“THE: QUESTION IS...

August. 30, 1987;.11:00 a.m. Worship Service
Jolin: M. Buchanan
Fourth Presbtyterian Church, Chicago

Scripture
Exodus 19:1-9 ©
Matthew 16:13-20
"Who do you say that { am?... you are Peter,..."
-Matthew 16:15,18 (RSV)

“Who Bo You Say That I Am?..."

That question is all mixed with one of my most vivid memories of the
day when I preached for the first time in my home church. Now that is an
auspicious occasion. After ail, these are the people who: watched you
squirm in the pew as a little boy, giggle through the pastoral prayer as.an
adolescent, regularly nod-off ten minutes into the sermon as a teen-ager
exhausted from the arduous revelry.of the Saturday night before. These.
folks know you... Jesus himseif didn't do much in Nazareth. “Isn't that: :
just Mary and Joseph's son?" they asked, all those folk who had watched him
grow up in the synagogue. So it is a fairly treacherous situation to begin
with.

And then there is one's family. J come from a family of railroaders,
not preachers, and so the novelty alone meant that they were all there,
grandfather, aunts; uncles, cousins. My father was beside himself. To say”
that he was proud is a great understatement He marked off: that is, told
the railroad he: wasn't: available to be called to work starting at midnight
Saturday night, always a fairly traumatic decision for a railroader. For
weeks beforehand he had threatened to set up a stand outside the church,
offering peanuts and popcorn, programs and pennants and of course,
autographed pictures of our family.

[mere was a fair amount of pressure on the preacher; that is to say.
I had been ordained one month: I.chose for my teéxt,- a portion of Scripture
on which I had-done a Senior. Thesis, a very major piece of work. [ had—
waded through every word written about the text in the: past century and a
good bit of what was written -in antiquity. I knew the passage in Greek --
as ] have not known anything in Greek ever since. I> had explored: the
theological, .secial and political:ramifications of the text from every
conceivable angle and had come-to many not-very-modest’ conclusions about
its meaning. ]}] (In the process of. preparing this sermon 1 dug out that
thesis and Fead it: an exercise I do not recommend to anyone. Papers
written when one was twenty-five probably ought to remain hidden away in
the file and shared with no one). :

—

\ the portion of Scripture was Matthew 16:13-26, the text this morning.
I tholight it was a logical choice for so aupust an occasion as my first
sermon in my home church. What 1 did, of course, was take that thesis,
bristling with footnotes and scholarly citations, and reduce it to a
sermon) I did not dig the sermon out this week and read it - sparing
myself further embarrassment I am sure — but my sense of it, from the
perspective of several decades is that the innocent listener that hot
summer morning learned only that the preacher had been away some place
where he learned to speak a new, indecipherable language.

Fortunately, grace abounds, and the cantent of the sermon was nok the
issue. When it was over everybody seemed pleased. A Junior High teacher
in the congregation with whom I had a history of unpleasant conflicts,
shook my hand and without smiling said something like - "You're still
talking too fast and too much." In any event, there was the inevitable
luncheon. Dad was still effusive. When all the guests left and we were
alone, my parents and I, they expressed their pride and support and
affection and then Dad said something very important and the reason why I
have shared all this personal memorabilia. We said: “You told us what
everybody else in history thought. Next time you preach on that text, save
some Lime at the end for what you think. That's what I want to know.”

He was right, of course: so right I recall that incident everytime I
read or hear the text the lectionary assigns this day, Matthew 16:13--20.

It occurs near the middle of the story. Jesus and his friends have
been traveling about Galilee for some time, teaching, healing. Crowds of
people are beginning to follow him wherever he goes and on the edges of
this story there is emerging conflict with the religious authorities.

