Who is Jesus? Who is He? When I started thinking about this Thought for the Week, and looked at the gospel reading, I got to wondering how that question would be answered today. So, I asked a cross section of people, many either staff or students from the Church of England secondary school at which I am a governor and exams invigilator. I got quite a varied response: · He is an idea of a learned teacher · He is the Son of God · He was a good and learned man, and Chinese Whispers have made Him who people think or say He is today · He is God incarnate, the second Person of the Trinity · He is an example of how we should live our lives and He sacrificed Himself for our good · He is a teacher; someone who guides and supports. He is a messenger from God; a giver of strength in times of need and a provider of peace (I do particularly like that response) We must remember that we have in excess of 2000 years of hindsight when contemplating this question. We have the Bible – all of it, but especially the New Testament. We have billions of believers who have gone before us; a great many biblical scholars and theologians; and a good number of non-Christian scholars to help us develop our belief, or not, as the case may be. Jesus puts that very same question to His disciples, but only after He had posed a more general question. Just prior to this story, Jesus had been in Tyr & Sidon, and had been ministering to the gentiles, many of whom had embraced His message. Note, in particular, the Canaanite woman who asked Him to heal her daughter and stated that even dogs are able to eat the crumbs from under their Master’s table. But when Jesus comes back among His own people, many, predominantly Pharisees and Scribes, still question His veracity. So, in Caesaria Philippi where, interestingly, there was a temple honouring the emperor Caesar Augustus, Jesus, quite possibly prompted by this apparent reverence of a mortal man, asks His disciples who do people say that the Son of Man is. The responses given by the disciples – some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah or Jeremiah – suggest that He is perceived by many as a prophet, speaking out on behalf of God against wickedness, injustice and immorality. Certainly, the people were awaiting a king, a Messiah, sent from God, to free Israel from oppression. Scottish Theologian and author William Barclay explains that Messiah and Christ both mean ‘the anointed one’ – one being Hebrew and the other Greek. ‘Kings were, and still are, ordained to office by anointing and so the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One is God’s King over all people.’ The Jews did not know just what type of king to expect, but for sure, this king would attract much attention, and hostility from some. But is Jesus this king? They seem to think not. But they do see Him as a great prophet, indicating that they probably even see Him as the forerunner of the expected Messiah as prophesied in Malachi ‘Lo I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.’ But the fact remains, the people do not see Jesus as the actual Messiah. And then the big question……’Who do you say that I am?’ The disciples will have been on a rollercoaster since hooking up with Jesus. All kinds of miracles, teachings, words of wisdom. They gave up pretty much everything to follow Him so that, in itself, must suggest that they thought He was someone pretty special. But do they, at this point in time, truly understand just who this man is – this wonderful teacher. It is really only after the crucifixion and resurrection that the penny finally drops. I wonder if there was a period of silence following Jesus asking this question. Were the disciples’ minds in a quandary? What do they say? This is a huge question. What if they get the answer wrong! And then Peter speaks up ‘You are the Messiah; the Son of the Living God.’ Does Peter actually know this? Does he believe this? Jesus states that Peter did not learn his from any human source. This knowledge has come from God……’my Father in Heaven.’ But Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah clearly consolidates Jesus’ own view of him. Because Jesus then states that Peter would be the rock upon which His Church will be built. Peter, named thus by Jesus, from the Greek petros (m)/petra (f) meaning rock or stone. America Pastor Tony Evans uses an interesting analogy – that the Church is like a nation’s embassy in a foreign country. The people working in that embassy should live up to the values and principles of their own nation while in that foreign country. Tony Evans sees Christ’s Church as ‘a little bit of heaven a long way from home, designed to withstand the authority of Hell.’ So, when we confess who Jesus Christ is, it is not enough for us to simply say it. We must live it too. Our faith must be borne out in our actions such that we are reflecting that little bit of heaven here on earth, a ‘foreign land’ but a land greatly loved by God. Jesus would not be building an actual church, not an actual building, but a community of believers who acknowledge Him as God’s anointed King. Peter’s declaration of faith will be the starting point and this community was, and is, to be perpetuated for all time, at least until Jesus returns and the book of Revelation is fulfilled. And indeed, following Jesus’ ascension, it is Peter who assumes the leadership role and God clearly plans for him to fulfil this role, to the point of breaking him out of prison as we hear in the reading from Acts this week. Finally, the awesome responsibility bestowed upon Peter of having custody of the keys of heaven. Whoever has the keys to a property, or place, effectively has control over who can, or cannot, enter that place. Peter will have control over who enters the Kingdom of Heaven - those who have belief in Jesus Christ and are therefore loosed, or released, of their sins. This notion conjures up for me an image of Peter at the pearly gates either permitting, or denying, entry to heaven through those gates. Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, is almost suggesting that he is unable to actually describe Jesus in human terms. He has no theological or philosophical means to describe Him, as William Barclay suggests. Barclay also notes that Napoleon once gave a verdict on Jesus saying ‘I know men, and Jesus Christ is more than a man.’ Jesus is the key to the whole of God’s relationship with His creation, and having absolute knowledge of this is more powerful than believing it; knowing Jesus is more powerful than knowing about Him. Knowing Him in our hearts, living with Him in our lives. Jesus is our friend, He is the point, He is alive, and He is here. So, if Jesus asks you the question ‘Who do you say that I am?’…….what will your response be?
