Creekside Church Sermon of September 21, 1997 "Who He Is Not, Who He Is" Mark 8:27-38	Rev. David Bibbee
Send this sermon to a friend

So the plane took off with three men, two caribou, and cargo, but the plane couldn't gain altitude and crashed into a hillside. Miraculously, no one was hurt. The men climbed from the wreckage and one hunter said to the other, "Where do you think we are?" The other scanned the terrain and said, "I think we're about a mile east of where we crashed last year."

To get further along in life often requires leaving behind attitudes and ideas that bog us down. To grow in our Christian walk often requires releasing conceptions of Jesus that distort who he is and make of him something he is not in order to bring him down to a convenient, manageable size.

"Who do people say that I am?" Jesus asked the disciples. "John the Baptist. Elijah. One of the greats from the Prophet's Hall of Fame, maybe." "And who do you say I am?" he asked. This is the question asked of everyone who would follow Jesus. "Who am I?" It is not a question of what others say, not what they told you in Sunday school, not what sounds good, rather who do you say I am? Obviously our answers will be shaped by what we have heard, read, and been taught, but what you say is important because your answer will determine your actions.

"Tell me your image of God," someone said, "and I'll tell you your theology." The Lord is as big or as little, as specific or as vague as your answer to, "Who do you say I am?" allows him to be. To some he is a parking attendant. While working in a suburban Chicago church during seminary, I met a very well to do lady who said, "Jesus never lets me down. When I go downtown to shop at Saks or Marshall Fields, I drive around the block and pray, þDear Jesus, help me find a parking place.' and he always does."

To some he is an ATM machine. "I had a twenty-dollar bill in my wallet," he said. "I put it in the offering plate. I thought of what else I could with it, but I decided not to withhold it from the Lord." That afternoon I opened my wallet and there was another twenty-dollar bill. What I give to him, he gives back to me."

Tune in to the TV evangelist or one of the Christian talk shows and listen to the image of Jesus being portrayed. "He wants to help you with all your needs. Ask and he'll give. He'll give you financial security. He'll make you successful. He'll give you a happy family, fix your problems, cure your aches and pains, heal your disease (if you have enough faith). Jesus is the best deal you ever had. Who is this Jesus? He sounds like a guarantor of the good life.

Have you ever noticed how large the self-help therapy section at the bookstores have become? Self-help is big business, what with all the disorder, distress, and dysfunction in our society. People are losing their grip and will latch onto whatever comes along that claims to offer a remedy. Get what you want out of life. Maximize your potential. Realize your dreams. Just do what Dr. Laura or Dr. Ruth tells you to do. Buy the book and get with the program. Patch yourself up and get yourself going with these ten easy to understand, easy to apply steps. But to where?

Lots of folks find themselves in the same fix as the affluent lady who was walking down the street feeling blue. Passing one of those up-scale image emporiums, she thought a change would do her good. She had the massage, mud bath, manicure, and makeover. Two hours and three hundred dollars later she walked outside and shouted, "I'm a new me!" And then she said to herself, "Now where was I going?"

There is no self-help therapy, no quickaholic technique whereby we can fix ourselves by ourselves. We are left wanting and are set up for the next psychological fix that comes along. We need more than therapy. We need a Messiah. But what kind?

While at St. Mary's this week, I asked some of the sisters the question, "Who is Jesus? Who do you say he is?" Sister Julie said, "He was a person like we are who grew in the knowledge of who he was. His knowledge and vitality were drawn from prayer. He was taught by Mary and Joseph, but he was also open to what came to him...you know, like the remarkable things that children come up with that no one taught them. They simply receive it and don't question it."

This reminded me of the story told by Madeline L'Engle whose friends brought home a new baby girl. Her three-year-old brother wanted to hold her alone. Anxious that something might happen, they said he could be alone with her as long as she remained in the crib. They left the room, but curious about why he insisted on being with her, they peeked around the corner and listened. He leaned over the crib and said to the baby, "This is very important. I need to know something. What is God like? I forgot." I wasn't prepared for Julie's response. She sat there at her computer and she cried. "This crazy world works overtime to make us forget who we are, doesn't it? So if you ask me who Jesus is, I'll tell you he is the one who helps us remember, and shows us who we are and what we are supposed to do with our lives."

Back in 1966 a book was written that accurately predicted what is happening in the church today. The book was called, "The Triumph of the Therapeutic". The author predicted that the Christian faith would be turned into a self-help therapy, salvation reduced to feeling good, church transformed into theater, Sunday sermons and emotional strip-tease, liturgy as psycho-drama, church music as entertainment. It seems the most frequently asked questions after church today are not, "Did the service cause me to change my thinking?" or "What is God compelling me to do?" Instead, worship is evaluated on the basis of: "Did it make me feel good?" "Did it meet my needs?" "Did it confirm what I already believe?" The question, "Who do you say I am?" requires more of a response than, "He's my personal problem-solver, or He gives me everything I need, or He helps me live up to my potential and gives me a positive attitude." Who needs Jesus for that? If that's all we are after we can find it in the hottest new book or motivational tape series. You don't need to go to the trouble of learning about Jesus or committing your life to him, and you certainly don't need to come to church if that's all you're interested in. We don't need Jesus for that.

We need him for something else. Something bigger. Something more demanding. Though we aren't always in touch with it, the great hope that keeps bringing us back to church is the belief that there is more to life than what WE want. There is something bigger. Like the psalmist said, "Lead thou me to the rock that is higher than I. (61: 2)" After Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter blurted out, "You're the Messiah...you're the Son of God. You'll dispatch the Romans. You'll put muzzles on the Pharisees. You'll take care of all our problems." That's what Peter thought. Imagine Peter's expression when Jesus said he would suffer, be rejected, killed, and in three days rise. "If you will follow me, you'll say no to the self, take up a cross, lose your life." I challenge you to find a self-help book anywhere that says you'll be a success by saying no to yourself and risk being a failure in the world's eyes. The disciples had to re-think their ideas about the Messiah. So do we.

After talking with Sister Julie I went across the hall to Sister Arlene's office. "Who is Jesus?" I asked her. "He's my model, my example, my savior, my lover, my friend," she said. Then she paused a moment. "But he's more...he's a challenge. He tells me I am to be a servant to everyone. I know it. I believe it. But so often I don't want to do it. He doesn't always give me the answers to my problems. I wait on Him with my faith knowing he won't offer me an easy out. He'll ask me to do what he did. He'll ask me to be a servant, take up a cross, feed his sheep. Jesus is a challenge."

The world wants us to forget who we are and who Jesus is. It's done a good job of getting us to reduce him to a personal problem solver, not someone who questions, judges, and demands more from us. No wonder Peter wanted Jesus to stop talking about suffering. That's not the kind of Messiah we want. But this is the kind of Messiah Jesus is; the kind of Messiah we need. Once a priest announced that Jesus himself was coming to church the following Sunday. The church was packed to see him. They expected him to preach, but he only smiled and said, "Hello." Everyone offered him a place to stay, especially the priest, but he politely refused. He said he would spend the night in the church.

He left early in the morning before anyone arrived. When the doors were opened everyone was shocked. The church had been vandalized. Scribbled everywhere was the word, "Beware." In large letters and small, in pen, and pencil and every color of paint. "Beware." Wherever the eye rested, there it was. "Beware, beware, beware." The people were shocked. Irritated. Confused. What were they to beware of? It didn't say. They thought of painting over it all, but didn't only because of the thought that Jesus had done it.

The mysterious word beware began to sink into people's minds each time they came to church. They began to beware of the scriptures so they were able to profit by them without falling into a know-it-all rigidity. They began to beware of the sacraments. The priest began to be aware of his power so that he was able to help people without controlling them. They began to be aware of how easy it is to become self-righteous. They began to beware of prayer and their notions of God so they could recognize him outside the confines of the church.

Now the word is inscribed over the entrance of the church...in bright, multi-colored neon lights. Beware.

Our need is of something more than a new self-image or a fix for all our troubles. Jesus came to pull you out of an old world and put you into a new one with a new set of values and different set of wants. He gives no incentive of an easy way; no sparing us from pain or perplexity. What He gives is himself and the promise to stand by our side, come what may.

The biggest mistake is to turn into someone merely helpful. Jesus pushes our understanding of him like he did his disciples. Jesus calls us to follow, gives us one way to go...the way he went...the way of sacrifice, the way of self-denial, the way of service, the way of salvation.

Who is he? Our ultimate challenge and our eternal hope.

All of the sermons that have appeared in text form on our Web Site since August 1996 are available here in the On-Line version. Use the search engine below to find the sermon you want. You may search by date, sermon title, or content. The sermons are full-text searchable.

Sermon Search:



Exact phrase    All words (AND)    Any word (OR)