Who Do You Think Jesus Is?

On Tuesday night fifty of us went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park in Boston. At one point as I was standing behind the section where our seats were I saw a guy walking toward me and he looked familiar and our eyes met. I started doing a mental search of who he might be and how I might know him, but I was failing so I just stuck out my hand and said, “Doug Scalise from Brewster, how are you doing?” I gave him my name and hometown to provide context to help him identify who I was. He told me his name and I realized we’d been members of the same gym a number of years ago. I made sure to use his name once or twice in our brief conversation. It’s been said that one of the best sounds to any person is the sound of our own name. Hearing our name from another person (provided the tone and the reason are positive) is reassuring and comforting and it speaks to our relationship and connection.

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August 2, 2015
Mark 8:27-30, Who Do You Think Jesus Is?
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

The opposite of someone telling us her or his name is the situation when a person comes up and says, “You don’t remember me do you?” You should never do that to anyone because it puts the person being spoken to in an awkward position – if we can’t pull the person’s name out of our head or if we truly don’t know who is speaking to us what we are supposed to say? “No I don’t remember you, sorry to make you feel unimportant.” That probably wouldn’t go over too well so we probably shouldn’t do that.

Both situations I’ve just described are about identity and knowing who somebody is – clearly it’s much better to know who someone is than to be ignorant or unable to identify someone. Today’s Gospel passage is also about identity and knowing who someone is, in this case, Jesus. Listen to Mark 8:27-30, “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Like other weeks in our series Questions Jesus Asks, in today’s brief passage Jesus asks more than one question. The setting was a rural road near Caesarea Philippi, a city about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. At the time of Jesus there was a gleaming white marble temple in Caesarea Philippi dedicated to the worship of Caesar. It’s near this place and about halfway through his short public ministry that Jesus asks the first question he addressed to the disciples: “Who do people say that I am?” Jesus is asking those closest to him what the word is on the street. How is he being perceived? What do people think about him? He gets several answers.

Our Creative Communication Team took to the streets to ask some local Cape Codders who they think Jesus is – they got a variety of answers too. Take a look.

People have a lot of different answers about who Jesus is; in Mark 8:28 the disciples say the word of the street reflects that folks aren’t sure who Jesus is because there are three different answers. The first is John the Baptist. This is not the most informed or intelligent of answers since Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. This most likely reflects Mark 6:14-16 in which King Herod hears about the things Jesus is doing and Herod’s guilt over killing and innocent man like John is bothering him. “14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

In trying to answer the question of who Jesus is, in both Mark 6 and Mark 8, to paraphrase the movie Casablanca, they “round up the usual suspects” – John the Baptist, Elijah – who according to Malachi 4:5-6 would return to deliver and restore Israel, or one of the prophets of old. None of those answers is correct. After asking the disciples what other people are saying about him, then Jesus asks them and all of us perhaps the most important and vital question in the whole Gospel of Mark, “But who do you say that I am?” In the Greek text the “you” is emphatic. Our answer to this question is truly life altering. Is Jesus a fraud, a religious lawbreaker, a teacher, a wonder worker, a healer, a prophet? The disciples had been thinking about this going back to the story we shared about two weeks ago with the storm on the sea when they asked (Mark 4:41), “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Peter’s answer is that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed one. Peter’s answer or confession is the first correct human statement about Jesus’ identity in the Gospel of Mark. In Mark 1:11, “a voice from heaven,” said, “You are my Beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” In Mark 1:24 there’s a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit who cries out to Jesus, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” So Mark tells us as readers, who Jesus is in the beginning, but the whole point of the Gospel is to help us come to that conclusion ourselves. The word “Christ” is the Greek form of the Hebrew title “Messiah.” Mark’s Gospel begins, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The term Christ or Messiah isn’t used again in Mark’s Gospel until todays’ passage in Mark 8:29. Jesus never refers to himself as Christ in the entire Gospel of Mark. However, during his trial when he’s asked point blank if he is the Christ in Mark 14:61-64, Jesus says, “I am.”

In a world where there is so much uncertainty and in which we learn that institutions, organizations and individuals we thought were dependable or trustworthy prove not to be, it’s good to focus on Jesus who is utterly reliable and worthy of our trust. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” When people ask me who I think Jesus is I usually give them four answers. First, I say that Jesus is our Savior because he forgives our sin, rescuing us from the power of sin and death, and frees us to be his people. A Savior rescues or delivers somebody from a present and/or future harm or danger. Both Matthew and Luke share about Jesus’ role as our Savior in the stories of his birth. In Matthew 1:21 an angel tells Joseph about the child, “you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” In Luke 2:10b-11, The angel announces to the shepherds “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Christ, the Lord.” From the beginning of the good news about Jesus we’re to understand that we can’t save ourselves from the devastating consequences of our sins, but Jesus can. Jesus is our Savior because he forgives our sins and sets us free.

