The sermon preached by Fr. Ernie on August 27, 2023.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Rev. Ernest Boyer 

Today Matthew comes to a critical point in his story. He’s already half way through. So far, Jesus has called his twelve disciples. He’s healed many people. He’s proclaimed an astonishing message of forgiveness, openness and peace to a crowd gathered around him during his sermon on the Mount. He’s even calmed the storm and walked on water. He’s been busy, in other words, but he really hasn’t said that much about himself. And meanwhile his followers have just tagged along after him and formed whatever conclusions they could about all this. Now, suddenly, just outside the Roman city of Caesarea Philippi, probably late at night as they are all sitting around a fire after dinner, Jesus asks his followers what they think this all means. “Who do people say that I am?” he asks.

“Some say that you’re John the Baptist come back from the dead,” one man says. “Some say that you’re the prophet Elijah,” another calls out. “Well, I heard some else suggest that you’re the prophet Jeremiah,” someone else tells him. “Other prophets too,” a fourth disciple adds.     

As everyone speaks, Jesus just nods. Then he looks up and meets the eyes of each one of them in turn. “And how about you?” he asks. “Who do you say that I am?” For several moments no one speaks. Then all at once Peter blurts out his answer.

You know, this story appears in three of the four Gospels. It appears first in Mark, but then was retold in Matthew and Luke, and in all three versions Peter’s answer begins the same. “You are the Messiah,” he says. “Messiah” is the English version of the Hebrew word “Mashiach,” which means “anointed one.” The word for “anointed one in Greek, is Christos, or Christ. “You are the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ.” This is what all three gospels give as Peter’s answer. But then in Matthew Peter adds something that does not appear in either Mark or Luke. There Peter goes on to add, “You are the son of the living God.”

The fact is, Peter really did not have much reason to believe the Jesus was the Messiah based on what he had seen so far. According to the Old Testament prophets, the Messiah would be a great military leader. He would be a direct descendent of David, a man who would win many battles and restore Israel as a nation — a just nation — a nation which followed the traditional commandants and laws. The messiah would be righteous and just but he would also be very much a human being. He would be neither superhuman nor divine. That means that when Peter called Jesus the son of the living God, he was definitely adding something.

Son of the living God — that title was entirely new. And now many other titles have been added to describe Jesus since? Some call people describe Jesus as their savior, others call him their Lord. For still others he is their friend and companion; for others, their brother and their beloved. Then there are those who join St. Thomas and simply addressed the risen Christ as “my Lord and My God.” One thing is clear, Messiah has become the very least of Jesus’ titles and probably the most inaccurate too.

So, how about you, who do you say Jesus is? Is he your picture of God? Is he your friend? Your companion? Your guide? Your savior? Your beloved? Your master? Your confidant? Your judge? Your loving and forgiving mother or father?…… What? …Reflect on it for a minute. It’s important, because who you see Jesus will go a long way in how you will let him into your life.

That’s because, among other things Jesus is our window to God. God is a mystery. Who and what God is, is beyond anything we can either know or imagine. Jesus is different. Jesus is God, but Jesus is also human. We can understand him because we believe that he can understand us. He’s been here. He’s stood where we stand. He’s felt pain and sadness and loss as well as joy and hope. And not only that, he faced death and came out the other side. He knows what we fear. He knows what it is like to feel alone and abandoned. He also knows what it is like to give himself over fully to God, to trust God completely, to know the peace of that. 

Jesus came to show us a God that we otherwise could not know. He also did something more. He came to show us that we have hidden within us aspects of ourselves that we otherwise would not believe possible. Jesus came to show us both of these things. He came to show us both who God is and also who we are. He showed us that the two are in fact joined. We and God are one. We are part with the great mystery that is God because Jesus is part of that mystery, and we are part of him.

You know, I told you a story some month back of something my mother told me I did when I was two or 2 ½ years old. I don’t remember it, but I’m sure it was true. She says that for days on end I would refuse to go to sleep at night until someone showed me God. My mother didn’t know what to do. She tried everything but nothing worked so at last she just turned off the light and left, but that didn’t stop me either. When she checked an hour later I was still at it — still sitting up in bed with my arms crossed, still saying “I’m not going to sleep until someone shows me God.” Eventually my Dad gave me an answer that satisfied me, but I want to lay that aside for a moment because I recently told a friend this story and she said to me, “Well, what would you have done if one of your children had done that to you? Would you say what you father did?

The thing is, I knew at once that I would not do what my dad had done. I’d do something else. If I had a little boy who, like me, had said that he wasn’t going to go to sleep until I showed him God, I would have said, “Ok, but first you have to close your eyes while I take you to a place where I can show you God.” I’d wait for the boy to close his eyes, then I’d pick him up and carry him to another room until I found what I was looking for. Then I’d turn him around and ask him to open his eyes, because by then I had found a mirror and I was holding him directly in front of it.

         “There,” I’d say. “There’s God, because that’s what you are. You are a very special part of God and God is a very special part of you. And whenever you look into a mirror you see that very special part of God. But the thing is, everyone has a special part of God in them. So whenever you see someone else, you are seeing God too. It’s the part of God in you that allows you to see the part of God in others. So keep looking for that part of God in you so you will always see it in others too. 

So who do I say Jesus is? I say this. Jesus is the part of me that allows me to see that you are Jesus too. AMEN

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