Who is Jesus for you?

2024 09 15 Sermon

James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38

I graduated from seminary in 2001, and had an interview with the Bishop of Southeast Michigan and his Assistants soon after. We talked about logistics, about the kind of ministry I like to do, and that sort of thing. Then the Bishop asked me about my theology,  starting with the question for today. “Who do you say Jesus is?”

My answer was something like this, “I believe Jesus is God’s Son, God who walked the earth in person for a time, so we can hear directly from God just how much God loves us and how easily God forgives us.” It’s what I still believe. It’s what I believe all people need to hear, and they need to hear it often.

… Of course, on that day 2,000 years ago, the disciples didn’t know the whole story. They had been hoping for decades that the Romans would be defeated and cast out of Judea, and that a new King David would restore the kingdom to the glories of a thousand years before. Sort of like, Make Judea Great Again.

The disciples are still trying to figure out who Jesus is. He heals people, he challenges the leaders, he multiplies food. Rumors about him abound.

Jesus knows he needs to manage the situation, so he asks them. “Who do people say that I am?” And then, “Who do YOU say that I am?” Some of the disciples repeat what others are saying, but Peter can’t hold it in. “You are the Messiah!” I imagine him jumping up and down with excitement.

Jesus goes on to tell the future. And it’s a stunner. Jesus will suffer, he will be rejected by the religious leaders of the day, be killed, and after three days rise again. The disciples don’t get it, of course,  and Peter goes so far as to tell Jesus he is wrong. From top of the world to foot in mouth in 5 minutes. The thing is, no one has ever died and been raised to life again. The disciples won’t know that for a while – at least a few months from then.

Jesus goes on to tell the crowd, who are also wondering just who Jesus is, that they should not be thinking about glory, but about servanthood. In other words, don’t try to make me your king! You should all take up a cross and follow me. Again, the crowd won’t understand this until later, either. But the message is clear: God in Jesus is present to lift up broken hearted and needy people, by becoming one of the oppressed people himself.

… James’ letter is filled with practical advice. Martin Luther didn’t like it because he preached and taught so much about grace and forgiveness, that he disliked James’ focus on peoples’ behavior.

If we try to read between the lines, we can guess that people James is writing to are being really nasty to each other, and not following Jesus because of it. They are not demonstrating the love and grace Jesus taught them about, from Jesus, from God, from each other.

In this election season, it is easy to focus on the wrong things, to hear and say nasty things. I have heard stories about broken friendships, fraught family meals, and broken relationships because of discussions about partisan politics. Believe me, I am not going to talk about any candidates and their views or their values.

But I am going to encourage you to pay attention, especially for the next couple of months, about how you think and talk about other people. My lunch group has had a rule, we don’t talk about candidates or certain topics that we know we disagree on. We do discuss, exploring why we believe X or Y, but we respect the others’ viewpoints. We have this policy because we believe we all have the right to have an opinion, and mine may be different from yours.

This is what James is after. You can have different opinions, different ideas, but you also have to treat each other the way Jesus treated all people, with love and respect.

… So, a story. It was an election year, a number of years ago. A man became a regular visitor at the church I was serving. One Sunday, I had a chance to talk with him and discover more about him. He said he was unhappy at his current congregation and looking for a new place to worship. I said we were happy he was visiting us and hoped he’d stick around.

Then he said this, “But you never say anything about politics. You don’t talk about the candidates and which one to vote for.” I replied that “I would never do that. It’s not my job. It is my job to talk about what Jesus stands for, and for you to choose a candidate that best fits with Jesus.” We never saw the man again.

… So, let’s go back to Jesus’ question. If we base our decisions on who to vote for, and we want to look to Jesus as our role model, who is Jesus for you? Who do you say Jesus is?

We can use the church’s liturgy to help us. In the Apostles’ Creed, we say that Jesus is the Son of God, that he suffered, died and was buried before he rose again. And now he is with God, judging us, living and dead.

We can describe Jesus with a lot of adjectives and nouns: holy, loving, shepherd, savior, I am.

And we can describe what Jesus does: saves, comes, gives, forgives. loves.  

This week, this month, and always, I hope you will ponder and take to heart James’ warnings about the unruliness of the tongue, and the thoughts it presents to the world. If we believe in Jesus, that he is the Son of God, that he came to show us how much God loves us and how readily God forgives us, let’s work to be as much like Jesus as we can. Let’s love, forgive, respect, and honor each other in all things.

Amen