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A Defining Moment
We are about to enter full bore into the political season, that time of a presidential election year when the campaigning gets even more intense than it has been. That final home stretch of the campaign traditionally starts with each political party’s convention.
The conventions have become a time for leaders of both parties to come together to talk about what they believe, and how they identify themselves. We have seen – and will continue to see – arguments and debates over the foundational and core issues for both parties.
In one way or another, positive or negative, the conventions are defining moments in our political process, a time for candidates to define who they are.
A few moments ago we heard the story of another defining moment.
Jesus and his disciples are walking on a dusty road north of Palestine. Jesus has been busy in recent days, healing the sick, feeding thousands, teaching and debating with religious leaders.
He is aware that news about him is spreading rapidly throughout that part of the world.
And so he asks his disciples, “What do you hear people saying about me?” Kind of like John McCain or Barack Obama checking the latest polls to see what people are thinking and saying.
The disciples are happy to tell Jesus some of the things they have heard.
“Some people are saying that you are John the Baptist, returned from the grave.
“Others are saying that you are the reincarnation of the great prophet Elijah, the one who didn’t die, but whose body was whisked straight into heaven to be with God.
“I heard someone say you might be the great prophet Jeremiah come back to life, or maybe one of the other prophets.”
People of this generation expected that the long-awaited Messiah would appear soon. But before the Messiah’s appearance, they believed that others would come to announce the Messiah’s impending arrival, and prepare the way.
The disciples were hearing the rumblings of people who thought that Jesus was one of those forerunners, someone who had come to prepare the way for the Messiah.
Jesus listens as his disciples relate the different things they have heard. Then he asks them a harder question.
“OK, that’s what everyone else is saying. But who do you say that I am?”
Peter, always the most impetuous and brash of the bunch, bursts in before anyone else can say anything.
“You are the Messiah, the son of the living God,” he says. Other translations say, “You are the Christ.”
Nowadays we use the word “Christ” as if it were Jesus’ second name. But Christ is not Jesus’ name, it is his vocation, his title. Christ is another word for Messiah, the anointed one, the savior and liberator who God sends to redeem the world.
By acknowledging Jesus as the Christ, Peter is recognizing that Jesus is not just another prophet sent to prepare the way for the messiah who is still to come. Jesus is not just another great teacher, healer, or moral leader. He is indeed all of those things, but he is much, much more.
This man walking with his friends down the dusty road is the Son of God, God’s emissary of salvation, the very revelation and presence of God among us. Not a forerunner of the Christ, but the Christ, the real thing.
Peter’s pronouncement is the first time that anyone has recognized Jesus for who he really is, who understands that the turning point in the history of faith is here with this man Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus is delighted with Peter’s answer. “Blessed are you!” he says, adding God has chosen Peter to be the first to recognize the Messiah. Peter’s answer, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God,” is the foundation upon which all of Christianity will be based.
“On this rock I will build my church,” Jesus says. The church is rooted in this confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.
Peter’s recognition of Jesus is a great moment – a defining moment in Christian history.
But it was just a moment.
Jesus has been identified for who he really is. But even Peter will soon forget his moment of divine inspiration. Even Peter will deny knowing that Jesus in the Messiah, deny knowing that he even knows this man.
And so the question, “Who do you say that I am?” must be asked again and again.
“Who do you say that I am?” is a question that must be asked of every Christian in every generation. It is a question that must continually be asked of the Church, because how the Church answers this question determines what kind of church we are.
Who do we say that Jesus is? We may agree with Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God.
But what does that really mean almost 2,000 years after the Messiah’s death? What does it say about what we believe and how we act now?
What does it mean that the long-awaited Messiah is not a great king or political leader, but a poor carpenter? Not a divine mythic figure who descends to earth in glory, but an ordinary baby born in a barn. Not a conquering hero, but a man nailed to a cross and left to die like a common criminal.
Jesus’ union with God comes through his compassion, humility, love and care. Jesus is the Christ not by the way of the conquering hero, but by the way of the suffering servant.
In his letter to the Christians in Philippi, the apostle Paul explains how Jesus became the Christ.
“Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness,” Paul writes.
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”
It was only after that death that God gave Jesus “the name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord.”
To confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God is not just to say empty words. It is to live a life modeled on the one who emptied himself, took the form of a slave and died on the cross.
If we confess that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, then we must believe that God prefers humility to arrogance and certitude; that God prefers equality to hierarchy; that God has special love and concern for the poor, the needy, the outcast.
We must believe that God’s love is not reserved for one elite group, but extends to all people. We must believe that forgiveness, love, and compassion are at the core of our faith.
And we must live with them at the core of our lives.
Amen.
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