Mark 8:27-38
Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; James 3:1-12
Opening Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Introduction: The gospel today is a subject that gets me really excited! Christology was one of my favorite classes in seminary. Christology is a big, fancy word that basically means the study of Christ. It looks at the questions that Jesus asked the disciples: 1) Who do people say that I am? 2) Who do you say that I am? It is a subject that I would love to teach a class on sometime, but I will be merciful to you and try to keep it simple. I want to share a story with you of what happens when theologians get together and discuss Christology.
Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and James Cone find themselves all at the same time at Caesarea Philippi. Who should come along but Jesus, and he asks the four famous theologians the same Christological question, “Who do you say that I am?”
Karl Barth stands up and says: “You are the totaliter aliter, the vestigous trinitatum who speaks to us in the modality of Christo-monism.”
Not prepared to Barth’s brevity, Paul Tillich stumbles out: “You are he who heals our ambiguities and overcomes the split of angst and existential estrangement; you are he who speaks of the theonomous viewpoint of the analogia entis, the analogy of our being and the ground of all possibilities.”
Reinhold Niebuhr gives a cough for effect and says, in one breath: “You are the impossible possibility who brings to us, your children of light and children of darkness, the overwhelming oughtness in the midst of our fraught condition of estrangement and brokenness in the contiguity and existential anxieties of our ontological relationships.”
Finally James Cone gets up, and raises his voice: “You are my Oppressed One, my soul’s shalom, the One who was, who is, and who shall be, who has never left us alone in the struggle, the event of liberation in the lives of the oppressed struggling for freedom, and whose blackness is both literal and symbolic.”
And Jesus writes in the sand, “Huh?”
Quoted, source unknown. Found in Synthesis, September 13, 2009, Year B, p.3.
“Who do you say that I am?” That is thought to be one of the most famous questions in human history.
When Jesus asked this question of the disciples, it was sort of the midterm evaluation for Jesus to see if his students were learning what he wanted them to learn. I can just see Peter jumping up and down, waving his hand in the air, “I know, I know!...You are the Messiah!” Well, Peter was right, but at the same time, he wasn’t right. What Peter meant by Messiah appeared to be different from what Jesus meant by Messiah. Messiah is Hebrew for the Anointed One. In the Greek of the New Testament, Messiah is translated as Christos, which means the same thing. In ancient Israel a new king was anointed with oil to show that he had been set apart to be king. So Jesus the Messiah would mean something like King Jesus. That was exciting to Peter; after all, the Romans were occupying their land. Jesus must have been sent to set them free from the Roman occupation, get rid of the corrupted religious leaders, and then rule over the land as a priest-king.
Then Jesus starts teaching them that he must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. -- Can you imagine how that clashed with Peter’s idea of what Jesus was supported to do! – It would be like, “That does not compute!” After Jesus rebukes Peter, he spoke to the crowd and his disciples and said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me….”
I like the way The Message put it:
But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. “Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works.”
Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”
After the “Midterm Evaluation” with the disciples, apparently Jesus decided that he needed to do some private tutoring with them, because after this, we hear little about healing and teaching with the crowds, instead he is spending a lot of time with the disciples and teaching them.
How we answer the question of “Who do you say that I am?” says a lot about how you interpret discipleship.
You might remember the PTL Club days with Jim Bakker. He seemed to interpret Jesus as King more like Peter did. He talked about us being a “King’s kid” and so we ought to live like one. The facilities on the land were very extravagant, and his wife, Tammy Faye, wore a lot of jewelry. On the other hand, there are others who look at what Jesus did and how he ministered. They may be professionals, such as health care providers, but live a simple lifestyle because they don’t need to have a lot of material possessions. They see themselves as being the hands and feet of Jesus, and are there to continue what Jesus was doing. Sometimes that means being with those who are suffering and walking beside them.
Many of the people that I work with indicate they have a relationship with God, but do not go to church, or to the Bible Studies that are held at the Cordova Center. They trust very few people. Some of them have had bad experiences with Churches, and others base their distrust by what they have heard from other people. For many of them, their favorite hymn would be, “I come to the garden alone.”
My theology is very communal oriented. It comes from having good experiences with Churches as I was growing up. In addition, it comes from looking beyond what Jesus said and including looking at what Jesus did. Jesus was with his disciples most of the time even though they were far from perfect. He taught in the Synagogues, and worshiped at the Temple. There were times when he “went off to a lonely place to pray” but that was not often.
As you ask yourself the question that Jesus asked: “Who do you say that I am?”, is the answer consistent with how you live your life as a disciple?
Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; James 3:1-12
Opening Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Introduction: The gospel today is a subject that gets me really excited! Christology was one of my favorite classes in seminary. Christology is a big, fancy word that basically means the study of Christ. It looks at the questions that Jesus asked the disciples: 1) Who do people say that I am? 2) Who do you say that I am? It is a subject that I would love to teach a class on sometime, but I will be merciful to you and try to keep it simple. I want to share a story with you of what happens when theologians get together and discuss Christology.
Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and James Cone find themselves all at the same time at Caesarea Philippi. Who should come along but Jesus, and he asks the four famous theologians the same Christological question, “Who do you say that I am?”
Karl Barth stands up and says: “You are the totaliter aliter, the vestigous trinitatum who speaks to us in the modality of Christo-monism.”
Not prepared to Barth’s brevity, Paul Tillich stumbles out: “You are he who heals our ambiguities and overcomes the split of angst and existential estrangement; you are he who speaks of the theonomous viewpoint of the analogia entis, the analogy of our being and the ground of all possibilities.”
Reinhold Niebuhr gives a cough for effect and says, in one breath: “You are the impossible possibility who brings to us, your children of light and children of darkness, the overwhelming oughtness in the midst of our fraught condition of estrangement and brokenness in the contiguity and existential anxieties of our ontological relationships.”
Finally James Cone gets up, and raises his voice: “You are my Oppressed One, my soul’s shalom, the One who was, who is, and who shall be, who has never left us alone in the struggle, the event of liberation in the lives of the oppressed struggling for freedom, and whose blackness is both literal and symbolic.”
And Jesus writes in the sand, “Huh?”
Quoted, source unknown. Found in Synthesis, September 13, 2009, Year B, p.3.
“Who do you say that I am?” That is thought to be one of the most famous questions in human history.
When Jesus asked this question of the disciples, it was sort of the midterm evaluation for Jesus to see if his students were learning what he wanted them to learn. I can just see Peter jumping up and down, waving his hand in the air, “I know, I know!...You are the Messiah!” Well, Peter was right, but at the same time, he wasn’t right. What Peter meant by Messiah appeared to be different from what Jesus meant by Messiah. Messiah is Hebrew for the Anointed One. In the Greek of the New Testament, Messiah is translated as Christos, which means the same thing. In ancient Israel a new king was anointed with oil to show that he had been set apart to be king. So Jesus the Messiah would mean something like King Jesus. That was exciting to Peter; after all, the Romans were occupying their land. Jesus must have been sent to set them free from the Roman occupation, get rid of the corrupted religious leaders, and then rule over the land as a priest-king.
Then Jesus starts teaching them that he must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. -- Can you imagine how that clashed with Peter’s idea of what Jesus was supported to do! – It would be like, “That does not compute!” After Jesus rebukes Peter, he spoke to the crowd and his disciples and said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me….”
I like the way The Message put it:
But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. “Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works.”
Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”
After the “Midterm Evaluation” with the disciples, apparently Jesus decided that he needed to do some private tutoring with them, because after this, we hear little about healing and teaching with the crowds, instead he is spending a lot of time with the disciples and teaching them.
How we answer the question of “Who do you say that I am?” says a lot about how you interpret discipleship.
You might remember the PTL Club days with Jim Bakker. He seemed to interpret Jesus as King more like Peter did. He talked about us being a “King’s kid” and so we ought to live like one. The facilities on the land were very extravagant, and his wife, Tammy Faye, wore a lot of jewelry. On the other hand, there are others who look at what Jesus did and how he ministered. They may be professionals, such as health care providers, but live a simple lifestyle because they don’t need to have a lot of material possessions. They see themselves as being the hands and feet of Jesus, and are there to continue what Jesus was doing. Sometimes that means being with those who are suffering and walking beside them.
Many of the people that I work with indicate they have a relationship with God, but do not go to church, or to the Bible Studies that are held at the Cordova Center. They trust very few people. Some of them have had bad experiences with Churches, and others base their distrust by what they have heard from other people. For many of them, their favorite hymn would be, “I come to the garden alone.”
My theology is very communal oriented. It comes from having good experiences with Churches as I was growing up. In addition, it comes from looking beyond what Jesus said and including looking at what Jesus did. Jesus was with his disciples most of the time even though they were far from perfect. He taught in the Synagogues, and worshiped at the Temple. There were times when he “went off to a lonely place to pray” but that was not often.
As you ask yourself the question that Jesus asked: “Who do you say that I am?”, is the answer consistent with how you live your life as a disciple?
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