I was kindly asked to write this week's 'Thought for the week' and I am grateful to be trusted with such an important responsibility.I read the readings that I was to base this on and at first I wrestled with how they connected. I wrote down a lot of notes and then suddenly I saw the way that they might relate to each other.The first reading involves the many trials that Job suffered.Have you ever experienced a very challenging time in your life and found that afterwards you found yourself to be wiser and stronger?When we face life's trials, is God preparing us for a special task or a new role? Are we being honed into a better person? I'm sure that many people can identify with this experience and are thankful and proud of themselves for coming through a difficult time.Job's faith prevailed despite his suffering. He represents the power of faith through adversity. Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians to strengthen their resolve to have faith. He was convinced that Christ suffered to pay for the sins of humanity and went to his cruel death to pay for our personal sins.When we face life's challenges we can be overcome by fear. We often turn inwards and become self obsessed. Our judgement and perspective can become distorted. It's at these times that we must hold on to our faith and put our trust in God to guide us through our turmoil. If we try our best to concentrate on Christ's teachings and absorb the truths that they reveal, we are unable to resist becoming aware that we can no longer be governed by our own selfish desires. We can no longer be a slave to our ego and we are drawn towards the light again.We see clearly that it is not enough to only love those who love us and we are driven to share our love with everyone we meet.In Mark's gospel Jesus has been surrounded by a crowd of his followers and is tired. He sails with his disciples to the other side of a lake and falls asleep in the boat. There is a violent storm and his disciples are frightened and wake him saying, "Master, don't you care that we will perish?" Jesus calms the storm and says to the sea, "Peace, be still", and the storm ceases.He says to his disciples, "Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith."The disciples say to each other, "What manner of man is this that the wind and waves obey him?"So here are three bible passages that speak to us about fear and faith. I hope I have succeeded in finding some fundamental truth running through them.
What has changed over the last few years for you? When you look at your life today, what’s different compared to five, ten or twenty years ago? How has your knowledge of God changed? As much as your body has changed? More, I hope!It may seem facile to ask about changes that we cannot control such as bodily or mental changes, and indeed they are of little relevance compared to our spiritual development. Circumstances and events are of little interest to us here, as they have little or no bearing on our immortal souls. But how have you changed? Have your values of priorities or concerns changed? What bothers you or makes you glad now, and what new ways have you found to love in, or what new things have you found to delight in? What seeds have germinated and taken root in you? Where is emotional and faith-based growth happening within you and how is that nurtured here, how do you nurture it in each other, in these other members of your family? And how did it happen?How does any change happen? And moreover, how do we stop experiencing it as a negative? Well, life is not a straight line of progression, we all know that’s not how life works and we all know that growth and development is not a straight line of growth – sometimes we have to lose a branch in order to grow, to be pruned to bear fruit or to lose in order to see value in each other.Today in the parable of the growing seed we find that there is a dynamism about our lives, a spirit moving within us. Every one of us has been planted and nurtured and something is growing within us. Sometimes we don’t see it or even believe it. But it’s there. And how and when it happens, I don’t know, we don’t know, but Jesus says it’s always been there. It is not dependent upon us – the world and the church will continue without us, as we would hope - but we participate in it, we are a part of the ever changing world and therefore have to change with it or sit tight and let it all wash over us, or to put it another, way, forget about us, or jump over us as if we were an obstacle.This parable Jesus tells is not about gardening or farming. Jesus is using images from gardening or farming to talk about your life and my life. His parable is a metaphor for the way God works in our lives. It’s meant to be an encouragement and to offer hope.“It is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,” Jesus says. And I wonder, who are those someone’s in your life? Who has scattered seeds on the ground of your life? In what ways did he or she offer you a place to put down roots, find stability, and get your life in order? Those are seeds scattered in your life by someone. Who is doing that for you today? Where are you finding your growth?And now, we know what is coming next, or course. For we are seed scatterers too, we have to nurture too, otherwise we wither and, again, become an obstacle to be humoured or ignored. What seeds are we scattering for the life of the world? Maybe you’re asking, ‘what seeds could I possibly scatter?’ – Well, here is a little list – forgive and be reconciled with someone, sowing the seed of love and reconciliation. Put someone else’s interest before your own, sowing the seed which you so much want others to sow in you. Encourage, love, reach out, show compassion, sit with someone in grief or anxiety and don’t judge, just say ‘I’m here for you’ and speak the truth plainly, making love your first and every word. These are the seeds we want to be sown in us, so make them the seeds you sow in others. Share with others the good seed that you are, and flourish not just for yourself., but for them, for us, for God.What do you wish was growing in the garden of your life? What is missing? Where have weeds taken over? What needs attention? Why is he asking so many questions? He’s asking so many questions because the good gardener is planting His garden and we share in that task, in that hope, in that love, and if we desire growth, we have to plant.Meister Eckhart, a 14th century German monk, says this about the seeds we’ve been talking about:The seed of God is in us.Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer,it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is;and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature.Pear seeds grow into pear trees,nut seeds into nut trees,and a God seed into God.
