ANSWERING THE QUESTION OF JESUS

(Preached on Sunday, September 14, 2003)

He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”                                                          -Mark 8:29

 

You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff.

When he first came to the United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores.

He says, “On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk — you just add water, and you get milk.  Then I saw powdered orange juice — you just add water, and you get orange juice.  And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, ‘What a country!’”

 

Smirnoff is joking, but we make these assumptions about our Christian life — that people change instantly at some point, such as at baptism, or when we undergo some conversion experience, or at confirmation.

In our quick fix, instant gratification, society, we go to church as if we are going to the grocery store: Powdered Christian. 

Just add water and disciples are born not made.

 

Unfortunately, there is no such powder and disciples of Jesus are not instantly born.

They are slowly raised through many trials, suffering, self-denial, and temptations.

Contrary to what many people think, to “accept Christ” or “decide to become a Christian” or to “be baptized or confirmed” is not the end or goal of our journey with Jesus.

No.  Our journey begins with our decision to walk with Jesus, and it is the beginning, not the end, of the story of becoming his disciples.

 

Our decision to walk with Jesus is made by answering the question Jesus put to the disciples.

Not the first one, “Who do people say that I am?”

That is the generic question.

No, the important question is, “Who do you say that I am?”

That is the direct, personal, question.

And we begin our journey by answering that question.

What does the life and death of Jesus mean for each one of us.

 

As you think about your answer to that question I want to offer you some words of caution.

First, don’t think that there is a right or wrong answer to that question.

Don’t approach the question as though you had to get your head straight on a list of fundamental beliefs.  Don’t think of it as a test that you can ace by memorizing a whole string of Bible verses.

It may sound like it, but it really isn’t that sort of a question.

 

Second, realize that it is a question about you more than it is a question about Jesus.  Who do you say that I am?

This is not your parents’ answer, nor your friends’ answer, nor your Sunday School teacher’s answer.

It is not even the church’s answer that is important.

It is your answer.

It is a question about the relationship Jesus is inviting you to enter into with him as you journey together toward God.  His question is really an invitation into a relationship of trust and growth and service.

 

Peter didn’t quite understand that point.

He had a good answer to that question, “You are God’s messiah, God’s anointed, specially chosen one.”

But, he also thought he had it all figured out what that meant.

Peter thought, as most of us, at least secretly, think, that being specially favored by God was a guarantee of all that the human heart desires: power and security, glory and triumph, riches and honor and fame.

What the world usually calls “success.”

 

But that isn’t Jesus’ understanding of being chosen by God.

And Jesus has never wavered on this point.

For Jesus, being chosen by God means being chosen for the sake of other people.

It means living my life in such a way that other people have better lives, not necessarily me.

It means loving your enemies, mingling with those who are considered unclean, who are marginalized by society, who can do little or nothing for themselves.

Most of all, it means giving up my life and taking on a radically different and new life.  That is what it means to follow Jesus.

He is asking us to choose God as the highest authority in our lives — not our wants or desires or friends or parents.

He calls us to accept God’s rule in our lives and to become part of the solution to today’s problems by choosing not the easy, but the difficult path, not the simple solution, but the high moral ground.

 

That is the third word of caution — this is not an easy thing to do.

It is not the sort of decision that can be made on the spot.

It is a decision that requires intense reflection because of the drastic changes that are asked of us.

But it is also a decision that we don’t have to have all completely figured out.

We just need to be willing to step out in faith and trust in Jesus and his teaching as truly being a way to full life — life that is pleasing to God.

 

This may all sound very frightening.

But I have faith in you.

I trust you to handle it, for I know it also sounds like a real adventure.

Will Willimon, Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, tells a story of an experience that taught him a truth about human nature.

A few years ago, they had a representative from “Teach America” visit Duke’s campus.  Teach America tries to recruit this nation’s most talented college graduates to go into some of the nation’s worst public schools.  This is Teach America’s method of transforming our schools into something better.

 

One woman stood up in front of a large group of Duke students, a larger group than Willimon would suppose would come out to this sort of thing, and said to them: “I can tell by looking at you that I have probably come to the wrong place.  Somebody told me this was a BMW campus and I can believe it looking at you.  Just looking at you, I can tell that all of your are a success.  Why would you all be on this campus if you were not successful, if you were not going on to successful careers on Madison Avenue or Wall Street.

 

And yet here I stand, hoping to talk somebody into giving away your life in the toughest job you will ever have.  I am looking for people to go into the hollows of West Virginia, into the ghettos of South Los Angeles and teach in some of the most difficult schools in the world.  Last year, two of our teachers were killed while on the job.

 

And I can tell, just by looking at you, that none of you are interested in that.  So go on to law school, or whatever successful thing you are planning on doing.

But if by chance, just some of you happen to be interested, I’ve got these brochures here for you to tell about Teach America.  Meeting’s over.”

With that, the whole group stood up, pushed into the aisles, pushed each other aside, ran down to the front, and fought over those brochures.

That evening Willimon learned an important insight: People want something more out of life than even happiness.  People want to be part of an adventure.