Who Do You Say?

Rev Dr Mark Porizky

8/24/08

Matthew 16:13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’  And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’  He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’  Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah,^* the Son of the living God.’  And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter,^* and on this rock^* I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’   Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was^* the Messiah.^*

            Jesus and his disciples ventured into the District of Caesarea Philippi, an area about 25 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee . The region had tremendous religious implications. Here was the elaborate marble temple that had been erected by Herod the Great, father of the then ruling Herod Antipas. Here also was the influence of the Greek gods. Here also the worship of Caesar as a God himself. All the world religions were on display in this town. At this place, then, Jesus chose to ask the most crucial question of his ministry.

            He looked at his disciples and in a moment of reflection said: "Who do men say that I am?" The disciples begin sharing with Jesus what they have heard from the people who have been following Jesus: Some say that you are Elijah; others say John the Baptist, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

            There have always been many answers to the question, “who is Jesus?”  Since Jesus walked the earth, Jesus has been seen by the world of people in so many different ways.

            You can speak of Jesus as prophet, holy man, teacher, or spiritual leader, and few will object. But speak of Him as Son of God, divine, of the same nature as the Father, and people will line up to express their disapproval.

            A billion Muslims will say: "Prophet, yes. God, no!" Jews scattered around the world will say: "Teacher, yes. Messiah, no!"  Even people outside of any faith community will usually say, "Exemplary man, yes. Divine, no!"

            Almost everyone who has any acquaintance with Jesus at all would confess that he was a prophet or at least a great teacher. Even the most closed-minded cynic would have to acknowledge his influence on western civilization. If we could just stop here, then there would be no problem. It is when Jesus asks, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” that the trouble begins.

            It was, of course, Simon Peter who answered the Master: “You are the Christ,” declared Simon Peter, “the Son of the living God.”

            I wonder if you and I have given enough thought to just how important this statement is. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

            Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City . Keller tells the story of a man who was considering becoming a Christian, but first he wanted to know the Bible’s stance on homosexuality. Rev. Keller responded by asking the man whether he believed Jesus rose from the grave. “I don’t know,” said the man. Keller replied, “If you don’t believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead, why does it matter what the Bible says about homosexuality?”

            Tim Keller went on to tell the man that if ever he did believe that Jesus rose from the dead, what the Bible said about homosexuality would be the least of his concerns. He’d have to change the way he thought about success and ambition and money and possessions and love and forgiveness and relationships, well, just about everything else. Beliefs matter, and if you choose to believe Jesus rose from the dead, then that means you believe Jesus is who the Bible declares him to be: the Son of the Living God, Savior, Master, King of the Ages and Lord of all glory and might. And if you believe that, you have to live your life differently because what you believe changes your life. And if it doesn’t change your life, then you don’t really believe it.

            So, what is it that we believe about Jesus Christ that makes Christian faith distinctive from all others? Just as importantly, what is it that we believe about Christ that makes it impossible for us to live self-centered rather than other-person centered lives?

            First of all, we believe Christ is the earthly manifestation of the Most High God. He is God in human form. God come down to earth. It is an extraordinary claim, really quite breathtaking. Some would say, absolutely incredible. The God who created the billions of stars and planets and moons and everything that exists and ever has existed throughout eternity has come to us, met us where we are, reached out and touched us and loved us.

            There is a controversial movie that received a standing ovation when it was shown at the Sundance film festival sometime back. It is titled Motorcycle Diaries. The film is based on a true story about two young men, a medical student and a biochemist, who, in 1952, set out on a trip the length of Latin America . Their primary mode of transportation was an ancient Norton 500 motorbike, which they nicknamed “The Mighty One.” Their ultimate destination was a leper colony on the Amazon River , located in the middle of nowhere, five days by boat from the nearest town.

            This leper colony was divided by the Amazon River . The nuns and the medical staff who operated the colony lived on one side of the river; the people suffering from leprosy stayed on the other. When interacting with the lepers, the doctors and nurses always insisted on wearing gloves, although there was little chance of infection. The two young men visiting the colony viewed this practice as disgusting and dehumanizing. They refused to wear the gloves. They touched the lepers as a sign of respect and love.

