WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM
In this Sunday’s Gospel reading we find Jesus and his disciples on a retreat. With all the activity of ministry it was time to pull away and get a little rest. It was also a time to take stock of the situation in the ministry. It could also be titled a time of recognition. It is a time for the disciples of Jesus to come to grips with who He is. This could be called a high point in the Gospel because from this point on Jesus will be pointed toward the cross. The trip to Caesarea Philippi was an opportunity for Jesus to pull away with his disciples for some quiet time together. A time to take stock of all the events and happenings that had occurred so far in his ministry. They had been WITH him and SEEN and HEARD all that he had done. It was time to see if they could recognize him for who he is. You’ll notice I said Who He Is and Not who He Was. Jesus is alive and well at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus confronted his disciples to find out what was the word on the street? What was the scuttlebutt about him? What were the people saying about him? Sometimes it’s hard for a leader to know what people are saying about him among themselves. We read:
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
The disciples respond to Jesus with all the talk that is being said about him on the street. Well, some people say you are John the Baptist, or Elijah or Jeremiah or some other prophet. The people have confused Jesus with some of the great prophets of the past because of his mighty works and words. Their expectations of a mighty prophet seemed to be fulfilled in Jesus’ deeds. But they don’t quite recognize who he truly is.
Its like the story of a wealthy Ohio farmer back in the 1800’s who had a young man named Jamie come to work for him. Jamie was allowed to sleep in the barn and he was a hard worker. He was so good that soon he was in charge of some of the other workers. He was careful and diligent in his work and the farmer really appreciated him. One day Jamie came to announce that he and the farmer’s daughter had fallen in love and he wanted to ask for her hand in marriage. The farmer hit the ceiling, “Is this the way you pay me back for all the good I have done to you? I don’t need you here any longer, pack your things and leave!” The farmer never heard from Jamie again. Many years later the farmer was cleaning out barn and as he swept the area where Jamie had slept he discovered that Jamie had carved his full name in the wood. It read “James A. Garfield”. He had kicked off his land a future General in the Union Army and a President of the United States. He had failed to recognize in Jamie who he would and could become.
Then Jesus asks the question of his disciples, the men who have been closest to him in his travels around the countryside as he ministered to the people and preached the good news to them. There was probably a moment of silence as they thought it over and then Peter blurts out,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
The trumpets blare and there is a drum roll in heaven as the heavenly hosts all join in with alleluia’s and praises to God over this key event in the life of Jesus. He has been recognized!! He has been found out! They know Who He Is!! I remember from almost 64 years ago on my first guard duty I was to say to any body who came near my post, “Halt, who goes there?” When they answered I would say, “Advance and be recognized.” No one was to pass unless they had identified themselves properly. Now I’m sure Jesus didn’t carry around an I.D. card but it was important for him to be recognized for him to pass that point in his journey to the cross. They had to understand that he was, and is and always will be the Christ, the Messiah, and the Anointed One of God; in fact, Matthew is the only gospel writer who has Peter, qualify his declaration with the words “The Son of the Living God.” Matthew Henry writes in his commentary that:
Peter's answer is short, but it is full, and true, and to the purpose; Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Here is a confession of the Christian faith, addressed to Christ, and so made an act of devotion. Here is a confession of the true God as the living God, in opposition to dumb and dead idols, and of Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent, whom to know is life eternal. This is the conclusion of the whole matter.
[1.] The people called him a Prophet, that Prophet [John. 6:14; but the disciples own him to be the Christ, the anointed One; the great Prophet, Priest, and King of the church; the true Messiah promised to the fathers, and depended on by them as He that shall come. It was a great thing to believe this concerning one whose outward appearance was so contrary to the general idea the Jews had of the Messiah.
[2.] He called himself the Son of Man; but the disciples owned him to be the Son of the living God. The people's notion of him was, that he was the ghost of a dead man, Elijah, or Jeremiah; but the disciples know and believe him to be the Son of the living God, who has life in himself, and has given to his Son to have life in himself, and to be the Life of the world.
The disciples recognize Jesus as the Son of the Living God. He is not a lifeless idol and some esoteric thought process, but the Living and True God, King of the entire Universe in whom we live and have our being. In the Daily Office readings for today the second reading is from the
Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In chapter 4 John encounters the living God seated upon the throne in all His majesty. John writes:
At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." (NIV) Rev 4:1-11
This is the God who intervened in the affairs of the world to rescue us when we didn’t even know enough to cry out,
“We’ve fallen and we can’t get up!!!”
