B

Mark 8:27-38

Psalm 19

Transcribed from a sermon given

September 16, 2012

Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight oh our Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen

And now you know where I get that statement I make before each sermon, from the psalm that we read today. In fact the Prayer Book is quite full of direct quotes from scripture, we just don’t always put down chapter and verse.

But I want to talk to you today about the Gospel reading and the questions that Jesus asks. Because these are the most important questions any person wrestles with. Now the first question is, “Who do people say that I am?” “Who do people say that I am?” Any thoughts? Who do people say that Jesus is? Lucille, any thoughts? Who do people say that Jesus is?

“The savior.” “The son of God.”

Anyone over on this side?

“A really good man.” “Our Lord.” “A perfect example.” “The good shepherd.” “The messiah.” “A healer.” “A great teacher.” “Son of man.”

We’ve got lots of words for him. Later be saying the Nicene Creed which is the ancient statement of faith that says such things as “God from God” but of those words, some of them we’re pretty familiar with. You can probably tell me what a teacher is, because we know teachers. Or a good man, we know about good men. But what does “Savior” mean? What does it mean to say that Jesus is the savior? Saving whom? From what?

Or the Messiah. Now that’s the quote “correct” answer that Peter gave. But the Messiah? What does the word messiah mean? For the Jewish people of Jesus’ time the Messiah was going to be a warrior king like David, who was going to come and get the Jewish people to once again have control of their land, that would fight Rome so that once again they would be free and a great nation. That’s not what Jesus turned out to be. He was a very different kind of messiah. A different kind of savior.

One of the problems with trying to say who is Jesus, when we listen to all the different ways he has been described, is that most of the time it is kind of complex. It is not easy language. But we have heard a lot about who Jesus is. If you went to Sunday School as a child you heard one thing. In the secular world you might hear something else. Here in church we hear other things. So we have lots of answers to, “Who do people say that I am?”

But all of those comments, all the theology, all the books written about who Jesus is, all the creeds - all of that doesn’t really matter. It is the second question that really matters. That’s when Jesus looks at his disciples and says, “Who do you say that I am?” How do you know who Jesus is? What do you say? Not quoting someone else, not based on what someone else says that Jesus is, but who is Jesus to you? Right now, today, this morning.

I find that when we are on a spiritual journey our understanding of who Jesus is changes over time. Sometimes from day to day. It changes as we study scripture. It changes as we are in discussions with others. It changes as we read meaningful books.

“Who do you say that Jesus is?” is the most important question. It makes all the difference in the world. And only you can answer that question. Some might answer that to you Jesus is a great teacher. That is accepted pretty much around the world. There is almost no one who doesn’t say that he had some wonderful teachings and that he showed a great deal of wisdom. That is one way to approach Jesus. It is not quite consistent, though, with what he said. C. S. Lewis wrote that if you say that Jesus was just a great teacher then you have to assume that he was either a liar or insane because he said that he was much more than that. It is hard to take the wisdom and teachings that we find in the Gospels and separate it from what he said about himself. But often the first way we get to know Jesus is as a great teacher. And that is important.

What about when we say that Jesus is my savior or my Lord. Well savior is a tricky word. What does savior mean? How has he saved you? Think about your own personal life. What have you been saved from? What have you been saved for? Or when we say he is my Lord, we don’t have lords these days. We live in a time and place where we have senators and presidents, but we don’t have lords. So there isn’t a real existential sense of what it means to serve under someone else.

So maybe you might want to think about what other language would describe your relationship with Jesus. As I have sat with this Gospel reading for the last week, preparing a sermon, it has affected a little bit how I describe my relationship with Jesus, and I’m going to share that with you. It is personal; it is where I am at today having studied that scripture. Where I am this morning, it may change, but it is what’s true for me right now.

I would say that who Jesus is to me is that he is my friend. He is my friend who loves me no matter what. He is my friend who values me and holds me precious because he helped to create me. I am of incredible worth to this friend; and he accepts me for who I am. Loves me for who I am. And loves me enough to not let me stay who I am but encourages me to become more than I think I can be. He is my friend who is always there, whenever I need him. He always cares.

And he is my friend that gave his life for me. And no love is as great as offering your life for another. We don’t have a lot of experiences of what it means for someone to give their life for us. People who have been in war or people like police or firefighters know what it is like to have companions that go into dangerous and difficult situations together. And they know that these companions will offer their lives to protect each other, risk their lives to protect each other. It is said that when soldiers go into battle once the battle gets intense they are not concerned with their country, they are not concerned with any grand statements of principle, they fight because of their comrades, the ones they are fighting with. And they want to protect them, and they will risk their lives in order to protect their friends, and they would be willing to die for one another.

Christ died for me. He is my friend that was willing to die for me, and in this passage he asks for me to be willing to do the same. To pick up my cross and follow him. And to be his friend the way he is a friend to me. That might mean giving my life, although being in the United States it is unlikely I will give up my physical life for being a Christian. Although there are other parts of the world where that is not so sure. But it does mean transforming my life. It means giving up my self-centeredness. It means giving up my sense of ego control. It means changing my priorities, and it affects every decision that I make every day of my life. There is a prayer in the red prayer book that I often say in the evenings. It is called a prayer of self dedication. It is on page 832 in the red prayer book. It is prayer number 61. I invite you, if you like, to pray along with me.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly thine, utterly dedicated unto thee and then use us we pray thee as thou will, and always to thy glory and the welfare of thy people through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

And who do you say that Jesus is?