In literature Jesus has been viewed in a wide variety of ways.
There have been those who have contended that Jesus wasn't divine but a Jewish
revolutionary figure who died a disappointed failure. His disciples stole his
body and made up a story about him being the redeemer. Paul spread the lie which
was swallowed by a gullible world (H.S. Reimarus in the early 1700s).
In both art and literature there are so many images of
Jesus and so many ideas about what kind of person Jesus was. Who is right?
What Jesus’ physical appearance was like is anyone’s guess. Of all those who
have painted portraits of Jesus maybe one of them has come close but we will
never know (not in this lifetime anyway).
So far as who Jesus is regarding his divinity, his work as saviour, his
ministry, life, death and resurrection, these are well attested in scripture.
In our text today, Jesus casually asks the disciples
"Who do people say I am?" The reply came,
"Some say John the Baptist,
others say Elijah (because it was believed Elijah would return) while
others say Jeremiah (the prophet of gloom and doom) or some other
prophet."
People who had witnessed Jesus work miracles,
listened carefully when he taught about the Kingdom of God,
heard him speak harshly to a Canaanite woman
and observed his extraordinary care and compassion,
were trying to work out who this man from Nazareth really was and came up with
all kinds of suggestions.
Jesus wasn’t interested in conducting a popularity poll
about what the crowds thought of him. He was more interested in helping his
close circle of friends to be quite clear about who he is. He asks the disciples
straight out, "What about you? Who do you think I
am?"
This question is as relevant today as it was 2,000 years
ago.
A student went to a university chaplain and asked him to
explain what the differences were between Christianity and Judaism. She was in
love with a Jewish student and they were thinking about getting married. They
talked about worship, rituals, festivals, customs, traditions, prayer and even
God himself. Finally, she asked, "When it comes down to it, what is the one
thing that makes Christians, Christian?"
The reply came, "The thing that makes us who we are is who
Jesus is. Jesus Christ is Christianity. Other faiths have love; have beliefs
about the good and the true. Only Christianity has Jesus." Perhaps it should be
added that Christianity is the only religion where the God of the universe will
do anything to reach out to every person on this planet with love, compassion
and forgiveness. Through his son Jesus, God has come down to our level, walked
the earth, experienced what it is really like to be caught up in sin and the
havoc it causes in our lives, and was even willing to suffer and die to make
things right again between God and us.
Along with Peter, we confess,
"You are the Messiah,
the son of the living God."
Christianity is about relationships – first and foremost
the relationship between God and us and then how the relationship between God
and us affects everything in our lives.
Maybe your experience was similar to mine. When I did my
preparation classes for confirmation I gained so much knowledge about God, the
Trinity, the Ten Commandments, Jesus’ death and resurrection. It was almost a
mini theological degree. We memorised Bible verses that supported every section
of the catechism and in the end had an exam. I don’t regret any of this and it
certainly formed a solid foundation for the future but at the end of the
confirmation course it hadn’t really dawned on me that everything that I had
learnt was about God establishing and maintaining his relationship with me and
how this new connection with God makes a difference to everyday life. The Bible
stories we had read and the texts we had learnt and studied all pointed to God's
grace and tireless reaching out to close the gap between him and his people. God
coming to earth in Jesus and then in the Holy Spirit are all part of God's
reconciling love for each individual person on this planet.
Over the years people have related to me how what they had
learnt as a child began to take on new meaning and they became aware of how
important Jesus was to them. In some cases this realisation was sudden, and in
others, the penny dropped more slowly. For many it wasn’t that they were
searching for meaning in their lives and suddenly found Jesus. Rather they were
minding their own business and from out of nowhere, God found them. The Holy
Spirit finally got through to them and they could see in full technicolor detail
that being a Christian is not simply knowing a whole lot of stuff about God but
it is all about relationships – a relationship between God and them and how this
relationship now changes everything. Jesus is no longer just a person in history
but he is intimately and personally connected with them, and his love for them
is so powerful. Jesus changes their attitudes, the way they treat others and how
they regard the people whom God has placed in their lives. They realise that
their minds and hearts are at one with Jesus in the same way that they became
one with Christ in the water of baptism. They want to serve, forgive, help, pray
for, love and care for others in the same way that Jesus did.
A man tells how boring going to church was. He counted how
many bricks there were in a certain section of the church building in order to
keep himself awake during the sermon. He didn’t really know what the preacher
was rattling on about. In the middle of his boredom, he heard just one sentence.
That one sentence grabbed him and he began to see Jesus and faith in a totally
different light. He claimed that it was as if God reached down from heaven and
tapped him on the shoulder, woke him up and opened his ears to hear that one
sentence. Through that encounter things were never the same again. God had
established a relationship with him.
When Peter made his confession,
"You are the Messiah,
the son of the living God" Jesus makes a point of telling him that this
truth isn’t something that Peter had worked out for himself. Jesus said,
"This truth did not come to you from any human being, but
it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven".
It’s our sin-stained humanity that gets in the way and
clouds our understanding of God. How can we have a relationship with God when we
constantly hurt him, forget that he even exists, ignore his power and presence,
can’t make any time to pray or praise him in worship, deny any connection with
him through what we say and do? We are downright awful and horrible to him. If
we were like that to any of our human friends, they would soon exit any
relationship with us. Just as well God doesn’t behave like this because we need
his help.
God planned from the days of Adam and Eve to send Jesus to
make things right again between himself and us. God closed the gap between us
and him;
has made us members of his family at our baptism;
and reaffirms his relationship with us every time we go to Holy Communion.
Whether we speak of God as we know him in the Old Testament, or see him
stretched on a Roman cross in the Gospels, his attitude toward his people is
always the same. His commitment and love are the same, and he is determined to
establish a relationship with people who are unwilling even to have anything to
do with him.
He sends the Holy Spirit again and again to those people
who are so hardened against God. He reaches out to them and gives them every
opportunity to respond to God's love with faith and commitment. His greatest
desire is that all people acknowledge their sin, repent, accept the hand of
reconciliation and hope that is being held to them, and in faith let their
hearts and minds be filled with the heart and mind of Christ.
Christianity is not the adherence to a set of rules, nor
is it a set of ideas, a philosophy that leads to peace, harmony, inner peace,
and good karma. It is a way of life, a way of walking with Jesus, a
relationship. Christians are often looked at with a degree of scepticism when we
talk about this relationship and say,
"I believe that
Jesus rose from the dead and is present with me now;
that he walks with me every day,
that he helps me in my relationships with others,
and that he is the kind of friend who will do anything for me.
He knows me better than I know myself".
Christianity is about relationships – God and us and us
with one another. It follows that a key part of our faith is how we relate to
other people. Do we allow the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control – characterise the
way we deal with others or do we prefer to prickly, hard to get on with,
impatient, gruff and resentful?
How concerned are we with the people who for whatever reason have fallen away
from a close walk with Jesus?
Do we take the time to encourage, comfort, support and pray for those who so
much need uplifting?
Do we make opportunities to share what Jesus relationship with us means with
those who are looking or meaning and purpose?
Before we can do any of these there needs to be a
relationship of love and respect between people and then within that
relationship God can have an impact on the lives of others through us.
Jesus was very good at holding in high regard everyone who
came to him. People went away feeling as though they had been understood,
listened to, dealt with compassionately, and helped.