"Who are people saying that the Son of Man is?” Jesus asked his
Friends. “Funny you should ask," the disciples said. “Some people think
you are John the Baptist... we've even had someone suggest that you are one
of the great prophets of Israel reincarnated." Jesus doesn't even
acknowledge these speculative suggestions. Instead he redirects the
question to them in the most pointed way possible. "But who do you say
that IT am?" Now the point of this whole business is that they were not
sure who he was. There is no indication that they even discussed it
openly. My guess is that personally, in groups of twos and threes, they
were talking about it a lot. ‘he point is, the disciples aren't sure — so
the question is leaded, and it's very important when Peter says something
that must have left the others gasping, something which I think surprised
him when he heard his own voice saying, "You are the Christ — the Annointed
One ~ the Messiah ~- the Son of the Living God." We would Like to stop
here, - with Peter's declaration. We Presbyterians, whose forte has been
scholarship and literate religion, want to interrupt this oral exam and
head out for the library and see what recent German scholars have to say
about “the Annointed One" in the context of ancient Near-Eastern religion.
We want to stop right here and have a symposium on the phrase "Son of the
Living God." But the passage won't allow us even to pause. There is an
internal energy which pushes us on... because, I believe, the disciples
were Presbyterians too; they probably wanted to say - “Now, Jesus, how
exactly does what Peter said correspond to what the Prophets and Rabbis

8/30/87

teach?" But there is so much momentum here, so much energy, Jesus won't

allow it and says to-Peter, "Blessed-are you, Simon, son of Jonah,...
congratulations -. that's quite an insight. In fact, it's a God-given
moment of revelation." And still the momentum pushes on ~- “You are Peter
and on this rock Iwill. build.a church." There it- is! ~The point is not™

speculation. The question is really - not who he is, but who they are.

"You are the Christ - and you are Peter." "You are the Son-of the Living i
God. But you --you area rock on which I'm going ‘o build a church." —

The question is not simply. what do you believe” about Jesus, but who

are you, in your life, in relation to hftit
pataeeneeeeilie

The first open debate about who he was occurred when the authorities

put a sign on- his’ cross and couldn't agree about what to ‘write on-it: The -

question about who this strange, compelling man from Nazareth was is so-
intriguing, and it fit so perfectly into the structures of Greek
philosophy, that.--in spite of the way he personalized it, it becanie the’
dominant theological and intellectual and political question in Western

-civilization for several centuries... For hundreds of years the brightest

people thought about and debated the nature of Christ. >The high point came o
at the Council of Nicaea, “called by the Roman Emperor Constantine = to”
debate and to say something specific about the mystery of the nature of”

Jesus Christ; which might also provide religious unity-and ‘adhesive ta° his
deteriorating empire. That Council produced the Nicene. Creed - which:says?

"We believe ‘in oné Lord Jesus: Christ, the only-bepotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds, ‘God of God, Light of Light, Very".
God of Very God, begotten;: not: made, being of one substance with the Father ~
by whom all things were: made." ; ‘ : he

That is-soaring, lyrical, pure poetic beauty. Tt is aur oldest and-
most precious confession. When I say the words I'am lifted out.of the —
ordinary and placed among that. magnificent communion of saints who-out of
human history; are one in adoration of Jesus Christ: “put it represents a

_way of thinking about Jesus, which is not the only way the New Testament .

suggests, and perhaps not the best'-way.

What: has happened igs that the relationship of the-individual to the...

man Jesus has beén- cast ‘in terms of believing ideas about Jesus: believing

that he is God's son, believing that: he had within. himself a human nature
and a divine -nature, that he is-of-one-substance with.the Father - etc.:
Without diminishing the importance-of theology, [am suggesting that this

is not the only way -to think about Jesus. .It may not be the best way. “And
in fact there are times and places: when it’ gets in the way of our dealing ©:
with this man who commands our attention. oe

I was intrigued to discover’ that the Latin word “Credo” ~ "I
believe," -—. from which we get “creed,” is related to ‘the Latin word
"corda” - "heart." The original meaning of "I believe" - was. "“T set myo
heart on" not "I believe these ideas about-Jesus to be true" = but “FE
set my heart on Jesus.’ : ee

Ina wonderful book, Stages of Faith,- The Psychology of Muman
Development and the Quest for Meaning, James Fowler differentiates between -

8/30/87

belief and faith. “Belief is the holding of certain ideas, ... Faith is
deeper, richer, more personal..." Belief is a function of the mind...
faith “involves an alignment of the heart or will." [p. 11]

