Luke 9.18-27; Luke 9.28-36
For our LORD, some quiet time … he prays …
Arms behind his back, pacing a bit? …
does he kneel, his face to the ground? …
does he sit on a large stone somewhere, his legs stretched out before him, his arms behind him, propping him up? … relaxed … looking out and about …
are his eyes closed? …
is he tense? … distressed? … calm?
Jesus prays …
in the morning as the sun rises? …
in the evening, as the day draws to a close? …
or just a quick moment in an otherwise busy day? …
like we all have now and then, when a meeting is cancelled, and we actually have a genuinely free moment?
Jesus prays … and, then … something occurs to him … he asks the disciples, What’s the scuttlebutt? … what are folks saying about me?
An intimate moment in Luke’s Gospel … this man of ability and love … this sweet man who gives of himself tirelessly … he’s curious … what’s being said about me?
Some folks say you’re John the Baptist come back from the dead, say the disciples … others say you’re Elijah … or one of the ancient prophets …
Jesus nods … with a wry smile on his face? … maybe a wink? … Ahhh, so that’s what folks think of me? Someone from the past. A hero returned from the dead.
Jesus pauses, I think … takes a deep breath … and asks, Who do you say that I am?
Who is Jesus?
Google that question, and you’ll be busy for a long, long, time … entire libraries exist on this question … books, books, and more books; authors, agents, publishers … podcasts, Substack, and blogs.
In our Presbyterian tradition, we have John Calvin and the Calvinists …
The Lutherans have Luther …
Roman Catholics have the Pope …
The Orthodox have their Archbishops …
Fundamentalists, pentecostals, and liberals …
megachurch pastors, and storefront preachers …
Mormon boys on their bicycles,
and street preachers with a placard,
and folks like me.
All of it helpful … some of it confusing, some of it good, and some of it not.
Somewhere along the road comes the question, What about you? Who do you say I am?
Peter replies, You’re the Messiah, the Anointed One of God … Peter’s not far off the path, but Jesus shuts down the conversation …
Jesus sternly orders and commands them not to tell anyone!
Why?
The word “messiah” is a dangerous word … many thought of the Messiah as a king, like David of old, a powerful leader, soldiers and chariots, shields and swords … restore the monarchy, rebuild the city, set the people free from Roman domination, make Judah great again.
The quest for power, dreams of glory …
Christianity has more often than not failed the test.
The Inquisition, colonialism, eradication of indigenous peoples, the Salem Witch Hunts, the oppression of women, countless wars … and slavery … all in the name of Christ.
The light of history reveals faith gone wrong all too often … when linked with empire and weapons … it’s not a pretty picture … it’s no wonder some Christians would rather bury the truth rather than tell the truth.
But there’s a flip side to the story - faith rises up and does what’s right …
faith takes up the cross of Christ, not the sword of Satan …
faith emancipates the slave, gives women the vote … ends the cruelty of child labor; proclaims the gospel in joy and hope … works for peace, the environment, civil rights … saving souls, and healing bodies … with liberty and justice for all.
When all is said and done, when the books are closed, and the preacher says Amen! … still the question comes to each of us: Who do you say that I am?
Recently, I read a fine biography of Abraham Lincoln.
Again and again, Lincoln turns to the words of Jesus, when tells the story of a house divided against itself.
On the question of slavery …
Lincoln holds his Bible in one hand, and the Constitution in the other … Lincoln and his wife, Mary, attend New York Avenue Presbyterian Church.
On the other side of the question:
The president of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis and his wife, Varina, attend St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, VA, a church ofter referred to as the “Cathedral of the Confederacy.”
Lincoln declares slavery to be an abomination … Davis believes slavery to be a good arrangement.
A house divided.
In a personal note, Lincoln writes:
God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.
In Lincoln's Second Inaugural address, he says:
Both [sides] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes [God’s] aid against the other. …. The prayers of both could not be answered.
A house divided.
The divide remains, I fear … do women have the right to chose for themselves, or does a woman’s body belong to the government when she’s pregnant? …
Can gay and lesbian persons marry? - or does their right to marry destroy our nation’s morality?
Those who stormed the Capital on January 6 - are they criminals or patriots?
Are trans-people evil? Are they and their families a threat to America?
I am deeply concerned - about the present moment … a spiritual misalignment of certain forms of Christianity that I believe to be contrary to the cross of Christ, linked with political views I find antithetical to the spirit of our Constitution … all of it underwritten with enormous amounts of money! dark money, well-hidden from view … when this kind of money sets the pace, something is wrong … life cannot be bought and sold, faith cannot be purchased and traded upon … truth is not found on the New York Stock Exchange, or in the commodities market.
Who is Jesus?
You’re the Messiah! … says Peter.
Yes! Jesus IS the Messiah, but of a different order than what Peter expected …
Peace, not power … salvation, not a sword … truth, not a throne … welcome, not exclusion … forgiveness, not condemnation … generosity, not greed … trust, not fear … the Messiah of God crosses borders and does not create them … the Messiah of God: God’s mercy, God’s goodness, God’s peace … for God so loves the world.
Jesus speaks of suffering … the powerful reject him … they crown him with a crown of thorns … they kill him …
Jesus speaks of self-denial - the bombshell of all ethics … no wonder the powerful despise him …
Jesus speaks of the cross … the cross for anyone who wants to be a part of a better world … a heavy cross, it is … the weight of the world upon his shoulders, and our shoulders, too.
Jesus speaks of spiritual things - lest we get lost in material things … Jesus draws a firm line in the sand on wealth and spiritual disciplines … where your treasure is, that’s where we find your heart!
Jesus says pointedly: If you’re ashamed of my kind of love, if you have little interest in my words, my actions, my values … if you reject the cross, and shape the gospel to suit your own interests, you cut yourself off from God.
When all is said and done … when the books are closed, and the preacher says, Amen! … still the question comes to each of us: morning, noon, and night: Who do you say that I am?
Eight days later, the mount of Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses are there … a cloud of glory, bright and beautiful … a voice proclaims, This is my son, my chosen; listen to him.
Amen and Amen!
