Have you ever thought about what it must have been like to be Jesus? Did he know everything that was going to happen to him? He asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” It seems like he was aware that there were different theories or rumors about him floating around. But perhaps because most of his time was instructing the disciples, he did not have as much contact with the conversation happening among the people. This is a consequence of leadership. Once you become a leader some people might act differently around you, so that it is difficult to get the whole story. By asking the disciples about what people think about him, Jesus indicates that to some degree he is living in a bubble, and that he needed to have a dose of reality.
The disciples tell Jesus about the different theories. Some say that he is John the Baptizer. What a strange theory. John and Jesus were born within months of each other. Their mothers were cousins who were pregnant at the same time. How could Jesus be John? It doesn’t make any sense! And yet enough people must have believed that for the disciples to have registered it and reported back to Jesus. Another theory was that Jesus was Elijah. This makes a bit more sense. Elijah had been raptured away in a chariot of fire hundreds of years before, and to this day there are traditions of expectation for Elijah’s return. Others said that Jesus was one of the prophets. But both John and Elijah were prophets. What all of these theories have in common is an orientation toward the prophetic past. Jesus can be explained by one the previous people who have gone before
Then Jesus shrewdly turns the question onto his own disciples. Who do you say that I am? Peter nails it. You are the messiah. Wow. What a confession. Peter to his credit, does not look merely to the past or somebody else to explain Jesus. Peter makes a claim on the present. You are the anointed one, now! Of course Jesus wasn’t the first Messiah. There was Saul, David, Solomon, and the list goes on. Kings were anointed by prophets to rule the people on behalf of God. This was a daring claim. A prophet surely has power, but their power and role is to spur and influence kings and rulers. To be the messiah, was to be more than a prophet, it was to be none other than God’s own son appointed to rule over and above anyone else.
But what did it mean to be the messiah or the son of man? Jesus said that he would be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he would be killed. Talk about cognitive dissonance. Peter had a hard time hearing this because it didn’t make any sense. How could Jesus be the chosen one of God, divinely appointed to rule, and so quickly suffer and die? The problem was that Peter was looking at things from a human perspective and not a godly perspective. This is the age old problem of works righteousness. It is the enduring opposition to the will of God. This is the perspective that you deserve what happens to you. Peter was afraid that people would lose faith in Jesus if he were to suffer and die like a common criminal. Both then and now there is a temptation to believe that external metrics like power, wealth, and physical beauty were supposed signs of God’s favor. It is a toxic way of attempting to make sense of reality.
But there was another reason that Peter didn’t like this. If Jesus who was so wonderful and amazing to them would suffer an untimely death, then what would that mean for Peter and his companions? Would they face the same fate? Jesus says, “yes,” in fact you must take up your cross if you want to be his disciple. Each of us must face this same reality as followers of Jesus. As the old saying goes: no good deed goes unpunished.
Last weekend my family and I participated in a bilingual spiritual retreat at Luther Glen camp. One night we studied Psalm 116, the Psalm for today. I heard a distinguished woman murmuring to her daughter. I asked if she would like to share something with the group. Her daughter said her mom was just telling her something about her life that happened when she read Psalm 116. I pressed on. Her name was Evira. What happened when you read Psalm 116 Elvira? So she shared. She said that her son was sick and dying in the hospital. She was visiting him and reading Psalm 116 to him. As she read him the Psalm the patient who was lying in the bed next to them cried out: I am all alone and nobody visits me or reads me the Bible! So Elvira read the Psalm a little louder so that the man in the other bed would hear her. She said that this man was very sick, he was suffering from a severe drug addiction, he was homeless, and he had no family. In the days that followed, she continued to visit her son, and showed kindness to the other man in the room. Her own son died. But the other man made a full recovery. He was miraculously healed. Would you call that a cruel irony? Or, would you call that God’s unfathomable grace? Elvira is a true disciple of Jesus. She took up her cross and suffered the pain of loss that only a mother could know. She did not shy away from it. And yet because she did this, it is fair to say that another life was saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. What a profound freedom we have in giving up the vain attempt to save ourselves, and just trust God. We are saved by grace through faith, and not by our works. The Word of God proclaimed has the power to stir up faith and save.
There will always be consequences for doing the right thing. The prophet Isaiah writes about the spiritual gift of being a teacher. He has been particularly blessed in having been given words to console. He is a teacher and a prophet. So what does this gift yield? Isaiah says that for being such a good teacher he gives his back to be whipped and beaten. The hairs of beard are ripped out of his skin. He is insulted and criticized. You know what? Teachers deal with this all the time. Sometimes it seems the better the teacher is, the more they are criticized. But there is no better consolation than knowing that you have tried your best to do what is right.
The best news of all is that we have been entrusted with a secret source of power. God’s word! James writes that a spring cannot produce both brackish and fresh water. In other words, the words we speak cannot produce works that are not in harmony with them. The other day after school I took our youngest daughter with me to pick up Sheri’s birthday cake. She was being very silly in the car. She said, Daddy I am going to talk without making sounds. I looked in the rearview mirror and I saw her mouthing words without making sound. She did this for about two seconds. Then she said out loud a little louder. Daddy! I am going to talk without making sound! Again she opened and closed her mouth for about two seconds and she said even louder: Daddy! I said, I am going to talk without making a sound! She did it again. Then, Daddy! I am talking without making a sound! I said, I see you Sophie! That is really good. That is the power of God’s word. Whether you speak it, or write it, or live it, or read it. It changes lives, and saves lives. The Word of God is our messiah, and our king, it frees us.
The Word of God has the power to make daddy’s head turn and pay attention in the car.
The Word of God is like a bridle that can move not just a horse but a human.
The Word of God has the power like a small rudder to turn a ginormous ocean cargo ship the other direction.
Like a small fire that sets an entire forest ablaze, the Word of God enters into us and sets our entire heart, mind, and soul ablaze with love.
And when we are low, like the psalmist writes, when the bands of death seem inevitable, it is the Word of God that lifts us up, and sets us on high in God’s eternal Glory, and God’s eternal life. Forever and ever. Amen.
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