            In fact, on their first visit to the “leper” side of the Amazon, the young men encountered a patient whose face was disfigured from the dread disease. When one of the young men held out his hand for a handshake, the patient was taken aback. This had not happened before. He was not sure what to do. Hesitantly, he held out his hand in return, but there was no hand to be shaken. There was only a stump of a wrist, which the young man shook warmly.  

            But the Amazon River still stood as a great divide between the caregivers and those they cared for. One night the young medical student decided to swim across the river that separated the two societies and spend the night in a leper shack instead of in the cabins of the doctors. This was risky. Earlier in the movie he had nearly died of an asthma attack. Swimming a river that wide would tax him. Still, he plunged into the river and swam across. He barely made it. When he arrived on the other side, he had no strength left. But the new friends, the people with leprosy, were waiting for him on the far bank. They pulled him out of the river into their loving, if disfigured embrace.

            Friends, this is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We are those disfigured by sin. Yet God has reached out to us through the carpenter/teacher/healer of Nazareth . We are the untouchables now embraced by Christ’s outstretched arms.

            That is what the cross is all about. Christ reached out to the least and the lowest and embraced them with his love. He communicated to them and to us that he is one of us in a language that humanity could understand.

            When Rev. Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, were visiting Paris many years ago, they were approached by two Frenchmen who claimed they were on a “divine errand.” It took a while before the Grahams understood, through the men’s gestures and broken English, what they were trying to say: one of the men was claiming to be the Messiah. It is not unusual for mentally unbalanced people to seek out a great religious leader, like Billy Graham, and claim to be the Messiah.

            As gently as possible, the Grahams turned the two men away. Later, Ruth stated, “He claimed to be Christ, but he couldn’t even speak to us in our own language.”

            Jesus does speak to us in our own language. That is what incarnation is all about. God comes to us in a form we can understand. Christ is the earthly manifestation of the Most High God.

            You may have heard about some of Richard Lederer’s hilarious books, books like Anguished English. Lederer collects funny signs. Some of these signs reflect the difficulty people in foreign countries have translating common expressions into English. He says that at the entrance to a hotel swimming pool on the French Riviera there is a sign that reads like this: “Swimming is forbidden in the absence of a savior.”

            Well, we know what they mean. They mean a lifeguard. You don’t need a savior when you go swimming, only a lifeguard. But you do need a Savior if you are sinking in sin. You need someone who can help you turn your life around. Jesus brought God to us, but Christ makes it possible for us to go to God unfettered by our flaws and blemishes.

            Finally, when Peter announced that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Peter, without knowing, was giving us an eternal standard with which to measure abundant life, a life lived fully by living for others.  Peter announced that Jesus was the world’s point of reference.

            Friends, I am not a relativist.  I really do NOT believe that left to my own good intentions I would live the life I believe God calls me to.  Even my good intentions would fall short.  I need a standard.  I need a point of reference.  We need a point of reference

            The state highway department in Pennsylvania once set out to build a bridge working from both sides. When the workers reached the middle of the waterway, they found they were thirteen feet to one side of each other. Albert Steinberg, writing some time ago in the Saturday Evening Post, went on to explain that each crew of workmen had used its own reference point. No wonder they did not connect.

            In that same article Steinberg tells about a small disc on the Meades Ranch in north central Kansas where the thirty-ninth parallel from the Atlantic to the Pacific crosses the ninety-eighth meridian running from Canada to the Rio Grande . The National Oceanic Survey, a small federal agency whose business it is to locate the exact positions of every point in the United States , uses the scientifically recognized reference point on the Meades Ranch. So far, no mistakes have been made, and none are expected. All ocean liners and commercial planes come under the survey. The government can build no dams or even launch a missile without this agency to tell it the exact location to the very inch. "Location by approximation," the article goes on to say, "can be costly and dangerous."

            That's why there is so much chaos in our society today. Everyone's using their own reference point. What we need is a universal reference point so that we can say, "Here. Here is how the good life is lived."

            For Christians there is such a reference point - and that is Jesus. What would Jesus do? That is the question that continually helps us in our quest for right living. Jesus not only revealed the character of God but he also patterned the ideal life for humanity.

            Who do you say that I am, asks Jesus?  That question really determines every other one.

            Will you pray with me now?

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton , CT

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