Who do you say I am? A sermon for August 27th 2017

May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

It’s all about questions this week, questions to make us think…

Some nice easy questions to start with and what’s even better, is you don’t even have to answer them, well not out loud anyway. So, some questions for me first…

Who am I? What am I doing here? How did I get here? Who do you say I am? It’s all so confusing!

Well, in a way it’s simple, my names Andrew and I’m going to talk about today’s Gospel reading and I got here in the car…

But then, who am I in the eyes of God? What is God’s plan for me? What is my role in the universe?

Or why not turn it around;

Who are you, in the eyes of God? What is God’s plan for you? Where do we all fit within the universe?

Sometimes we don’t know the answer, or at least, it can feel like we don’t, or can’t quite believe it. After all, God has given us free will, so how can he have a plan for us?

Well, that’s a tricky one, but I have a feeling that the answer begins with one person, and that person is Jesus.

But who was he? It’s clear the disciples weren’t sure, they said the people compared him to the prophets, and then Peter, came to the top of the class when he said, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 

They were all right, in a way, Jesus did follow on from the other prophets but he was also something else, the Messiah. This means literally, to be anointed.

Traditionally, in the Old Testament, prophets and kings were anointed with oil, like the Queen was at the Coronation and like the oil used in at our baptisms and healing prayers.

Amid all this, we need to remember being anointed, being chosen, as the messiah, is one thing, quite how that vocation will be lived out is something else. Events around that person will influence the outcome of history. 

And at this stage in the story, the outcome is uncertain, Jesus hasn’t started his journey to the cross yet, he hasn’t been crucified, or resurrected. He hasn’t sent the Holy Spirit and the church is a twinkling in his eye. 

Of course, we know all of this was to happen, as did Matthew, but Peter didn’t, which makes his answer more powerful, especially given his record of making mistakes and sometimes having doubts. 

So, here’s another question, who do you say Jesus is?

There are a lot of words written about who Jesus is, words like redeemer, sanctifier, saviour, Lord, Christ the King, the Lamb of God, the son of God, the son of Man and many others.

But who do you say Jesus is? Now part of our calling is as a church, a community and in how we tell the Good News both in our words and in how we treat each other.

But another part of that calling is how we grow in faith through our personal relationships with Jesus, although we do need to remember that whatever our personal relationship with Jesus may be, it will probably be different for our neighbour and that the relationship will change over time, depending what’s going on around us.

Of course, today we can’t meet Jesus and shake his hand but there are other ways in which we can meet Jesus; in worship, when we read the Bible and in prayer.

It could be that it’s difficult for you to relate to Jesus, especially with all the grand words we sometimes use, so here are some ways in which Jesus may already be alongside us.

For us, Jesus may be the man sitting by the well in the middle of day, talking to the woman who feels cast out from society.

Jesus may be the man who we read about teaching us about what it is to be a disciple of God through his life and parables.

Perhaps we are finding it difficult to make ends meet and for us, Jesus gives hope, feeding the five thousand or abundantly turning water into wine.

Maybe Jesus, is weeping with us, as he wept when Lazarus died. Bringing comfort, alongside us in our pain.

I wonder if he is praying for us, alone, up on the mountain.

I wonder if our Jesus is the healer, a beacon of hope. That through him we could be made whole just by touching the hem of his cloak.

Perhaps Jesus is there with us when we sit down to eat, as he was at the last supper and as he will be in our remembering of that meal soon.

Or maybe Jesus is there for us on the cross, his arms spread wide, ready to hold us, ready to take on all the things we regret, all the wrongs we’ve done, redeeming us and forgiving us our sins.

At our darkest hour, perhaps our Jesus is there with us in the darkness of the tomb, to remind us we are not alone.

Or maybe our Jesus is born again, resurrected, bursting from the tomb, in blazing light, bringing new life, promising eternal life.

There are many other ways so if Jesus was with us, what would you say when he asks, who do you say I am?

It is also okay to be uncertain how to answer, having doubts or questions is part of being a follower of Christ and it doesn’t mean we lack faith.

In every way, Jesus has given us the gift, the blessing of the Holy Spirit, so that we could be one with him and the father in the trinity.

By declaring who he believes Jesus to be, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Peter receives a blessing, despite his human failings. A blessing open to us all when we respond in faith.

Simply put, to be a disciple, is to be blessed by God. 

Part of Peter’s blessing is to be the rock upon which the church is built, from him the church we know now, grew and that church, to me, is a community of people, united in Jesus.

From this it’s the actions which make us a force for the kingdom and the common good and sometimes in just small ways. 

In every thoughtful gesture, in every supportive word, in every meal cooked, in every day of work, in fighting for justice, in all of this we might just catch a glimpse of the power Jesus promises.

The answer Peter gave may seem very familiar or obvious today, but back then, they were struggling to work out who Jesus was.

And in some ways, we are still struggling to work out who the real Jesus was and who he wasn’t.

And to put this in perspective, just think about what would happen today, in our society, if a person with no mandate, no government and no formal power, gathered followers who called him messiah, the son of God? It’s radical stuff.

So being a disciple and an ambassador for Jesus, like Peter, is a radical act and it means that we too can be blessed.

If you’re wondering what my answer is, I’m going to say Jesus, I know you love me, I know that you love every one of us here and that you are our lord and saviour.

Amen.

Preached on placement at St Margaret, Whaddon and St George, Tuffley on Sunday 27th August 2017.

Gospel Reading                 Matthew 16.13-20

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ ¹⁴And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ¹⁵He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ ¹⁷And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ ²⁰Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.