Can you have faith in Christ if you aren't certain about who jie was?

fhat's a problem for us, isn’t it? How can you call yourself a Christian
if you aren't sure what you believe about Jesus? How can you join the
church if you don't have your theology worked out? We all know someone who
is a closet Christian, who admires Jesus, is interested in and respects the
church, who acts and thinks like a Christian, but who just can't quite
affirm it openly because they are not sure what they believe about him, who
- when they confront the particularities of the Apostles Creed, experience
a definite tightening of the throat muscles. I have the sense that there
are a lot of people who live on the periphery of the church because they
have the mistaken notion that you have toe know what you believe with some
precision before you belong inside. And I think that's backwards. I think
the sequence is the other way around... That's how it has been in my
experience and that's how it is in the New Testament.

The. disciples were following Jesus without understanding. They were
following because he had touched something in them which was far more
profound than their belief system. He didn't administer a theological
examination as a prerequisite for discipleship.

And so it is, I believe, for most of us. On most days we could not
say exactly what we believed about Jesus... There are occasions... there
are experiences of clarity - there are moments of revelation when we know —
but they are not constant. They come unexpectedly, like gifts of God -
which is what they are. One day you're singing words you've sung all. your
life...

"Be this, while life is mine,
My canticle divine,
May Jesus Christ be praised...'

And on this day those words vibrate with energy and truth and you
know them in the very depth of your being. But it isn't always like that.

One day you're standing there saying the words you pretty much mumble
through every Sunday...

“and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of

the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
dead and buried..."

And on this day those familiar words resonate with such meaning and
profundity that your voice cracks as you say them.

It's like walking up gamouptain path in a thick fog, someone said.

You can't see anything, and suddenly there is an opening in the fog and
there, for an instant is the glorious mountain on which you are walking,
and the peak, glistening with snow and a bright blue sky, and then the fog
closes in, and you keep on walking. We do our believing in those moments

8/30/87

of clarity when God gives us experiences of sharp truth. We do most of our
living on faith, on the path, in the fog, remembering the clear picture we
were given, anticipating another one, but in the meantime, walking on in
trust.

most of its energy in theological] orthodoxy. That way of thinking has led

The Christian church has not been at its best when it has invested pe w
to arrogance, exclusivism and some of our saddest moments. Absolute ,

é

certainty about dogma, believing right ideas about Jesus has led ta WwW
crusades, inquisitions and pogroms. ft led the head cf a denomination toa WP 4
say not lone ago - “God Almighty does net hear the prayer of a Jew... No

prayer gets through that is nol prayed through Jesus Christ." [See Tom
Driver, Christ in a Chanying World, Bailey Smith, S.B.C., N.Y.T., 9/18/80]

In a provocative and very important new book, Christianity and the
World Religions, Hans Kuny wonders how history would have turned out had
Christian missionaries presented the ethic of Jesus, the love, justice and
compassion with modesty and grace - instead of trying to persuade everybody
in the world to think in the Greek philosophic categories of Nicea. Kung
sees the only hope for world peace to be along the lines of finding
commonality among world religions and believes the way is open for us ~ in
the spirit of Jesus himself who, writes Kung, "never questioned anyone
about. the true faith, (nor) asked anyone to profess his or her orthodoxy.
He expects no theoretical reflection, but an urgent practical decision."
[o. 116] ee

So it begins, the whole matter of Christianity; in an encounter with
aman: aman who lived in history. -It begins, Christianity does, atia
very human level - as my life is touched by his life.

I have a notion that we already know that: that >for most of us,
there was an experience, there have been times,.when we encountered Jesus
“Christ, our hearts were warmed, we were touched, the fop lifted, the angels
sang momentarily. For most of us Presbyterians it's our religious secret.
We're not good at talking about jit. But we have been touched by Jesus

Christ in ways we couldn't begin to explain. That's all right. If you've’
ever been in love you Know there is powerful reality that is not
necessarily rationale — if you love the Cubs, far that matter, you know

about reality that will not be explained objectively.

