Second Presbyterian Church

"Who Is Jesus To Me?"
September 14, 2003

Upcoming Events

Worship Schedule

Sermons

About the Church

• Accessibility to the Church

• Directions to the Church

• History of the Church

Church Staff

Groups & Organizations

• Boy Scouts of America - Troop 175

• Choirs

• Presbyterian Women

• SPY (Second Presbyterian Youth)

Committees

• Building & Grounds

• Church Growth

• Congregational Care & Fellowship

• Education & Nurture

• Finance

• Office & Personnel

• Stewardship

• Witness & Service

• Worship & Celebration

Ad Hoc Committees

• Architectural - Engineering

• Building Fund

Presbyterian Internet Sites of Interest

Virginia Links

• Virginia Cities

Web Site Statistics

Site Map

Second Presbyterian Church Homepage

Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for September 2003

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
by The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Psalm 19
• Mark 8: 27-38

It is interesting to note that the question Jesus asks his followers is the same question we continue to ask today. It is also the question that the church was asking during the time of Mark's gospel. Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" The answers given by the disciples were that some say you are John the Baptist, some say you are Elijah, or one of the prophets.

Today, some people say Jesus is a Problem Solver. Some say that Jesus was a good man. Yes, some people today still say that Jesus was a great Jewish prophet. Others say that he was a Palestinian peasant who happened to be a local political activist.

But Jesus pressed his disciples further, "Who do YOU say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ!" And Jesus sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone.

As this particular scripture passage unfolds I am struck by how difficult a scripture lesson it is. It speaks of God's Messiah as one who will suffer a great deal, be rejected by the religious leaders, killed and after three days rise again.

So I ask again, who is Jesus to me? I want to share with you my faith, my belief and my struggle with who Jesus is. First of all I do believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He is the one sent by God to redeem humanity from its sin. But sometimes I feel alone, almost as if there are not many people who believe this anymore. And frankly I can understand why many people do not accept Jesus as the Messiah, especially as he is presented in the Gospels!

When Peter blurted out his answer, "You are the Messiah," neither he nor the rest of the disciples had the slightest notion what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah! They thought they knew, but they didn't. Jesus starts to explain to them how he must suffer, be arrested, killed, then raised from the dead, because that is what the Messiah came to do. Not only did the disciples NOT have a clue, they THOUGHT they DID understand what a Messiah was supposed to do. They thought that the messiah was supposed to come and redeem Israel from its captors and establish the throne of David and begin a wonderful, just rule that reflected the old, remembered image of the first David kingdom. So Peter, knowing what HE thought about the role of Messiah, pulled Jesus aside and began to rebuke Jesus! "Now wait a minute here, Jesus! What are you talking about? All this hogwash about getting arrested and killed. That's impossible; you are Messiah! We have seen your miracles! And you are to be crowned…"

"Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking about human things, not divine things!"

You know, I can really identify with Peter! When it comes to notions of Messiahs and "redemption" we still think the same way, 2000 years later. We still see our redemption in terms of economic security and prosperity, or in good government. The late Rabbi Ed Friedman, a noted family therapist, noted that we have four possible salvation systems: education, psychology, government, or religion. In the time of Jesus, that would have meant the restored nation of Israel and all the religious customs being honored. In our time it would mean a good government, great schools (with no ornery boards of education or teacher strikes), no mental illness, and everyone would faithfully practice their religion of choice. The old models of salvation and what a Messiah should be and do are still with us today - even after two thousand years. So, Peter makes sense to me; it's humanly natural to object to a Messiah who was just going to go to Jerusalem and be crucified, give in, and give up.

Yet, there it is. There we have Jesus trying somehow to teach his disciples how he is to be the Messiah, and as such be crucified and raised from the dead. I believe that Peter and the rest of the disciples were startled by Jesus' words about his death and resurrection. It was something that they really didn't catch on to until they had encountered the resurrected Jesus. It just didn't make any sense. Nor does it make much sense today. Paul was absolutely correct when he described the gospel of a crucified Christ as a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness for the Gentiles. Just go up to somebody and say to him, "I believe that Jesus died and that God raised him from the dead and that he is alive even today." It sounds so humanly foolish.