That reminds me of the story of Walter Wyatt, Jr. who on December 5th, 1986 attempted to fly from Nassau to Miami, in his Beechcraft. I say attempted because he never completed the 65-minute flight. Some thieves had stolen the navigational equipment from his plane so with only a compass and a hand-held radio he took off into a sky blackened with storm clouds. He tried to fly below the clouds because his compass was acting up and soon he got turned around and was headed in the wrong direction. About 8 P.M. his right engine coughed and sputtered to a stop and all he could do was glide the plane done into the water. Before ditching the plane he put out a May Day call and the Coast Guard was out looking for him. He spent the night in the water being bumped by sharks as they came to investigate the smell of blood. He spent the night kicking at the sharks as they came closer and closer. As daylight approached he saw no airplanes but plenty of dorsal fins and the sharks closed in. He would kick at them but he was getting weaker and weaker. Finally a Coast Guard plane showed up and guided the cutter “Cape York” to him. He was pulled from the water, exhausted and as he collapsed on the deck, he kissed it. Walter had been saved, and through no effort of his own. It was nothing less than an outside intervention that had rescued him from sure death.
That it what the Atonement is all about. We like Walter have been rescued from sure death.
The intervention of God into the world to rescue us is only effective as long as we accept and have FAITH in that saving work of Christ. Jesus said to Peter in response to his declaration, “And 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.” The rock that Jesus is referring to is the FAITH that Peter displayed in making his declaration on who Jesus is. Walter Wyatt hung in there through the night, in FAITH, that he would be rescued. The 11th chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews lists what I call the Hall of Fame of Faith. People who did not give in to despair but clung to their FAITH in God, through all adversity. Jesus said he would build his church on that rock and he has. Faith and belief are the rock upon which our behavior is based. What we believe drives our actions. Jesus knew that the disciples would need that rock hard belief if they were to continue to build his church. Beliefs drive our actions.
There was a news story on TV one day. A group of skydivers were parachuting out of the aircraft and the photographer from the TV station, also a skydiver, was also falling along with them and filming as they descended, as the last chutist pulled his ripcord the camera went haywire. The anchor at the TV station reported that the photographer filming the piece had fallen to his death, because as he finished filming the last chutist he reached for his own ripcord and it wasn’t there. He had forgotten to put on his parachute. He jumped from the aircraft in the mistaken belief that he had it on.
Beliefs drive our actions. It is the mistaken beliefs that are tragic ones. At the end of this sermon we will all stand together, and as a community, recite the Nicene Creed. The largest portion of that Creed is devoted to describing the Second Person of the Trinity - Jesus Christ. Some mistaken beliefs that people have about Jesus are that Jesus was a great teacher, a good man, a healer, a preacher of the good news, but they can’t believe that he is the Christ, their Lord and their Savior, much less that he is the Son of the Living God! Jesus asks you today, who do you say that I am? For St. Paul writes in the letter to the Galatians;
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life
I now live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me." [Galatians 2: 20]
Dr. Charles Stanley's radio program In Touch covered a subject called "Your Walk in Faith" and listed several reasons for our hesitations in building a strong faith to carry us through.
1. SIGHT - we often rely on what we can actually see. If we cannot see a solution then we lack the faith to go forward.
2. REASON - we are hampered by our powers of reasoning at times because if there is no logical reason for taking an action then we won't.
3. KNOWLEDGE - we can have too much knowledge about something that it will keep us making a move on faith.
4. PAST EXPERIENCE - our previous experiences tells us that a certain thing cannot happen or exist.
5. OPINION OF OTHERS - we ask someone else what they would do in our place.
6. FEELINGS - you just don't feel like stepping out in faith.
7. GUILT - robs us of our stability in faith.
To conquer these things that will cause you to hesitate you must you use your will power. You must will yourself to step out in faith. Keep your mind on the WORD, the scriptures. The spoken word is a powerful ingredient in the activation of faith. Jesus instructs us in John chapter 14:
"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. Truly, truly, I say to you he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. [John 14: 1, 12-14]
The key to activating faith is to believe and trust in God the Father, through his Son Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is born out or evidenced, in our lives when we see the fruit of spirit of which faithfulness is a part. Despite the conditions, the circumstances or whatever, we are always faithful.
The Rev. Dr. Kurt Miller
12th Sunday after Pentecost-Year A [23 August 2020]
Proper 16 [St. Augustine’s]
Exodus 1:8-2:10
Psalm 124
Romans 12: 1-8
Matthew 16: 13-20
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