Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
When Jesus asks a question, that question has a way of
getting to the heart of the matter quickly and directly of what it is to be His
disciple and who He is as the Son of God.
In Matthew 16, the questions are asked near Caesarea
Philippi. This was on the northern border of Israel, geographically about as
far from Jerusalem and the Temple as you could get and remain in Israel.
Politically, it was far from Jerusalem, too. King Herod the Great’s son,
Phillip the Tetrarch, had named the city for himself, adding the ascription of
Caesar to his name. It was an odd mixture: a king of the Jews also claiming to
be a Roman diety. With few Jews living there, the region became Hellenized very
easily. That tells you something about the theology of the land, too, and
Ceasarea’s theology was far, far from the sacrifices and prayers of Jerusalem.
So, when Jesus asks the question, “Who do people say the Son
of Man is?” it is far from an innocuous question. When Jesus asked it in
Jerusalem, the Pharisees, scribes and Saducees didn’t know how to answer. Jesus
was, among other things, a threat to their position. The people thought He was
a bread-king, a socialist, a leader primed for rebellion. The Canaanite woman
that we heard of last week, a heathen foreigner, she confessed Jesus as the Son
of David – she at least understood the Messianic fulfillment in Christ. Even
Peter had his moment, remember, until he lost sight of Jesus, both literally
and figuratively, when the waves surrounded his sinking feet. So, when Jesus
asks the question about the people in this region far from the Temple, it was a
very real question: do these people get it? What are they saying about me? So, the disciple’s answer becomes even more
notable when they say some are considering Him to be John or Jeremiah or a
prophet as of old. The people don’t quite get it, that Jesus is Messiah, but at
least they are seeing Him as a man of God, powerful in word and deed.
Jesus turns the question from the people “out there” to the
disciples. “How about you Twelve? Who do you men say I am?” Peter, acting as
spokesperson for the Disciples, answers with a Spirit-given confession of
faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the confession
that Jesus will build His church. (Our Roman Catholic friends misunderstand
this, arguing Jesus has been praising Peter, and he is the antecedent of the
pronoun “this” noting the play on words - in Greek, Peter is Petros and rock is
petras. However, for Jesus to build His church on a sinful man, even one like
Peter, it would be antithetical to a church built on Christ and His being the
Son of God.)
Now, go back to that first question for a minute: “Who do
people say the Son of Man is?” That question is as pertinent today in this
community as it was 2000 years ago in Caesarea Philippi. Ask that question,
have that question in your mind when you are in Aisle 12 at the Dollar General
and you see that mother with two small children arguing over which cereal to
buy; who does she say the Son of Man is? When you’re pumping gas in Nursery and
the kid on the other side of the pump, with questionable music lyrics blaring
out the windows of his car and with a big pentogram tattooed on his arm, who does
he say the Son of Man is? What about Margaret, that you play dominoes with, or Manuel
who coached your grandson’s baseball team, or your next-door neighbor who you
see but don’t talk to, who do they say the Son of Man is? What about your CPA
who has a copy of the Book of Mormon on his cradenza, or your mechanic who has
a painting of the Virgin Guadalupe in his shop, or the Vietnamese lady who did
your mani-pedi with the jade Budda at the counter, or the homeless teenager who
is digging through the dumpster at Aldi for a bite of still tolerable food, who
do they say the Son of Man is?
What if you asked them? Instead of talking about baseball,
or the debate, or the weather, or the price of groceries, or the highway
project, what if you dared to ask, “Who do you say the Son of Man is?” What
might happen? What happens if you approach people that way – whether out loud
with a literal question, or if you just start to see them that way, as people
who may or may not know who Jesus is?
I suggest two things might happen: one, you might find out
what they say about Jesus. Be prepared to be surprised, both in a good way and
a bad way. Your CPA might say, he’s a great liberator of the poor. That kid
with the pentogram and blaring heavy metal, he just might say, “Dude…He’s the
Savior, and He forgives me even for getting this stupid tattoo.” And dear,
sweet Margaret just might say that He means nothing to her because He didn’t
answer her prayers the way she wanted. That Vietnamese lady might lean up and
whisper, “I’ve heard about this Jesus. He is a fool for dying like that.” And
the kid might crawl out of the dumpster with a loaf of moldy bread, tear off
the worst part, and say, “He gives me the crumbs I need each day.” There are
lots of answers, lots of good answers, and you hope and pray that some of those
people might have those answers as well. Some might say Jesus is the Good
Shepherd, or even the Lamb of God. Some might say He’s the Alpha and the Omega.
Some might even make a personal connection – He is the vine and I am the
branch. So, there are lots of good answers. Even Pilate’s answer, The King of
the Jews, though sadly not offered in faith, was right.
That answer, good or bad, right or wrong, impacts you. That answer
touches you. That question and its answer has a way of getting right to the
heart of the matter because the answer literally has life-or-death
repercussions.
The second thing that might happen is that you are prepared
when they ask you in return, “And you – who do you say the Son of Man is?” Now,
to be fair, Jesus is asking the Disciples, not just Peter – it’s the plural you,
“y’all;” Peter just speaks for the men. But, that “y’all” in and of itself
gives you the clue of how you might answer it, personally. You have the
confession of the Church that stretches back to that moment at Caesarea
Philippi. You don’t have to be creative. You don’t have to come up with some
unique and profound truth on your own, something that would make a seminary
professor applaud in awe and wonder. No – you confess that which has been
revealed to you by the Father, through the Holy Spirit who has been at work in
you in water and word, creating, sustaining, and growing the faith that says,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Use the language of the
Christian church – I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was
conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary…” Or, perhaps you want
to narrow it down a bit with a confession that is unique to Lutherans, from the
Small Catechism, “I believe in Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father
from eternity, also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has
redeemed me a lost and condemned creature…” Or, maybe you simply want to say,
“Jesus died for me so I can go to heaven.” There are lots of good answers,
remember, answers which flow from the Father through the Spirit in the Word
which is given to us. You might say He’s the Good Shepherd and I am His lamb;
you might say He’s the Redeemer; you might reach into your car, turn down you own
music, and simply say, “Dude, Jesus is my Savior, and he forgives me, too.”
When you think this way, with these two questions, as you
are out and about in the community, in your place of business, where you rest
and relax, where you shop – whether it’s at the grocery store, the mechanic’s
shop, the salon, the mall, the movie theater, the stop light, the doctor’s
office, and, perhaps, even in your own home, you see the world in a different
light. And, it impacts what you say and do in those places so that Christ may
be seen and heard in and through you.
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
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