September 17, 2006
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Mindekirken Mark 8,27-38 Who is Jesus? We who were present at this church last Sunday could hear Pastor David Wangaard telling about the Chinese girl who had just arrived here in America. The Christian faith was completely unknown to her. But after attending her first Christian Sunday service ever, she had got a little idea, just to enable her to ask this: Who is Jesus? The Bible passage for today starts with this question. Jesus himself was well aware of his identity. It was not for his own sake that he asked. Rather, here he invites his disciples to a dialogue about who he is. He starts very carefully and peripherally, asking for peoples’ opinions. The question about the Messiah was hot in the Roman-occupied Israel at that time. The Jews longed for liberation. It seems strange, that in all my 26 years as a pastor, I have never had this sermon text before. By the way, perhaps it is not so strange, simply because these verses in Mark’s gospel are not in the lectionaries of the Church of Norway. On the other hand, I have several times had Matthew’s version of the first 3rd of our texts. Matthew is much more detailed in his report about Peter’s confession: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God". Further, when Jesus replies: "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Yonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." The following powerful words about the keys of the Kingdom of heaven are not the topic for today. On Tuesday, a small group of us gathered in my office for Bible study, using the text for today. At my question: What is the core here? The answer came: "Peter’s confession: You are the Messiah." I can agree to that. The core is Peter’s confession and proclamation. This Bible story is also "the center" in Mark’s gospel as a whole, placed just in the middle. The confession is the center of Peter’s life. It is also the core of the life of the congregation, and in our lives. The confession: You are the Messiah! On the other hand, this confession also causes the most offense in this world. That Jesus has existed, is commonly agreed upon. It is considered a historic fact. Most people like his words and his miracles, whatever their religion is. Most Jews think of Jesus as a noble man. Even the Koran and among Moslems, the prophet Isa, as they call him, is a great man. Jesus is one of the highest of the prophets. Only by the claim that he is the Messiah, with everything it involves, people are personally challenged. It is also here that the roads do part. And that most Jews, the Moslems and many Americans and Norwegians say "no, thanks". Let us for a minute go back to the first confessor. Peter is in the gospels depicted as a man of contrasts. As here, we heard him both high up, and deep down. Sometimes Peter is just brilliant, while he denies and swears in the garden of the high priest on Good Friday’s night. It is the same today. Just after the brave confession, he misses totally, so Jesus has to reprimand him: "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." In this light we see that the question: Who is Jesus? needs to be followed by another. That is: Who am I? The human being is a strange mosaic, full of bright and dark sides. This topic becomes obvious through the text we share today: We are both good and evil. I must say that I feel related to Peter, not only by sharing his name. Even if his frankness is much greater than mine, I can feel acquainted with his "roller coaster nature". Also, James pictures our doubleness in another way, by describing how helpless we are in holding our tongue. Another example, that Jesus himself describes at the end of the text, is when we are ashamed of him and our Christian faith. This is caused by our sin, deep in our hearts. That is our dark side. And we can do nothing about it. Unbelief we can produce by ourselves, but not faith. According to Matthew, Jesus says to Peter: "this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." Luther describes our lack of ability to believe very clearly when he explains the 3rd article of the Creed: I believe that I by my own reason or power cannot believe in Jesus, my Lord, or come to him, But the Holy Spirit has called me.. As believers we are completely reliant upon God, his Spirit, telling us that we need salvation, and that Jesus has fixed it all. In addition, let us remind each other that He who is so great that he could use Peter, with all his mistakes, and even make him a rock, that he built his church upon, he can use weak and fragile human beings today. The Messiah security, that they should not talk about it, was only a time-limited prohibition. It was meant to prevent him from being killed before God’s schedule. Even during our text today, the prohibition from talking about Jesus’ Messianity, is indirectly being abolished, when Jesus says that we should not be ashamed about him and his word. Every Sunday, we rehearse by speaking out loud about whom we think that Jesus is, when we confess our holy faith together. Let this be the core of our life, for our tongue, our hands, and our whole body, that we honor Jesus by proclaiming him as our Messiah and Savior. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit now and for ever. Amen |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |