Loading...Who is this Jesus guy?
We’ve encountered quite a few answers in the gospel stories and from our own lives. So, what are some answers you might give?
Who is this Jesus guy?
I think this is the basic and fundamental question that the elders and the chief priests (the Jewish leaders who were the wealthy elite and the landowners/managers) ask about Jesus.
Except, they asked it more like this:
“Just who does this Jesus guy think he is?!?”
According to Matthew, they used these words: “By what authority are you doing these things [teaching these radical parables], and who gave you this authority?”
Jesus answers the question, as one might expect, with a question of his own. And, a story.
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Who is this Jesus?
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, uses a very early Christian hymn
to describe both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus.
It’s a little like Paul couldn’t think of the words to describe this –
it’s too mystical and beyond definition –
so he quotes a song knowing that people might start humming,
and in that way enter into the space beyond words
in order to begin understanding.
You know what that’s like –
when the lyrics and music combined say more than just words alone:
(verse 2 of “At the Name of Jesus)
Name him, Christians, name him,
with love strong as death,
name with awe and wonder
and with bated breath;
he is God the savior,
he is Christ the Lord,
ever to be worshiped, trusted, and adored.
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Who is this Jesus?
Who comes into our well-ordered (if, occupied) existence,
and turns our world upside-down,
upsets the apple-cart, and
calls into question our societal norms?
Who is this Jesus,
and why does he think he can say what he’s saying?
Look at his track record:
healing children possessed by demons
eating with the outcasts and reprobates of society (as if they were OK!)
healing a cripple man whose friends “jumped the line” by dropping the friends mat through the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching
feeding thousands of people with just a few bits of food
teaching about service and about radical welcome and
forgiveness for all
FORGIVING people (which is ONLY God’s job!)!!
Who is this Jesus?
He’s talking and acting as though he has power, divine power.
He’s usurping the power holders in Jewish society and religious life
He’s teaching that the people who make church happen –
all the faithful servants who live good and holy lives –
are not earning their place in God’s dream for the world
(aka, God’s Kingdom) by all of those good works.
Who is this Jesus
turning all of our understandings of salvation & redemption all around?
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This parable that Jesus tells – shared in today’s Gospel – about the two brothers has always been difficult for me, not so much because it is a head-scratcher (which it is!) but because it is “convicting” (in the Baptist sense). There is real truth in this story that knocks me for a loop.
Plus, it reminds me of my sister and I.
“Daughter,” my mother might say. “Go and work in the garden today.”
A sister might answer, “I will not;” but later changed her mind and went to weed or harvest veggies or whatever.
Mom went to the other sister and said the same, and she answered, “I go, ma’am;” but she did not go.
Which of the two did the will of the mother?
Um, which daughter was I?
My sister always seemed to be the better behaved (e.g. said yes, but then did the task).
I was much more petulant (I was called a “pill”): I would say no, but the slink in later and do the task – with an attitude.
My dear mother, bless her heart, remembers this all differently....
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Who is this Jesus?
Jesus is the one who points out that our past, our choices,
our background, our brokenness, our losses,
our confusion, our sense of unworthiness...
None of these things stand in the way of hearing the words of grace, love, mercy, and then responding in hope and faith
--not just with our words,
but with our actions
with our actions
with our service and kindness to others
with our labors of justice and reconciliation
with our works of charity and compassion and advocacy.
Who is this Jesus?
The One who welcomes us with an embrace wider, deeper, and stronger than you can imagine, to include more than you thought possible.
The One who molds, transforms, changes, and shapes us into people who live faith and love in word and deed.
The One who sends us into the world to declare and witness to that wide embrace.
Who is this Jesus?
The One who welcomes those whom the world rejects, forgets, pushes aside – Puerto Ricans, the Rohingya, South Sudanese,
people who’ve been shamed into thinking they are beyond help or salvation, people who are homeless,
people who keep getting shoved back into one closet or another.
Who is this Jesus?
The light of our world
The Divine One – incarnate
Embodied here amongst you gathered and in other communities around the diocese, the church, and the world
In, with, and under our meal shared – making us into this Body of Christ.
This Jesus is our light and our life. Thanks be to God!
Amen
