13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.(Matthew 16:13-20, NIV)
This is my favorite passage in Scripture right now. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm trying to answer the question myself: "Who do you say I am?"
We come to "church" every Sunday morning (or afternoon, or even evening for some), and we say something to the effect of "Jesus is Lord!", or "Praise the Lord!", or "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!" (Where?) But who do you, dear reader, say Jesus is? Are we saying Jesus is Lord, when we worry more about having enough money to entertain ourselves than we have concern about how much we're tithing? Who are we saying Jesus is when we buy expensive cars whose monthly payments are more than our two-thirds world brothers and sisters make in a year? And what kind of Lord are we worshiping when we drive these giant SUVs the size of elephants, that wastes the proverbial 30 gallons to the mile, all to transport you and your little one? Who do we say Jesus is when we pray for God to restore the environment and then do nothing ourselves?
But don't worry. Because I'm right up there with you. I didn't initially oppose the war in Iraq. And now I'm not confident that pulling out would do anything but create bigger problems for the Iraqi people, believe it or not. And driving stuff? Well, my one car is pretty economical. But the other is a mini-van - now granted, I have three kids, and I'm the one who drops them off at school every day, and if they don't have enough lebesraum they get, let's say, a little fiesty (okay, that's as much a rationalization as anything). I generally vote Republican - but let's face it, Dems and Reps are merely two sides of the same coin - they're both rotten. I like to eat all sorts of food that's not good for me in the long run.
So you see, we're all struggling to answer this question of who Jesus is. I want Him to be my Lord. I want Him to be my Savior. I want to be His servant. In my tradition, we believe that it is by the grace of God that we can even be Christians. Its not that we don't "believe" in free will; we just tend to believe that God's sovereignty tends to trump free will. All of that's to say that I struggle not only to answer the question, but to believe that God's love for me is absolutely secure. And I struggle to believe that because I struggle to give an honest "my-life-is-consistent-with-my-words" sort of answer to who do I say Jesus is.
In the end, at the end of the day, when it's all said and done, I say Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I believe this because right before Easter some twenty-plus years ago, God revealed Himself to me, and offered me a choice between life and death, because He knew I was ready to choose death, and He wanted me to live (My three kids and my beautiful wife seem to be glad I accepted His offer). Without Jesus, I am dead. Or, I want to die. There is nothing to life without Him. And yet, in some ways, I feel no closer to understanding what it means to say, 'Jesus is the Christ' than when I first professed faith in Him, and accepted His death on my behalf.
I struggle with the question and the implications of the answer, too. I'm no better than you. Okay, maybe I am just a little, but that's beside the point, because in God's eyes, I'm really not. The truth is - always becareful when people tell you the "truth" - that we are not to answer this question in the vacuum of our own space. The answer, I am thinking, is to be given in the very context where we are most likely committing the greatest hypocrisy - our time together at church. Saying Jesus is Lord is a team event, and it requires our being the people of God, yes, the very Body of Christ together to get it right, to keep one another honest, to read and listen to Scripture together, and then lovingly hold one another's feet to its flames (not in a legalistic, mean-spirited way), that is we're all standing in the flames together, and together we are to endure them. I'm talking about the presence of God - it's dangerous to be in the presence of God. And we were never meant to stand in His presence by ourselves.
Okay, this has taken a direction I had not anticipated, nor foresaw. But it is what it is. What do you think? It's not as concise as I had originally thought it would be. My blogs sometimes go "Joycian" on me. But in the end, Jesus is the Christ. I just need God's help through you to be able to live that belief.
2 comments:
You are SO not struggling with who Jesus is. I'm not buying it at all unless your struggle is to impress your professors with your response. All the academic esoterica floating around at seminary is making you dizzy. Perhaps the purpose of these studies is to make you realize how much sweeter it is to actually go out and directly love and minister to people in Jesus name.
Them's my tuppence,
P.
Dear friend in kindness and for peace and good will in the pursuit of righteousness. At the age of 75 I am trying to understand what it all means in reality. Like most of us I am sure we have had a special teaching in religion. Having made comparative studies. At this point and time my question is that from the time that I was old enough to make any sense of what I was taught. Nothing really changes that much in the reality of the condition of war,and poverty and mans inhumanity to man. All religions are in one way or another guilty. It is written that all of our righteousness is like a filthy rag. And no not one is righteous. Every Easter we talk about the resurrection of Christ Jesus but nothing has stopped the war or poverty or mans inhumanity to man.Crucifixion is a daily act,Think about it. As a matter of fact most of the wars are fought by people who are religious in the name of God.
To make a long story short if we take all the Books that speak about God in what ever language,this force and power we do not understand with our limited minds. But in order to get to my point I do think that we will find
that Yashua or Emmanuel or Jesus or Isa all being one and the same. Has the greatest advice in terms of behavior to be right and good for peace and harmony.Until we are able to make the sacrifice such that is asked from all,is in Romans 12 chapter. Verse 2"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Verse 3"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,but rather think of yourself with sober judgment,in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
(A-B-C-D-E) Allah-Buddha-Christo-Deus-Elohim or by any other name.
A Rose by any other name is still a rose. That is also true of the life giver to all on this planet earth. Jesus as he is called in many books is one and the same in his pronouncement and his command to all living person(Humanbeing)
Psalm 19 and 20.
Jesus was a very simple man with love for all humanity who men have made complicated with there interpretation of arrogance.
If we take the simplicity of Yashua (Isa) or by the many names he has been called. That is to say the renewing of our minds.Salvation is more the just to believe it is an act of being responsible,that is a conduit to righteousness. The resurrection is and act from us as a people not waiting for the man who was crucified 2000 years ago. For as Jesus was so can you be. That is our struggle for our salvation.
Peace Be Unto You.
Manu Salah
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