Reinbeck UMC
The Story Chapter 25
Today we stand at the heart of THE STORY. We have talked about the upper story as God’s hopes, plans and actions, and the lower story as the stuff that happens here on earth. We have talked about God’s story and God’s vision for us, and we have talked about our story as people created with a certain degree of freedom and self-determination even to the point of choosing whether, or how, we will participate in God’s upper story.
We have talked about Jesus as God’s upper story crashing into our lower story in order to reveal God’s vision for us and restore us to right relationship with our creator and each other.
Here in Chapter 25 we are confronted with THE question of the story. We have seen the miracles. We have heard the teachings. We have mused over the parables. We have seen prophecies fulfilled. We have seen expectations dashed. The evidence is before us and like a jury; being sent to deliberate each one of us has to come to our own verdict.
The pivotal question comes from Jesus’ own lips. “Who do you say that I am?”
This story, and this exact question, appear in all three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In all three, Jesus has been teaching and healing for some time. The disciples have been traveling with him for perhaps 2 years; listening, questioning, and observing. But what are they learning? Jesus wonders if they are “getting” his message. You might consider this a midterm exam.
First Jesus asks, “Who do men say that I am? Who do people say that I am? Who do the crowds say that I am?”
• The answers range from silly, “John the Baptist risen from the dead.”
• To the traditional, “Elijah” who was supposed to come before the messiah appeared.
• To the logical, “Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Because he sounded more like a prophet than a regular rabbi.
We can find a similar range of opinions about Jesus today.
One of the most popular descriptions of Jesus, for many years now, has been that he is a good man, or a wonderful teacher, or a great philosopher no too different from Buddha or Confucius, or Mohamed. There are many people today to have a Mount Rushmore kind of approach to spirituality. They look up to any variety of teachers and philosophers and choose the teachings that apply to that moment, or the ones that fit their agenda, or the ones that suit their needs.
This spirituality of convenience is so popular that these folk are even found in our churches. These are people who believe that Jesus is mostly a great teacher; who believe that the Christian life consists entirely of asking, “What would Jesus do?” and doing it. These are the “I live a good Christian life” folks and they don’t want to be bothered with any talk of faith, or discipleship, or servanthood, or sacrifice.
CS Lewis, of whom you might have heard in connection with the Chronicles of Narnia, was more than just a fiction writer. He was a Christian apologist, or one who wrote and spoke to interpret the faith to non-Christians. In Mere Christianity, Lewis wrote this about people who view Jesus as a good moral teacher. He wrote,
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice ... but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Lewis’ point is that we can believe Jesus to be a good man up to the point that he claims to be God. Then we have to decide. Either he is a good man and he is God, or he is not a good man because he is either lying or delusional about being God.
• If you believe Jesus was a good man and told the truth, then you must necessarily believe that he was indeed God.
• If you don’t accept that Jesus was God then you must accept that he was not a good man, because neither liars nor lunatics are good men after whom we should model our lives.
Lewis is right as far as he goes. I think there are some other options out there. For instance, in addition to the three options, Liar, Lunatic, and lord, we might add Legend. If Jesus is a Legend then he never really existed, or his story is so exaggerated in the gospels that it is hard to find the hidden kernel of truth in it. The historical evidence doesn’t really support the legend hypothesis.
If you choose Liar or Lunatic, you wouldn’t be the first. There were people in Jesus’ own day who thought he was a liar or a lunatic.
Mark Chapter 3 is a good example of both. In Verse 21 Jesus’ friends and family said, “He is beside himself.” That is a polite euphemism for he is bonkers. And in verse 22, the scribes accused him of being a liar who claims to be from God, but who is actually from Satan.
We also have to admit that Jesus said some outrageous things.
• He said that the Father sent Him.
• He declared that He came down from God;
• that the words He spoke, God had actually given Him;
• and that everything He did, He did according to the commandment of God.
• He claimed that He would be the final Judge of the world.
• He even claimed that no man could come to God except through Him.
• Jesus commanded His followers to believe in Him,
• love Him,
• obey Him,
• sacrifice for Him,
• worship Him,
• and, if need be, die for Him as they would for God.
If any of you said those things, I would be talking to your family about a 48-hour mental health evaluation. I admit it sounds nuts. In addition, if not nuts, it sounds too outrageous to be true.
Now the New Testament is written clearly to make it obvious to any reader that Jesus is not a lunatic. Lunatics don't
• heal sick people,
• raise dead people and
• dominate demons. Lunatics
• don't speak the way Jesus spoke,
• think the way He thought. Lunatics
• don't act the way He acted. Lunatics
• don't attract women and children. Lunatics
• aren't marked by kindness
• and mercy
• and compassion.
The New Testament is also clear that Jesus is not a liar.
• Liars don't raise dead people either.
• Frauds don't heal sick people.
• Swindlers don’t collect large groups of followers and keep them for long. It is too hard to fool all the people all the time.
• Charlatans don't cast out demons, and
• neither do they die for their cause, and
• having been buried rise out of the grave.
Let me say that those who respond by writing Jesus off as either a liar or a lunatic are, for all I can tell, reasonably well intentioned, and thoughtful folk.
But they are wrong. There is the third option based in faith and truth.
• What if everything Jesus said true?
• What if Jesus was whom he said he was?
• What if he really was the son of God?
• What if he really was the word that was with God in the beginning?
• What if … what if?
• What if he really did heal the sick by the power of God?
• What if he really did cast out demons into swine and drive them into the sea?
• What if all of that if true?
• What if…
• What if he really did die and was buried,
• and what if on the third day, he really did rise from the grave?
• What if?
• What if all of that is true, and Jesus asks you, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
How about you, “Who do YOU say that Jesus is?”
How about you, “Who do YOU say that Jesus is?”
How about you, “Who do YOU say that Jesus is?”
You have a choice to make.
There is no more fudging, no more watching like a bystander, no more reading THE STORY as interesting history.
• Today it either becomes our story… or not.
• It is either my story… or a lie.
• It is either your story… or just crazy talk.
In today’s passage, Jesus requires each of us to take a stand for him or against him. Where will you stand? On this decision rests the whole rest of THE STORY.
If Jesus is not God, then the crucifixion and resurrection are meaningless.
If Jesus is not God, then the story of the church in Acts and the rest of the New Testament is a colossal mistake.
If Jesus is not God, the kingdom of God, the new heaven and the new earth are just fanciful dreams.
Today is the day. This is the moment. Jesus stands before you and asks, “Who do you say that I am?”
How will you answer?
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