Who do YOU say I am? – Matthew 16:13-20
/Lectionary Readings for August 23, 2020
Exodus 1:8-2:10 Birth and Youth of Moses
Psalm 124 v8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Romans 12:1-8 v2 be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God
Matthew 16:13-20 Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ
Peace Quotes
“Most of my songs are about Jesus. Most of my songs are about the idea that there is salvation, and that there is a Savior. But I won't mention his name in a song just to get a cheap play.” ~ Pete Townshend
“The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God - if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That's what I think.” ~ Maya Angelou
Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading
Today’s short story is the first half of an extraordinary exchange between Peter and Jesus. We’ll read the dramatically different second half next week. Peter and Jesus always had a rocky relationship, but despite their ups and downs, there is no doubt that they both deeply loved each other.
Today verses remind us that God can speak profound wisdom in our hearts and minds. These verses challenge us to be aware of and open to that.
Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts to today’s reading.
Read Matthew 16:13-20.
Are You My Mother? is a classic childhood book from the genius children’s author P. D. Eastman. It’s the story of a baby bird that hatches alone, leaves its nest, and asks every animal it meets, “Are you my mother?” until it is finally, and dramatically, reunited with its mother.
My dad is a retired dentist. And for better or for worse, I grew up surrounded by two groups of people – those who had a Dr. in front of their name and those who did not. They could be a dentist, a brain surgeon, a history expert, or a reverend – it really didn’t matter. There were only two groups of people in the world and the smartest, the “most accomplished,” and the most respected people I knew as a young child all had a Dr. at the front of their name. Such was my preschool perspective of life.
My mom did not realize how insulated my world was and how ingrained this thinking was in my pre-kindergarten brain until one day when I asked her to read the story of Dr. and Mrs. Bird – meaning the book Are You My Mother? My request also revealed my privileged, enculturated assumption that every child has heterosexual parents at home waiting to embrace them – but we’ll deal with that implicit bias another day.
It was not until I was 20 years old that my younger brother and one of my closest college friends – independent of each other – helped me come to a place where I could respect myself and be happy with my life if I did not have a Dr. in front of my name. That may sound silly to some of you, but for me, it was a monumental life moment and a miserable weight off of my shoulders.
As I grew through that season of personal transformation while I learned a new respect for the world’s non-doctors, I started paying closer attention to how attached people were to their titles such as Doctor, Professor, Colonel, Director, Chief, President, Reverend, Bishop, etc. Notice how those titles are usually capitalized just like a person’s birth name – as though the title was just as important as their name. Our society has given the WHAT equal or even greater weight to the WHO.
I share all of that to convey the extent to which our society often focuses on a person’s WHAT as much as we do their WHO.
In my twenties, I remember multiple occasions of hearing about someone who lost their title due to retirement or change of employment. Some people adjusted well, but others had mid-life or late-life breakdowns because they were no longer their title. They were just… them.
It always broke my heart to see someone let their lack of WHAT make them unable to embrace the greatest WHO description of all-time: every human being is a precious child of the Living God – a description that comes from way back in the Old Testament book of Hosea 1:10.
It also breaks my heart to talk with people who have never enjoyed the modern affirmations of important titles or designations and sometimes consequently struggle to understand that they too are precious children of the Living God. Such are the misguided modern connections between professional accomplishment and divine relationship.
In today’s reading, I think it’s instructive that Jesus asks WHO do you say I am, not WHAT do you say I am. Interestingly, Peter answers a WHO question with a WHAT answer. “You are the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of the living God.” That answer is both respectful and theologically profound. And interestingly, Jesus praises Peter for his answer.
What do other people call Jesus?
In Matthew 9:27, two blind men call Jesus Son of David.
In Mark 1:24, a demon calls Jesus the Holy One of God.
In Luke 4:41, a series of demons scream out You are the Son of God!
John offers us a variety of interesting, colorful descriptions of Jesus. John opens his gospel in John 1:1-29 calling Jesus the Word made flesh and The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
In John 3:16-17, Jesus describes Himself as God’s one and only Son sent to save the world.
And in John 4:39-42, the entire town of Samaritans declare that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Later we have John 6:47-51 Jesus describing Himself as the bread of life.
Again, those are all WHAT answers, a variety of titles that address Jesus’ relationship with God as well as what Jesus can do for us.
In the last 30 or so years, American Christianity has embraced the self-descriptive phrase, “It’s a relationship, not a religion.” Actually, it’s both. More today than perhaps at any time in history, we Christians talk about having a personal relationship with God and Jesus. Religious training at all levels pushes church leaders to creation relational ministries, and I’m all for that!
So here’s my question for us today. Would you rather have a relationship with a WHAT or a WHO? Here’s a clue: weddings use names, not titles. Two people marry each other; NOT a basketball coach and a physical therapist established a permanent, mutually beneficial merger.
When applied to our faith, this question and concept becomes foundational to our understanding of HOW we are connected with God. Let me ask the question again. In life’s most dramatic moments – good and bad – would you rather be connected with a Divine WHAT or a Divine WHO?
In John 15:4-5, Jesus seems to focus more on the WHO aspect when He tells us “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” That is mighty intimate!
Revelation 19:7-9 continues the intimacy by describing us, faithful Christians, as the bride of the Lamb (the Lamb being Jesus).
So which is the “right way” to think about and approach Jesus – as a WHAT or a WHO? In the Methodist tradition, we must occasionally remind ourselves that John Wesley was a huge fan of “both/and” rather than “either/or.” We can know, love, and worship Jesus as both WHO and WHAT.
I encourage all of us – myself included – to wrestle with Jesus’ question, “WHO do you say I am.” I encourage us to consider WHO answers that are no doubt informed by our understandings – our theologies – of WHAT Jesus was and is.
Here are a few examples of what that might sound like.
I am friends with the Holy One of God.
I am the bride of the Word made flesh.
My brother is God’s only Son.
Like sourdough starter, the Bread of Life lives and grows within me.
From our Christian perspective, we believe that having some type of relationship with God is what is most important. Through our own personal faith journeys, each of us must explore and discover how we best connect with God. As the kids say these days, “You gotta do you.”
As we better understand our own theologies and relationships with God, we will be able to more comfortably, more instinctively, and more enthusiastically share our faith with the people we meet – people who desperately need to hear and know that they are precious children of the Living God.
Amen? Amen!