What Jesus Christ requires of us is not consistently orthodox beliefs
about him, but decisions made: to follow him, faith-decisions. The question
is, “who is he?" but even more to the point, “who we are in relationship
to him?"

That question will come: at you daily.. It will come at you disguised
in secular dress. It will come at you politically, socially, economically,
relationally.

a

"Who do you say that I am...

w

me...

means "Who are you in relation to

And, you and I will answer in the decisions we make, the choices,. the
commitments, the faithfulness by which we live.

R/IAN/AF

One of the brilliant and:remarkable geniuses of our era was Albert tenes
Schweitzer. -In-a-life that-included: exceptional: achievement. in music,
medicine, -he turned to New. Testament scholarship. He wrote a book, The
Quest of the Historical Jesus, which has been important.to Christian __
“< scholarship ever since.

‘The last Paragraph is: lovely. -In it Schweitzer lays aside his
_, Scholarship. and gives. his testimony...

"He comes to us.as One unknown, without a.

hame,.as of old by. the lake-side, he came to

those. men.who knew him not. He speaks to

us the same word: 'Pollow me!'... And to é
those who obey, whether they be wise or

‘simple,-he will. reveal-himself in the: toils,

the.conflicts, the sufferings which they

shall-pass through. in: his fellowship, and,

as. an. eneffable mystery;:they shall. learn

-in their own experience who he is."

“Leave some time at the endfor what you think," I was told...

cle And yet, the. whole point of. the incident is.that Peter, having said

cowhat! he’ thought in a moment of insight, really wasn't very consistent, and
- that in spite of his inconsistency - in fact, in spite of his outright

, contradiction and denial of what -he.said here-- Jesus stayed with hin, made
a full wonderful human being out of him, a-.strong, responsible man, and

builta church on hin. . ; : (an ti

Cle ue
Well, --like Peter, ---2J believe he is the Christ, -God's’son.. I AL Av Ve 2
believe he is : the one. promised, the: one coming into the: world from the a \"

beginning. of. time. : i wt

1 believe he is Lord of all,
Lord-of all time,
Lord of this time...

I believe he was the God. who is love, justice, hope, power and
creativity — incarnate. :

if believe his human life contained all of God that can be gotten into
a human. life.. :

i believe his humanity... He is my brother. He knew everything it
--means to be human... the good and the bad... he knows my

hungers,
passions,
joys,
aspirations,
hopes,
fears

8/30/87 pe
i

E believe he was God's blessing on all human life. [| believe he
makes my life holy — because of his humanity.

I believe. what he did was for me - living, loving, teaching, healing,
accepting, suffering, and dying.

I believe death did not defeat him, nor contain him.

i believe he comes into my life and into the life of the world. TI
believe he is my hope and the hope of the world.

But -, the point is, - and it is the point, - like Peter, sometimes I —
can say more than I understand. And like Peter, somedays T mean more of it
than other days, and J expect that's the way it is for you. 2

That's all right. Because saying it right - getLling the theology
correct is not the point. ,

You don't have to know who he is exactly to be a follower...

You don't have to have all your beliefs straight to be a Christian,
or a church member - or to claim him.

So it is an invitation, finally... to believe what you are able to
believe... to affirm what God has given you with clairity... but...
regardless of the sophistication of your personal credo — to understand
that what matters is not believing ideas about him - but "setting your
heart on Jesus..."

And then I believe the promise is true ~ in the toils and joys, ~ in
the life we live in him, - he will show us who he is...
In that church where I preached a sermon on this text... long ago - I

learned a hymn in Sunday School. We sang it a lot.

It is not a sophisticated hymn, but it is a pretty tune and it is one
of my favorites...

When I can't explain what 1 believe... when I can't get my
Christology into the right words... it helps me to remember this hymn and
to sing it quietly. The words sing better than they read.

It's the second line of "Fairest Lord Jesus..."

"Thee will I cherish, thee will I will honor,
Thou, my soul's glory, joy and crown."

For moments of clarity, Great God, in which we know what we believe,
we praise you... And for the other moments, when all we are sure of is
your Jove, we praise. you as well.

In all our moments, give us grace to be faithful to Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.

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