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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 17, 2006 Sermon by The Rev. Bill Van Oss, Rector
Readings       

Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”

It was an important question for them—perhaps the most important. And it is an important question for us. Who do you say that Jesus is?

There is an experience that a lot of clergy have. It’s happened to me a few times, and I know others have experienced it as well.

It happens after the Sunday service or a wedding or funeral. As you know, I like to stand in the back and greet people as they are exiting. And every so often a little boy or girl will be kind of circling around, not walking too close to me, but looking up and staring. She sees that other people are walking up, and shaking hands, giving me a greeting, probably telling me how great the sermon was.

And the little child is just kind of hanging back, but staring intently, you can almost see her little mind working, her face scrunched up in thought, and, pretty soon, she musters up the courage, she slowly approaches until she’s right in front of me, and still staring she asks, “Are you Jesus?”

The parents, of course, want to correct her. “No, no, no, honey. . .” But I always say, “That’s okay. If I’m going to be mistaken for someone, I could do much, much worse than Him.”

And it’s understandable. Clergy wear robes like Jesus might have worn, they quote the words of Jesus when they preach, and they stand at a table and use the words of Jesus, words from the last supper—over bread and wine: “Take, eat, this is my body. . . Drink this, this is the cup of the new covenant. . Do this in memory of me. . .”

If you dress up like Jesus, and use his words, and repeat his actions, you just might get mistaken for Jesus. And it’s kind of cute and funny.

But answering the questions Jesus asks: “Who do you say that I am?” is perhaps the most important work we’ll ever do. How we answer the question makes all the difference.

Scripture tells us that people at the time of Jesus had many, many answers for the question: Son of God, Son of Mary, King, Lord, Son of David, Teacher, Rabbi, King of the Jews, Son of the Living God and Master, to name a few.

In today’s Gospel, the answers are John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets and Messiah. In other places in the Gospel Jesus is called a blasphemer, a glutton, a drunkard and an imposter.

And it’s interesting the note that Jesus doesn’t correct people’s answers: He’s clearly not John the Baptist or Elijah, but he doesn’t say, “No, no, no, I’m not.”

He simply asks: “Who do you say that I am?”

Some people speculate from this that Jesus was not sure of His own identity, but I believe He does not correct people because He wants us to learn that He is so, so much bigger, so much more, than any one single answer.

It’s as if Jesus is saying: “Yes, I’m all those and so much more, come, get the know me, learn to love me, and you will discover that I do not fit into any box you try to put me in.”

For that is a great hazard, putting Jesus, putting God, in a box. For it limits God’s power to change us, and challenge us, to help us grow and transform us. Throughout our lifetimes, God is Jesus Christ is capable of being many, many things to us.

A parent, who shows unconditional love.
A healer, who restores us to wholeness when we are broken.
A teacher and guide, who shows us the way.
A reconciler, who shows us how to forgive by first forgiving us.
A comforter when we are heartbroken and grieving.
A challenge when we are tempted to become complacent.
Compassion when we have injured or done wrong, or been injured or wronged.
Hope when it seems like we can no longer go on.
Redemption even though we’ve done nothing to deserve it.
Light & Life in a world so full of darkness and death.

God in Jesus Christ is all of these things and so much more. That’s why Jesus asks his disciples, and us, “Who do you say that I am?”, and then listens quietly while they and we give a whole lot of answers.

God is bigger than our vast imaginations make God out to be, and yet we spend so much time putting God into a box. Let God out—honor the experiences of God that you have had, and honor other people’s experiences of God.

Share your experiences with others, and listen when others share them with you. For God is at work in you, and me, and in our world.

Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” If you have no answer or a single, easy answer, neat and tidy, our God may be too small. But if we are able to look inside and look back and look around and come up with lots and lots of answers, then we are seeing some of the vastness, some of the comprehensiveness and diversity, of the face of God. When that happens, then the face of God can be reflected through us. So that when the little girl asks, “Are you Jesus?” You and I can answer, “We may not be Him, but we’re trying to be like Him.”
       
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