Jesus is not only our Savior, he’s also our Lord. Two of the most common terms used to describe Jesus in the New Testament are “Savior,” and “Lord.” When we baptize people, part of what we ask is, “Do you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord?” Lord means that Jesus is the leader of our life – what he says, we’re going to do. We will imitate and follow his way of life. He’s in charge of and directs our habits, choices, and decisions. Saying Jesus is our Lord means his mindset and attitude is to be ours. Those who have been brought under the authority of the Lord Jesus are committed to obeying him (Matthew 28:16f, Romans 6:3-11; 7:4-6; 14:8). However, Jesus doesn’t ask us to follow him without helping us to do so. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, (page 40), “Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to perform it. His commands never seek to destroy life, but to foster, strengthen and heal it.” Jesus is my Leader whose commands I seek to follow. To say Jesus is our Lord means that we try to live our life in every aspect in a way that pleases him.

Jesus is our Savior, Lord, and he is our Teacher. Even people who don’t believe in Jesus as their Savior and Lord, will usually acknowledge that he was a teacher. Jesus however is not a teacher who is seeking to convey information about a subject like Geometry. Jesus teaches to change lives, to bring about a transformation in character, habits and thinking. Jesus teaches to help people become like him – loving, compassionate, kind, faithful, forgiving, and just. Jesus teaches by painting a picture for people of God’s preferred future for their life that is so compelling and powerful that people want to move toward it.

Listening to or reading the gospels one cannot miss the emphasis on Jesus’ teaching. Where does Jesus teach? All four of the gospels portray Jesus teaching all over the place. Jesus teaches “in their cities” (Matt 11:1) and “beside the sea” (Mark 4:1); in synagogues (Mt 13:54, Mark 6:2, Luke 4:15) and in the temple (John 7:14); on a mountain top (Matt 5:1-2) and in a boat (Mark 4:2); the list goes on and on.

How does Jesus teach? – First, he practiced what he taught. He embodied and demonstrated what he wanted his followers to do. Jesus never asked his students to do anything that he didn’t first do himself. He modeled what he wanted us to do. Second, even his opponents say that Jesus teaches in accordance with the truth (Matt. 22:16, Mark 12:14, Luke 20:21). His most common way of teaching is in parables (Mark 4:2) “He began to teach them many things in parables.” The other primary way Jesus taught as we’re seeing this summer was by answering and asking questions. Folks are always coming up to him asking, “Teacher…which commandment in the law is the greatest (MT 22:36), “what must I do to inherit eternal life (MK 10:17), “Teacher, Moses said… (MT 22:24). Jesus would also ask people, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51).

What does Jesus teach? “The way of God,” (Matt 22:16) He teaches about the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13) and how it is available to all people. He teaches “How to pray,” (Luke 11:2), about the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:12; John 14:26) and about what will happen to him, “That the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark 8:31. Who does Jesus teach – everyone!

Why does Jesus teach – Jesus teaches to make disciples who are like him. Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.”

The final way I answer the question who is Jesus is he’s my Savior, Lord, Teacher, and Friend. In the New Testament Jesus’ effort to mirror God’s love and mercy even to outcasts earns him the epithet ‘a friend of tax collectors and sinners’ (Matt. 9:11; Luke 7:34). We all need friends like Jesus. What a blessing it would be if we could all be friends like Jesus. Has anyone accused you of being a friend of tax collectors and sinners recently? Why not? In John 15 Jesus says these brief but powerful words: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Someone defined Christianity very simply this way: “Christianity is the acceptance of the gift of the friendship of Jesus.”^[1]

Jesus is our friend – he stands by us, supports and comforts us, but like all true friendships, it needs to go both ways. Jesus also wants us to love him and others the way he loves us. Jesus wants us to experience the friendship, love, and joy that make life a blessing and he wants us to share that transforming friendship with other people who also need to experience friendship, love, and joy. In his book (p. 34), The Transforming Friendship, Leslie Weatherhead writes about the transformation that takes place in the lives of those who truly become friends of Jesus “In all who come near Jesus manners soften, hearts become gentle. There is new tenderness, a new sympathy, a new joy, a kind of infectious goodness. The disciples begin to say things, do things, be things, which they never could have said, done, or been before. But those friends who have watched the change know the secret. They have been with Jesus. The friendship has done it. Friendship will always do that for us. It will make us like the friend we admire and see much of.”

Each of us has to answer Jesus’ question, “But who do you say that I am?” Imagine Jesus standing before you looking at you in love and hope and asking you that question – what would you say? Our answer makes all the difference in the world to our lives, our relationships, and our destiny. Savior, Lord, Teacher, and Friend are life transforming answers for all of us.

 

Blessing: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. Galatians 6:18

 

Questions for Reflection or Discussion

1. Jesus’ question “Who do people say that I am?” is answered in several ways in the Gospel of Mark – see the following verses 3:21-22, 4:41, 5:17, 6:3, 14-15 to see how people describe and respond to Jesus.
2. What is your answer to Jesus’ question, “But who do you say that I am?”
3. How would you explain who Jesus is to someone who has never read the Gospels and has no knowledge of Jesus?
4. Why do you think Jesus “sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him” at this point in his life and ministry?
5. In the last few months, how has your relationship with Jesus shaped and impacted your life? Your relationships? Choices? Decision-making? Priorities?

 

 

 

 

[1] Leslie Weatherhead, The Transforming Friendship, (Abingdon, Nashville, 1990), 18.