St Mark tells us in today’s Gospel that Jesus came home with his disciples. Which home is he coming to? What does St Mark mean by home. He belongs everywhere and he is rooted in the Father’s love, as we belong anywhere that we find our Christian family, but most of us have a mental image or place memory of a home of some sort. Mark tells us that when Jesus came home the crowd gathered together there ‘again’. This crowd was not just composed of inquisitive neighbours or curious locals. It was drawn from Galilee and from Judaea, and as far away as Jerusalem. The bounds were even wider since some came from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from Tyre and Sidon. These people were not just pious, respectable Jews; they were not just eager suppliants hoping for something from Jesus, they were Gentiles as well as Jews. Some came from beyond the Jordan, and from Tyre and Sidon. They were a mixed bag. Jesus has already begun the construction of his new Israel. He is building his new house which will become the new temple, the temple of his body. He is redefining the meaning of the concept of ‘home’ while standing in the place that even his own family think is his ‘home’. It’s only chapter three, and he is already set in defying expectations!Jesus’s home in Capernaum is probably the home of Simon and Andrew. Jesus is building a new house, an alternative to the Temple of Jerusalem. There access was restricted, but this new house is open to the great crowds who have come in search of him, as well as the tax collectors, sinners, scribes and Pharisees. In the midst of all of this Jesus’s relatives come in to ‘seize’ him. The word is a very strong one. It is used again in the Gospel to describe the action of the guards when they come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark suggests that Jesus’s family did not understand the nature of his mission, they come to him out of love. They want to prevent him from being hurt by failure. These disciples have begun the journey away from their own homes and families. Later on, they will say ‘we have left everything to follow you.’ To leave family means to leave security, to leave those who care for you, who will tend you when you are sick and when you are old. The ones who hear the word of God and do it are his disciples. They have begun this journey. Just how much of a sacrifice this family life is can be seen at the end of Jesus’s life. His brothers abandon him in the Garden of Gethsemane and leave him to his fate. In that dreadful human solitude it then becomes obvious to whom he belongs.Those scribes who arrive today and were behind his arrest in Gethsemane were theological heavyweights. They represent the authority and theological wisdom of the temple establishment — the same establishment whose leaders will ensure that Pilate crushes Jesus at the end of the book. We should understand those scribes’ credentials as impeccable. Their pronouncement, that Jesus is a satanic agent and not a divine one, recognizes power at work in him. He is no charlatan or illusionist. But they decide the power is perverse. They offer the most damning assessment they can.Once the three groups — crowd, family, and scribes — have found themselves brought together in the same narrative space, so to speak, in these interwoven scenes, Jesus speaks. He has a few declarations of his own. Jesus spends little time refuting the scribes’ assessment. He indicates the absurdity of their reasoning, for he says that satanic power never shows an interest in loosening the screws that hold oppression and indignity firmly in place. We also read implied pronouncements from Jesus about the state of the world. The reign (“kingdom”) he associates with Satan is a formidable, coordinated power. It enforces a fearful hegemony. It retains that dominance because it is ruthlessly unyielding. Jesus’ comments suggest that the scribes appear to grasp all of this very well, since their accusation ironically exposes them as having succumbed to that kingdom’s inflexible logic.Mark is, therefore, a story of redemption from a “house” of oppression that manifests itself on many levels of human existence. There is no escaping this Gospel’s accent on conflict and clashing powers. Finally, the focus returns to Jesus’ family, the ones who have come to spirit him away from the crushing crowds, the consequences of the dangerous criticisms he levels against the religious leaders, and his dangerous visions of a battle he fights for the sake of the world. Not only does Jesus resist the intervention of his mother, brothers, and sisters; he renounces their claim on him. They remain “outside” while Jesus embraces those encircled “around him” in the crowded house.Scribes and relatives cannot figure him out, and so they attempt to quarantine him. He seems rather willing to write them off for the sake of achieving something great. Only three chapters into the narrative, and a lot of people are understandably worried. In many ways, we still should be. What’s certain here is this: the reign of God Jesus keeps talking about is certainly not going to be about maintaining business as usual.