So, who is Jesus to me? I believe that Jesus died, that God raised him from the dead and that he is alive even today. Jesus is the Messiah who redeemed the world from sin. The work of Jesus, the Messiah on the cross was to take all sin upon himself and die the death that all of us earned by our sinfulness. Not just the wrongs we commit, but our very hearts that seek to be more than we are and that seek to replace God in our lives. We accept this by faith, because the only evidence for now is the love that Christians manifest to one another and to their neighbors.

So who is Jesus to me? Jesus is my only reason for living, because without him my life is ultimately useless and spiritually dead. All other gods that I find myself worshiping end up betraying me. They let me down and leave me to just die.

Our scripture lesson says more, more of which I would like to speak. After Jesus finishes rebuking Peter he turns to the crowds, the ones who follow Jesus and the disciples. He turns to them and says,

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."

I am always in fearful awe of those words. Jesus was telling the people that if they really wanted to follow him, they must be willing to give up their self-centered, self-protecting purposes and center their lives upon him. He was telling them to commit to following him even if it meant death for them! And I believe that Jesus is asking the same from us that we are to give up all that we think we are and become so focused upon Jesus and the Gospel that we would be willing to die before we gave up our faith. Christians have been doing this since the beginning, since Stephen was stoned. Christians have been willing to forego their lives to remain loyal to Jesus Christ. Perhaps one of the more famous recent ones is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German minister and theologian. He wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship. If you have not read it, I recommend you do. But I warn you that your understanding of what it means to be Christian will never be the same again. His main point is that our redemption is free in that Jesus died upon the cross so that we can be redeemed and in fellowship with God. But if we accept this free gift, then, as a disciple - a follower, we must be willing to pay the ultimate price, even if it means our lives. Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Nazis and placed in prison. They executed him just days before the Allies came through. Bonhoeffer was willing to give up his life for his belief in the Lord.

One the things about Jesus' call to discipleship is that it really would not market well today. Imagine, if you will, Second Presbyterian Church's Session gets together and discusses how to get more people to come and join our church? One of the members of this committee is Hispanic, named (Yaysoos) Jesus. He listens to all the ways the session thinks about luring people inside our doors so that they will join the church. They mention fellowship suppers. They mention door-to-door canvassing. They mention livening up the worship service with more contemporary music, something with a beat. They even wonder if the sermon could be shorter and, perhaps, less boring. Finally, a session member turns to (Yaysoos) Jesus and asks, "What do you think, (Yaysoos) Jesus? Which idea do you think will work the best here?" (Yaysoos) Jesus answers, "Why don't we invite people to come and give up all their selfish wants and desires and ambitions and have them sign a written agreement. The written agreement would state that when push comes to shove, we are willing to die before we give up our faith in Jesus Christ."

Who is Jesus to me? Jesus is more important than life itself. He is the one, through the Holy Spirit who gave me the courage to see just how self centered and sinful I am. He is the one, through the Holy Spirit who offered me forgiveness, fellowship and new life. In the meantime I have to demonstrate that I am a disciple by always making Jesus Christ and his praise more important than anything else in my life. He is more important than my family, my possessions, my ministry, everything!

I also know this; I cannot stay faithful in this way without the continuous help and strength from God's Holy Spirit. And I am grateful to God, that as I continue to strive to be a faithful disciple, that God picks me up when I stumble and fall, or just plain blow it. God's love and mercy is boundless and can handle my faults and fallacies. Each day I hope and pray that God will give me the strength to be faithful to Jesus Christ, so that if, or when the time comes that I must choose between physical life or Jesus Christ, that I choose Jesus Christ and die, for then I know I live!

Yes, the struggle, about whom people say that Jesus is, still continues. But as for my family, and me Jesus is the crucified and risen Messiah who reaches out to all the lost and hopeless people and offers them life, eternal life, even if they lose their lives following him.

Who is Jesus to me? Jesus is my salvation. I live because Jesus lives in my heart. Even when I die I shall live in Christ forever and ever. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.