Who do you say Jesus is? (Matthew 16:13) That question is as important
today as it was 2000 years ago. I love
that Jesus is wondering what the comments online where saying, wondering if he
was trending on social media, curious about the chatter was in the parking lot
after the worship service. And the
disciples are happy to share some of what they’ve heard. I imagine James pulling out a pie chart. “Well Jesus according to the latest survey
data, 44.3 percent are thinking you are John the Baptist; 22.8 percent say
Elijah; we have a few people saying Jeremiah and others just a prophet. I think we need to bring in a consultant to
help us with branding here and perhaps come up with a catchy theme song.
Everyone loves music”. Okay, maybe it
didn’t happen that way, but still there are verses here that sound like church
meetings we’ve all attended. Then Peter,
blessed Peter who like me loves to talk, says, “Jesus, thouest artest the
Messiah-est.” Peter gets it right, he
passes the test, until he doesn’t. In
verse 21-23, the rock of the church (Peter) protests that Jesus would suffer
and struggle. Peter pulls out the job
description of the Messiah (where the vision statement is to return the People
of God to self-government for and by the people) and the only task is to
overthrow the oppression of the Roman government. Suffering is not in that job description, not
even in the “other duties as assigned” catch-all.
What does it mean to follow a
suffering Messiah? What does it mean that Jesus doesn’t sidestep
the storms, stress, strain of life? What
does it mean that the One whose life is to inspire and infuse our life climbed
a mountain of hurt and hate and harm that led to Calvery’s cross? Not because God needed a transaction to
forgive us, but to show us the way to transformation and resurrection (new
life) will always involve death!! Here
we are about halfway through Matthew’s gospel, and I encourage you to pause,
breathe, be with these questions today.
Not that we must pass a test (see above), but because this remains one
of the central questions at the heart of our faith today. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment