Who do YOU say that I Am?

Matthew 16:13-20New International Version (NIV)

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

187.  ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN.  One hundred and eighty seven is the number of hours I worked during the 11 days of the fair.  Yep, you are welcome.  I hope you enjoyed it (said in a very displeasing but joking manner).  Working all those hours and constantly driving through the crowds, I got to see so many different aspects of the Iowa State Fair in a much different light than I had ever seen as a spectator.  No kidding, right?  But I am serious.  Whatever your idea of what the Iowa State Fair is to you is most likely different than what it means to the other 1.13 million people who also attended the Fair.  I mean there are the usuals:  the midway, the livestock barns, the Varied Industries building, the free entertainment stages and the grandstand acts... But there are also many dance studios that perform, there is a joke telling contest, horseshoe competitions, chicken throwing, cow pie tossing, a queen contest, outhouse races, children’s tractor pulls, a bags tournament, people watching, anything and everything on a stick (and I would add that a deep fat fried Snickers is pretty good) and so, so much more.  You may be there for the free entertainment of an up and coming act while the person right behind you in the porkchop on a stick line is there to watch their granddaughter dance on the Bill Riley stage.  You may have something entered into the quilting competition while the person in front of you at the Gyro stand is there watching their grandson show his pigeon.  Yes, there is such a thing.  I could go on and on but the point is that the meaning of the Fair to a particular individual is nearly as unique as that individual.  And yet, under the name of the Iowa State Fair there you all have gathered in one general area.  Many diverse backgrounds, so many different reasons for being there but you are there.  There are so incredibly many different people that make of the 1.13 million people who attended the Fair but this one thing gathered them in one place.  What does the Fair mean to you?

When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”  This was my first thought.  Who do you say that Jesus is?  There is a song by a gentleman who performed on the last night of the Fair on the Bill Riley stage whose name is Zach Williams.  The song is called “Chain Breaker” and here are some of the lyrics: “If you’ve got pain / He’s a pain taker / If you feel lost / He’s a way maker / If you need freedom or saving / He’s a prison shaking savior / If you’ve got chains / He’s a chain breaker.”  In the chorus of this song, Mr. Williams calls Jesus four different things.  And that is a short list.  What Jesus means to you, and to you, and to you, may mean something completely different than what Jesus means to me, and you, and you.  “Who do you say that I am?”  Jesus is all of those things and many, many more.  The reasons that draw you to this church, or any church for that matter, are so incredibly different and yet one thing brings into one place called the Kingdom of God.  “Who do YOU say that I am?”

That being said, I must add this stipulation to avoid any sort of manipulation to try to turn Jesus into something he is not.  You see, Jesus doesn’t fit neatly into our lives or our belief systems.  We can’t manipulate Jesus to fit who we are even though he means so many things to so many people.  What is so great about a relationship with Christ is that this relationship changes us.  It changes the way we look at the world and most importantly, it changes how we ought to interact with one another.  Jesus has the ability to mean so many different things to many, many different people without changing the core of who he is.  In Mark 12:30 Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” And he continues in verse 31 by saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these.”  Jesus can mean something different to you than he does me but this does not give us permission to change who he is to fit who we want him to be.  Our view of him ought not stray beyond what Jesus commands in these verses.  Again, Jesus changes us.  It’s not the other way around.  

It’s perfectly ok to voice what Jesus means to you but please do so with the understanding that his end game for you is eternal salvation.  He is not to be used as a way to twist a particular agenda.  Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  He is not a pathway to be twisted and manipulated.  Jesus asked the disciples who the masses thought Jesus was and listed off John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.  In fact, people didn’t really know how to describe Jesus and moreover, they couldn’t agree on one description.  When Jesus turned the same question to the disciples, Peter mustered his courage and gave an answer.  The correct one, I might add.  Jesus himself states that this answer could not and will not come from humans.  It only comes from above.  Along with the commandments I quoted Jesus as saying from Mark, our understanding of who Jesus is and what he means to us does not come from humans.  It only comes from above.  It comes from a personal account of a person’s relationship with Christ.  This only more guarantees that understandings of Jesus will be different.

And that is all great but what happens when someone’s understanding of the who and what of Jesus is vastly different than our own.  And to the best of our knowledge this particular person seems to have checked all the boxes as far as having a personal relationship, loving the Lord your God and loving their neighbor as they do themselves.  What then?  How do we handle someone’s completely different view then?  Do we chalk them up as crazy?  Do we leave it as agreeing to disagree?  What do we do next when we find ourselves in this situation?  This is the sticky part because we see it every day.  We see someone who is they think are truly doing the work God has called them to do but seems illegitimate to us.  Should we call them out on it?  We can’t, really, they have checked the appropriate boxes.  I have said this before but I will reiterate here: a conversation ought to take place.  I am not talking on a social media conversation or an attempt by both parties to disprove the other.  I am talking a real conversation with raw feelings of empathy and true effort to understand.  These conversations are of the utmost importance when handled appropriately because this is where the heart of God is.  God is found in those relationships.  God is found in those conversations that seek understanding.  When those conversations can take place, that’s when real change will follow.  You can have the most theologically sound argument for your beliefs and understanding of who God is and what it means but if you do not first seek understanding and relationship with the person whom you are speaking with then you are going to fail.  Who I say that Jesus is and who you say who Jesus is... well that’s pretty irrelevant if we don’t seek to better understand one another first.     Amen.