Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-october-17-2024
Luke 9:18-26
Peter’s Confession of Christ
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themself and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.25 What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
There are some passages in the Bible that seem so bound to the culture of the time in which they were written that it takes a lot of historical digging even to get at what they might mean to us as 21st century believers. Some of the historical accounts in Joshua and Judges, for instance. They record bronze age battles fought 3,500 years ago, and the accounts of the battles were written centuries after the fact.
But today’s reading seems very different to me. The conversation between Jesus and his disciples seems just as meaningful and relevant to our faith in the digital age as it was to the first disciples in Jesus’ earthly lifetime. In fact, I think you could make the case that this passage might be even more relevant in our time – with so many “spiritual-but-not-religious” people – than it was to those who heard or read these words when they were first spoken and published.
In the passage, Jesus asks his disciples who people were saying he was. They give various answers, but it seems significant that all the answers the disciples give are figures from the history of the Hebrew people who would have been considered prophets – that is, people with special spiritual authority to speak for God. The disciples mention John the Baptist, who called people to repentance and prepared the way for Jesus. They mention Elijah, who never died and was taken up into heaven on a chariot of fire. They also say some people think Jesus was one of the other prophets God had sent in the course of salvation history. So according to the disciples, people didn’t all agree about exactly who Jesus was, but lots of them shared the sense that he was someone who came speaking with the authority of God.
And then Jesus asks the disciples who they say he is. It’s Peter who responds, as it often was. He says, “The Christ of God.” And you might remember that Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew messiah – both of which mean, ‘the anointed one.’ So Peter becomes the first one in the Gospel of Luke to identify Jesus as the Messiah.
Luke tells us that Jesus “strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.” It seems to me that was probably because Jesus understood that people’s expectations of the Messiah were so different from who he actually was. The Jews expected a military liberator who would drive out the Romans and rule as king. So being known as the Messiah could do more harm than good. For instance, it could arouse Roman suspicions. But Jesus had come to proclaim a completely different kingdom.
In our world, we’d say that Jesus wanted to ‘control the message’ about himself and his mission on earth. In fact, as soon as Peter recognizes that he’s the Messiah, Jesus tells the disciples that being the Messiah would mean rejection, suffering and death at the hands of the leaders of his people. Not at all the path of military and political glory that was expected of the Messiah.
And as shocking as it must have been for the disciples to hear Jesus foretell his death at the hands of the leadership, what came next must have magnified their dread: Not only was rejection and death his fate as the Messiah, but also it would be the fate of many of his followers. Those who followed Jesus were warned to expect that they might suffer the same kind of rejection and death. In fact, Jesus told them, there was a direct link between a person’s willingness to sacrifice their earthly life and the promise of receiving eternal life.
It seems to me that the two questions Jesus asked of those first disciples are also questions that he asks of people in our world today. Who do people say he is? Just about everybody in our world – even non-believers – has some idea of who Jesus was and is. Some say he was a great moral philosopher. Others that he was an insightful Jewish rabbi. The Muslims say he was a great prophet. Others say he was just a crackpot who got himself killed and spawned a movement of bigots and crusaders.
But then Jesus turns to us and asks the same question he asked the first disciples: “But who do you say I am?” And how we answer that question defines our relationship with him. It’s one thing to say he’s a wise teacher and philosopher whose teachings could lead to a better world. But if we can really say that he’s the Messiah – God in human form who came to show us how to live abundant lives and to reconcile us to himself by a painful death on the cross – then it would seem crazy not to commit your mind and heart to follow him.
So who do you say Jesus is?
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for coming into the world in the form of Jesus, and for inviting us into a transforming relationship with you through him. Confront us daily with the truth of what you have done in him, and call us to follow him more closely with each day we live. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
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