Title:  Part One—Questions Asked By Jesus, “Living the Answer”

Date:  May 18, 2008

Text:  Mark 8:27-29

Jesus asked the disciples a question because he wants to know what they are thinking.  “Who do people say that I am?”   I mean, after all, we seem to draw a crowd everywhere we go.  People have heard of and seen happenings that might get their attention.  So, what is the town talk?  What is the content of the whispers in the synagogue and the stories in the marketplace?

And the disciples say some think you’re John the Baptist; some think you’re Elijah; others think you might be just a prophet.  But then Jesus makes the circumference smaller.  The crowd is pushed out. But “who do you say that I am?”

This is a moment of truth, as are many of Jesus’ questions which, for the next few weeks we are going to be looking at.  We’re going to be looking at questions such as:  “Why have you forsaken me?”  “Do you not understand?”  “Do you want to be healed?”  “How many loaves do you have?”  “What do you want me to do for you?”  “Why are you so afraid?”

And for today we’re going to be looking at, “Who do you say that I am?”  Now this, as I say, is high drama in the Gospel, for it is the first time that it seems the disciples have it right.  Mark, especially, gives us the image, and I think a fairly accurate image, of the disciples not what’s going on.  And they’re always trying to play catch-up, always trying to figure where Jesus is going, and what he’s about and what he’s trying to do.  But this time the disciples seem to get it right.  And it is Peter who says to Jesus, “You are the Christ.”

But I wish that Jesus had not ended it there.  I wish that Jesus had kept pushing them.  I wish Jesus had given some followup questions.  I wish Jesus had said, “Is that so, Peter?  Then let me ask you why you believe this.  Is it because you heard others talking?  Is it because you think it’s what you’re supposed to say, or that it’s what I want to hear you say?  Or does it run deeper than that?  Is it because of something that you’ve seen in me that you haven’t seen in others?  Or is it because you’ve had a profound experience that has caused you to come to this truth?” 

Can you imagine, somebody comes down and joins the church, and they’re asked the only question we ask in the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ.  And that is:  Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, and do you accept him as your personal Lord and Savior?  And they say, “Yes.”  And then the minister says, “Why?”  Right there in front of the church!  You are professing that you believe that Jesus is the Christ.  There is some reason that you have said “yes” to this question.  So tell us why.  I don’t think that’s probably a good idea.  We’re not going to do that.  We don’t want to put anybody on the spot.  But it brings us to the point, doesn’t it.  We make that claim.  But why?

Is it because it was just the next step in our life?  After all, we were raised in the church; we grew up in the nursery; we went through pastor’s class or confirmation class, and it was just the thing to do.  Everybody else did it.  It just happened on that Sunday.  And we said, “Yes, we believe in Jesus.”  And that’s why.  Or maybe it was because somebody scared the Hell out of you.  Or the Hell in you?  You know, they told you if you don’t believe in Jesus, and you die, you’re toast!  You’re history.  You’re no more.  It’s a message that’s out there.  If you listen to the airwaves, it’s not about God.  It’s about fear.  And fear is a great manipulator.  Maybe that’s why you professed Jesus to be the Christ.

Or maybe you were at a moment in life, a place in life that wasn’t a good place.  And you needed a sense of comfort, meaning and value, and you found it in the church.  Or perhaps the reason you have professed Jesus to be the Christ is because you wanted to have a deeper relationship with God, and you felt it was in this One named Jesus, who could do that.

There are a lot of reasons.  So why do you proclaim Jesus to be the Christ?  It’s a fundamental question.  And I think we all need to have that answer within us.  And here’s the good news – I think – about being part of the Disciples church, that there is not a right or wrong answer.  It’s what your answer is.  But you need to reflect on that.  How would you respond if someone said to you, “Why?  Why do you believe this?”

I wish Jesus had also said, “Now that you have made that profession of faith, what difference what difference does it make in your life?”  Does it make any difference at all?  You have proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ.  How does that influence, affect, change, transform you?  What is the difference between being Christian and not?

When we profess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and accept him as our Lord and Savior, that makes us a member of the church.  But when we take that profession and begin to live it out, when we begin to live the answer of who we understand Jesus to be, that makes us become disciples.  And there’s a far difference between being a member of a church, and being a disciple, a follower of Jesus.  And I think the church as failed the kingdom greatly, because the emphasis for so long has been on trying to get members of the church, instead of trying to get disciples of Jesus to go out into the world and help transform the world.

What difference does it make that you have that proclamation in you?  How does it change and transform?  Is it fair to say that so often, how we view life around us, how we respond to each other, our family, our neighbors, to strangers, to our enemies, that we respond not out of the Christian ethic but out of how society around us says we are to respond.  But what did Jesus teach?  Or does it matter?   I think we need to come up with that answer.  I think we need to decide: Does it matter what Jesus taught?  And if we say “yes,” then we should say, “Are we as disciples supposed to follow what Jesus taught?”  And I think we have to be honest and say either “yes” or “no.”

What did Jesus say about how we are to treat our enemies?  Jesus said you pray for them, and you love them.  You either believe that or you don’t.  We either say we’re going to follow what Jesus taught, or we’re not.  To be a disciple means we are to follow the footsteps of Jesus and the way of Jesus.  When I hear us talk about how we are a Christian nation, I wonder how much of the teachings of Jesus actually affect foreign and domestic policy?  We say, yes, but it shouldn’t.  Maybe not. 

Then let’s be honest.  Because if we say we are Christian, that we are followers of Jesus, then we have to look at the world differently.  We have to respond to the world differently.  Even if it causes us to die, which if you remember in the history of Jesus, he did.  What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? 

I was so proud of a young man not too long ago.  He’s a friend of Evan’s, my youngest son.  He got hit in the face a couple of times at school.  And he didn’t do anything back at all.  Period.  And I said to him as we drove down the road, “I am so proud of you.”  I have known him since he was at St. Luke’s preschool.  I said, “You did the right thing, because the school policy says if you retaliate you’re going to get in the same amount of trouble.  But you did the right thing because that’s what Jesus taught us to do.”  And he said to me, “That’s what I was thinking about at the time.”  And I said, “Good for you!”\

To be a member of the church is easy.  But to be a disciple is hard.  And I will never forget the time a lady told me as she was leaving the church – and it wasn’t because she was moving; she had had enough; she was leaving.  And she said to me, “Don’t take it personally.  But it’s just gotten to the point that the church is consuming all of my life.”  And I said, “Has it ever occurred to you that to be a disciple, to follow Jesus, is to consume all your life?”