Rev. Betsy Aldrich Garland
September 13, 2009
Mark 8:27-38

Who Are You, Jesus?

For some time now Jesus and his disciples have been traveling all over Galilee and even into Gentile territories. It has been an amazing journey: People have been healed and fed. Stories have been told that have enlightened and confounded. Great crowds have gathered and miracles have been experienced. It’s been an amazing journey.

Imagine what it must have been like to be a disciple – in love with Jesus, enthralled by Jesus, confused by Jesus, frustrated by Jesus, trying to understand what this rabbi-prophet-man is all about. They had left everything behind to follow him; he is their hope for any kind of future.

Imagine the conversations on the road during the day and the whispering around the campfire at night. Proud to be his disciples – but unsure of what will come next. Waiting patiently for him to show Rome a thing or two. Who are you, Jesus?

And then Jesus brings the question to a head: “Who do people say that I am?” he asks. They respond with the usual suspects – John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets . . ..

Then Jesus brings the question home: “But who do you say that I am?” They can no longer drift along, wondering the same thing. Time to declare themselves – what they have suspected all along – that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Peter admits it. Jesus doesn’t deny it. This must have been a high moment for the movement, filled with possibilities for a glorious future: someone in King David’s line is coming into power.

Then Jesus begins to teach his disciples what being the Messiah really means, what the “glorious future” looks like. But suffering and death is not what Peter had in mind. Naming the Messiah is one thing. Suffering with the Messiah is another.

Picture Peter – big and burly – rebuking Jesus. He expects a military Messiah to overthrow Roman rule and take back the land. So Peter seizes Jesus and rebukes him – literally, turns him around, confronts him forcefully, with the intent of changing his mind. It is inconceivable to Peter that Jesus should be humiliated and killed. In all this time, he has not understood what Jesus’ ministry is all about.

Now it’s Jesus’ turn to rebuke Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” A powerful passage, a turning point in Mark’s gospel. Jesus clarifies what it means to be a Messiah – and what it means to be a disciple:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me.

And Jesus goes even further:

For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake,
and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

Discipleship, then, is about assuming one’s rightful place and following Jesus. So, let me put this in perspective, and perhaps this will sound a little heretical:

Coming to church is a good thing to do. I’m glad you’re all here. Worship lifts us up, takes us out of ourselves, connects us with a divine reality beyond ourselves, points us toward and supports us in discipleship. In fact, worship is the way we love God back . . ..

Identifying yourself as a Christian, naming Jesus as your Savior, is a good thing to do: It provides you with a moral compass in a confusing world of good and evil, a world with life-giving and life-destroying choices.

And reading the scriptures and spending time in prayer are good things to do, too. They connect you with the divine Spirit, build your understanding of God’s world and your place in it, and give you an anchor in a crisis.

Don’t stop doing these things! But know this: Jesus didn’t ask us to do these things. And Jesus didn’t ask us to worship him. What Jesus asked us to do was to follow him.

Jesus asks us to travel with him on an amazing journey. Jesus asks us to help him feed the hungry and heal the sick and clothe the naked and visit the lonely and set the prisoners free. He asks us to raise up the children and teach the adults in the ways of wisdom. He asks us to reach out to the poor and to put right systems in place and to restore the world to righteousness.

Jesus asks us to be his followers, and he will be in our midst – leading, challenging, and blessing us – and saving our lives.

May it be so!
Amen.