Who Do We Say Jesus Is?

This sermon was heard at the Firat Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday August 24, 2008, the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time. Exodus 1:8-2:10
Psalm 124
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Film actress Rosalind Russell, star of 1930’s through 60’s who was in dozens of movies including Auntie Mame and Gypsy, used to like to tell this story on herself. It seems she was taking a cruise and one day on deck she was sitting next to a man who had a terrible cold. She advised him: “I think if you will go to bed early, take a lot of fluids and two aspirin, you will feel better in the morning.”

He didn't register a response and so she added: “My name is Rosalind Russell—you know? I make movies.”

The man apologized for not recognizing the starlet, thanked her for her advice, and introduced himself: “My name is Charles Mayo, and I run a medical clinic.”[1]

Rosalind Russell gives medical advice to the founder of the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s best known diagnostic centers. At least she introduced herself as a film actress. Of course for all Dr. Mayo knew, she could have been a medical professional, or simply a mother who knew how to identify, diagnosis, and treat the sniffles. At least they introduced themselves to one another.

Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Who is he indeed?

According to the disciples, “Some say [Jesus is] John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” This is some pretty heady company.

These were celebrated and prominent men of renown; of course, the lucky ones were hauled off into exile like Jeremiah. The unlucky ones were hauled off and killed, martyred for the word of God they carried. The only exception is Elijah who was taken up into heaven without experiencing death. The role of prophet is not for the fickle. The prophets mentioned by the disciples were true heroes of the faith; regaled in poetry, song, and story.

As names others used for Jesus were worth asking about, this question was only a set-up for the question that came next. He asks his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

As I have said before, Matthew’s gospel was written by and for Jews who believed Jesus is the Messiah, so looking at this passage, we shouldn’t look at Peter’s proclamation from our perspective, but from his point of view, and that of other first century Jewish believers, instead.

For the Jews, the name Messiah is a very particular title, it isn’t for just anybody. It was used in the Old Testament especially for the line of Kings of Israel from the line of David. Messiah expressed the special relationship between the Lord and the nation of Israel.[2]

It recalls the covenant made with Noah, the promise that humanity will not be swept from the face of the earth. It recalls the promises made to Abraham, the promise to become a great nation. It recalls the promises made to Moses, the promises hinted in at our Old Testament reading, the story of his miraculous infancy.

Peter called Jesus “Messiah.” To the Jews of every time and age, Messiah is the Son of God.[3] So what else does the first testament say about who God is?

In Genesis, the Name of God is Elohim, the God Most High, and El Shaddai.
In Exodus God is the Lord, the God of Israel, the “I Am Who I Am” or the “I Will Be Who I Will Be.”
In Leviticus: The Lord.
In Numbers: The Lord Is With Us.
In Deuteronomy: The Lord, Your God; The Lord, the God of Israel.
In Joshua: God in Heaven Above and on Earth below.
In Judges: Judge of Israel.
In Ruth: The Almighty.
In 1 Samuel: The Lord Sabbath, the Lord of Hosts.
In 2 Samuel: El Olam, Everlasting God.
In I Kings: Our King.
In 2 Kings: God of Elijah.
In Chronicles: The Enthroned.
In Ezra: The Lord Elohim, the Lord God.
In Nehemiah: Awesome God.
In Esther, mention of God is absent.
In Job: Redeemer.
In Psalms: The Lord, Elohim, Adonai, Praise Be His Name.
In Proverbs: Wisdom.
In Ecclesiastes: The Teacher.
In Song of Solomon: Rose of Sharon.
In Isaiah: Suffering Servant, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In Jeremiah: Sovereign Lord.
In Lamentations: Most High, Only Hope.
In Ezekiel: Many Splendored One.
In Daniel: Most High God.
In Hosea: My God.
In Joel: Gracious, Merciful Lord.
In Amos: Plumb Line.
In Obadiah: Our Savior.
In Jonah: God of Heaven.
In Micah: Mountain of Refuge.
In Nahum: Avenger.
In Habakkuk: the Watchman, the Rock, the Holy One.
In Zephaniah: Mighty to Save, the King of Israel.
In Haggai: the Desire of Nations.
In Zechariah: One Lord, One Name.
In Malachi: the Sun of Righteousness. [4]

Peter called Jesus “Messiah.” From its beginning, the gospel of Matthew takes the time and the parchment to make sure those who hear these words understand what this means from this Old Testament point of view.

The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy. From Abraham to Joseph, the genealogy emphasizes God’s purposes rather than biological connections. The mere mention of women is highly irregular to a royal line; especially a woman who posed as a prostitute, a gentile woman, and a woman whose husband was murdered to hide a kingly indiscretion.

But this provides an “interpretive framework for the Gospel by which everything in the story, including Jesus, is to be understood. God’s purposes for the world are displayed in God’s covenant relationship with Israel, and these purposes continue through Israel and Jesus. Jesus and his followers are set in continuity with God’s covenant relationship with Israel.”[5]

Matthew’s gospel and Simon Peter’s pronouncement give us two wonderful affirmations. The first is that Jesus is the son of David by adoption. The second is that he is the Son of God by birth.[6] Simon Peter proclaims Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew records Jesus is from the line of the Davidic kings. Things only God can reveal. Only by God can we know and reveal these things.

