15th Sunday After Pentecost - St. John Luana

But who do YOU say that I am?

Suffering Messiah, Suffering Servant, and Savior

Who do these people say that I am?

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. --Albert Einstein

Jesus Christ was an extremist for love, truth and goodness. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Do we really believe in that story or do we just like to hang out with nice people and listen to organ music? There are advantages, after all, to being in the neighborhood of people who love their neighbors. If your car won't start on a cold morning, you've got friends. Garrison Keeler

Standing naked in our doubt who do we say Jesus is? Do we join the crowds of onlookers who see Jesus as a good moral teacher? Perhaps a righteous dude who loved to tip over tables, set people in their place - and occasionally spit in peoples eyes to cure them? Who do we say that Jesus is when asked? Do you believe in all that stuff they talk about in church?

Yes I believe you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah, my Savior - the hope of the world. Redeemer, comforter, God in human form. You are, in short Jesus.

Who does the church say that Jesus is (a response from the Augsburg Confession):

Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in 2] the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and 3] buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

4] He also descended into hell, and truly rose again the third day; afterward He ascended into heaven that He might sit on the right hand of the Father, and forever reign and have dominion over all creatures, and sanctify 5] them that believe in Him, by sending the Holy Ghost into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and quicken them, and to defend them against the devil and the power of sin.

6] The same Christ shall openly come again to judge the quick and the dead, etc., according to the Apostles' Creed.
Enter into the story today - be drawn in by this intimate conversation. Here the Gospel writer gives us the opportunity to peel back the layers like an onion and get to the heart of the matter.

²⁷Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.

Applying the Text to Daily Life
Formulating an Answer to the Question - Who do YOU say that I am?

1. Let us "stand up together" and confess confidently who Jesus is today.
1. “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”
2. “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.”

   St. John of the Cross quote

3. Are we absolutely sure in our beliefs about Jesus - the words we say together in the Apostles' Creed?
   
4. How did these disciples arrive at this point? To clear up any confusion Jesus continued to teach them - setting the record straight.
   
2. Let the Word and the actions of Jesus shape our understanding of who is and what He has done for us.
1. ³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man 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. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
2. Peter had the answer - or did he. Did he truly get who Jesus was or was he projecting his definitions of who Jesus was to be based on his history, his knowledge of what a Savior ought to be, and wanting to have the answer.
   
3. "Suffering, rejection, killed" - can you feel the sigh and the sorrow in Peter's heart. Spending 1 year on a senior paper that could of said it in one short page. I completely missed the point. Striving and looking - "missing the forest through the trees."
   
4. This business about suffering Jesus and facing rejection will get you know where in this world. You need to be full of glory and majesty.
   
5. The Real Danger with OUR idea of formulating a Savior - a theology of glory verses a theology of the cross: God is there for you and your happiness. He has some rules and principles for getting what you want out of life and if you follow them, you can have what you want. Just “declare it” and prosperity will come to you. (1) God as Personal Shopper.
   
6. This is why I am a Lutheran. We identify with the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus wholeheartedly.
   
7. "Since the Lord in many passages is given the name of Savior and Helper in suffering, the one who is unwilling to suffer as much as he can deprives Christ of His true titles and names. Thus to this person there will be no Jesus, that is, no Savior, because that person is unwilling to be damned; for them there will be no God the Creator because they are unwilling to be nothing, so that God may be their Creator. God will be no power, wisdom, or good to that person, because they do not want God to uphold them in their weakness, foolishment, or their punishment" (LW Volume 25, page 290)
8. Who then is Jesus in light of these texts? Are we setting our mind on human things or devine things when it comes to defining who Jesus is?
   
3. Know that the call to discipleship will lead us down the path of self denial, death, and in the end resurrection to new life..
1. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. … All that self-denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to Him." "…and take up his cross." … Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for His sake. If in the end we know only Him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto Him. If Jesus had not so graciously prepared us for this word, we should have found it unbearable. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship.
2. Are we ready today to confess Jesus for who He is today? Are we ready to walk down the road to discipleship?
3. We begin another Sunday school year - may it be a learning for all of us.