27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainlyabout this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”This whole passage revolves around the question of identity. Who is Jesus? How are we to define him?
In the sermon I hearkened back to quests for identity from our own cultural history. What is the role of women? How are African-Americans to be perceived? In general these movements have followed a pattern similar to this gospel.
1. Someone asks a question, either overtly or by taking an action perceived as being outside one's normal place. A married woman takes a job. An African-American woman sits at the front of the bus. Jesus does all of these amazing things and then asks his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"
2. Part of society shies away from change. Another part, though, is open to re-defining roles. "Some say you are John the Baptist; others Elijah" is, in a way, the rejection of the new in favor of the old. "You are the Messiah" is the breakthrough for which Jesus has waited, the new and correct identification of him.
3. Even when we accept change--willingly or grudgingly--we still want to be in control of its definitions. "Woman's new identity revolves around the workplace. Stay-at-home moms, what's wrong with you?" Or, "African-Americans are victims of oppression. Hey, why aren't you acting like a victim? Why aren't you grateful that I have sympathy towards you and your plight?" Thus we get Peter naming Jesus the Messiah but completely rejecting what "Messiah" really means.
4. Once we've been through all of that junk--usually requiring decades to pass--we come to the conclusion that people get to define themselves. Women don't have to be homemakers or business go-getters. They can choose to be either, neither, or both. Whatever they choose, that's the definition of them! Our job isn't to force them into a box, but to respect their own definition and let it shape us. African-Americans can rightly point to prejudice in our society. They can just as rightly point to a heritage of strength and endurance. Or they can be free to be just as wonderful, awful, productive, selfish, wise, and mixed-up people as the rest of us are. Each person gets to choose and then educate us about who they are.
See, we had the equation backwards. We want our definitions to change other people. Instead other people's definitions of themselves are meant to change us.
This same thing happened to Jesus. He defined himself here. He is the Messiah of the Cross. He is the one who gives himself up completely for others, for the people he loves. His followers will need a cross also, if they are to understand and emulate him. They are to give themselves up for their neighbors, even if they suffer for it. When confronted with choice or crisis their response is to be self-giving love.
Not listening when Jesus says this is the same as not letting one of our fellow human beings define themselves...telling someone they can't have a job because they're a woman or they can't become president because they're African-American. Except now we're also telling that to God, trying to change him instead of letting him change us.
This is what we do every time we try to define Jesus as any lord but the Lord of the Cross. The God who makes us right, the God who makes us superior to others, the God who allows us to judge our neighbor, the God of the Correct Church, the God who doesn't care, the God who cares about some folks more than others...all of these are mis-definitions of God. And every one is a slap in the face to him.
How do you define God? From where do those definitions come? Do we define Christ as he defines himself or would we prefer to define him the way we want...the God of Us Alone instead of the God of the Cross? Are we sure we know what Messiah means?
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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