It is only by this divine revelation that we can “know Jesus is the one that brings God’s redemptive purposes for Israel and the world to his [ultimate final] realization.”[7] Only by the grace and peace of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit can we say Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Messiah, this is who Simon Peter says Jesus is, and this is what it meant to him. From the Greek, we would translate this as Christ instead of Messiah.[8] As we say this is so, what does that mean to us? Who do we say Jesus is?

In the New Testament, in Matthew it is written our Lord is called Jesus, the Christ, the Son of David, and the Son of the Living God.
In Mark: the Son of God.
In Luke: the Son of the Most High, Christ the Lord.
In John: The Door, The Vine, The Good Shepherd, The Bread, The Way, The Truth and the Life.
In Acts: the Shining Light and Cornerstone, the Holy One of God.
In Romans: Justifier.
In 1 Corinthians: the Power of God.
In 2 Corinthians: Consoler.
In Galatians: Redeem
In Ephesians: Peace and Unsearchable Riches.
In Philippians: the Exalted One, the Name above every Name.
In Colossians: the Image of the Invisible God, the First Born of All Creation.
In 1 and 2 Thessalonians: The Soon Coming King, the King of Glory.
In 1 and 2 Timothy: Hope, Life Giver, Mediator.
In Titus: our Blessed Hope.
In Philemon: a Friend.
In Hebrews: the Great High Priest.
In James: the Glorious Lord and Healer.
In 1 and 2 Peter: the Sin Bearer and Chief Shepherd.
In 1, 2 and 3 John: the Advocate, the Life and Love of Life.
In Jude: the Master Coming with 10,000 Saints.
In Revelation: Lamb the Alpha and the Omega, the Lion of Judah, the Bright and Morning Star, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.[9]

Scripture uses these words and so many more, but these names don’t answer the question about what it means to us. What does calling Jesus the Christ mean to us?

Several confessions say Jesus is fully human and fully God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a 20th Century German Lutheran minister and theologian who was martyred at the Flossenbürg concentration camp in the waning days of World War II, mere weeks before the liberation of Berlin. The story goes he was once asked by a camp guard where “his God” was as several prisoners hung on the gallows. He told the guard that Jesus was beside the men, hanging with them on the gallows. He said Jesus was at the right hand of the Father in heaven presenting them before God.

As a fully human being, Jesus knew the pain and sorrow of our struggle, even if he never knew sin on our side of the cross. As the fully divine, he alone is able to represent us before the Lord our God when we stand before judgment. The good news, the gospel of Jesus is that he is fully human and fully divine for the benefit of humanity and the glory of God.

In the June 4, 1992 Upper Room meditation by Stanley C. Baldwin, he tells a story about his days as a college student when he tried to bury his trash in his backyard rather than pay for garbage service. What no one ever told him, however, was that garbage service in that small Canadian college town was free.

In his devotional, Baldwin writes “Similarly, many people try, not very successfully, to dispose of the garbage in their personal lives: their sins, shortcomings and bad attitudes. The good news is that God provides ‘free garbage service’ to every resident of God's kingdom ....And when God gets rid of the garbage of our lives, it will not come poking out again with the spring thaw or wash up on the shore. It is gone forever.”[10]

This “free garbage removal” is a wonderful gift of grace. This garbage removal releases us from our captivity to sin and fear. All of our fear and shame no longer have any power over us because of the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. Our sin and woes are no longer ours alone, they have been taken upon the cross by the Lord at Calvary.

Jesus ate with the outcasts and forgave sinners. Jesus calls all of us to repent and believe the gospel, both its truth and its promises. By his garbage removal, the promise of release is the gift to those who are captive to sin. And let us not forget this is not for a particular one or two of us, it is for all of us.

In return, Jesus wants us to be his people. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he wants us to continue his work in his world. He wants us to proclaim the reign of God; preach good news to the poor; release the captives; teach by word and deed; bless the children; heal the sick; bind the brokenhearted, eat with outcasts; and call the creation to repent and believe the gospel.[11]

Jesus wants us to be his people, led by his grace. He wants us to share the good gifts of grace given us in the waters of our baptism, and shared at the table. Jesus wants us to show that while the world spins, changing around us, his promise of new life never changes. He wants us to show the world that he lives by our words and deeds.

So who do we say Jesus is? We say he is the Messiah, the Christ. We say Jesus is God incarnate, fully human and fully divine. We say he brings good news to creation. And through his good gifts, he calls us to abide in him and continue his work.

[1] HomileticsOnline.com, Anointing Illustrations, Topic “Names.” http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?item_topic_id=1347, retrieved August 23, 2008.
[2] “Christ” entry, New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Volume 1. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Gen. Ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006, page 602
[3] Ibid, page 603
[4] Ibid, HomileticsOnline.com, Anointing Illustrations, Topic “Names.”
[5] Study Note for Matthew 1:1-17, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003.
[6] Ibid New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, page 603
[7] Ibid, pages 603-604. I replaced the word [eschatological] with the phrase [ultimate final].
[8] Ibid, page 602.
[9] Ibid, HomileticsOnline.com, Anointing Illustrations, Topic “Names.”
[10] HomileticsOnline.com, Anointing Illustrations, Topic “Gospel.” http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?item_topic_id=1213, retrieved August 23, 2008.
[11] From the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) “A Brief Statement of Faith, lines 7-18.