February 25, 2024 Text: Mark 8:27-30
Dear Friends in Christ,
During the Super Bowl two weeks ago, there was an ad about Jesus with the tag line, “He gets us.” It is kind of hard to describe the ad, but one of the takeaways is that people are always trying to define who Jesus is. Michael Cooper, author and missiologist said this about the commercial, “I began to wonder, is this the Jesus I know. This wasn’t just a great teacher or preacher who was incarnated. This was God himself.” In my reading one of the weaknesses pointed out is that the ad shows Jesus’ humanity but not his divinity. The one thing I have told people who have asked is that it is getting people to talk about Jesus but what road are they going down? It is a great time to have this Gospel lesson . . .
“WHO IS JESUS?”
The text begins, “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they told him, ‘John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’” (v. 27-28)
The all-knowing Lord didn’t ask the question because He was having some sort of identity crisis. He asked the question for the disciples’ sake. R.C.H. Lenski writes, “He wants the disciples to state the wrong opinions of men in order to set over against them their own correct conviction.”
God does that in Scripture, doesn’t He? He asked Adam, “Where are you?” (Ge. 3:9) It wasn’t that God didn’t know. It was asked so Adam would know. He was lost. The answers given in our text are not unreasonable: John the Baptist and Elijah. Remember when Jesus had a purple robe and crown of thorns before Pilate and Pilate said, “Here is the man!” (John 19:5). Behold the man. A man. That is all. Just a man.
It is still the same. Just a man. Just another guru. Just a man with a great following. Just a great philosopher but nothing more. That is what bothers people about “He gets us.” It is not terrible, but it does not go far enough in describing Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Now it is time to get personal. “And he asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.” (v. 29-30)
It is a defining moment for them and the world. The Christ. They confess it. He upholds it. The Christ. It slaps down all the human speculation about Jesus. He has no equals. Jesus alone says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Christ says it, “I’m it. There is no other way.” He testifies to himself. This is what you want on your death bed. He is God’s anointed who bore your sins and the sins of the world. He secured our eternal pardon so that Heaven is our home.
During the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, around 1830, a man named George Wilson killed a government employee. Wilson was sentenced to hang. President Jackson stepped in and sent Wilson a pardon, but Wilson did something strange, he rejected it. No one knew what to do so the case went to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Marshall wrote the court’s opinion, “A pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” And he was.
It does not matter what people think of Jesus. We know this, Jesus is the only pardon from sin. “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Those who reject that pardon will be eternally punished. It does not matter how sweet and wonderful they may be. Scripture says, “Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18)
Do you remember the author Philip Roth? He wrote a book EveryMan which was a heads up to all readers that death comes to everyone. He said this in a New York Times article, “This book came out of what was all around me, which was something I never expected – that my friends would die. If you’re lucky, your grandparents will die when you’re, say, in college. Your parents, if you’re lucky will live until you are in your fifties or sixties. You won’t ever die, and your children certainly, will never die before you. That’s the deal. That’s the contract. But in this contract, nothing is written about your friends, so when they start dying, it’s a gigantic shock.”
Isn’t that how many see it? Somehow, it isn’t going to happen to me. But it does, no matter who you are. Philip Roth died six years ago, an atheist, who had no time for Jesus.
The scenario is all too common. We all stare at our mortality. The sunny days, and blue skies and scenes and activities of life come to a close. Staring at mortality and seeing Jesus – the Bringer of Life and Salvation – and the person just walks away. Forever sad.
Who is Jesus? He is our Lord and Savior. He is the Lover of our souls. He has overcome sin and death for us. He is Jesus. He is our life and salvation. He guides our life. He is Christ. He is our eternity when the earthly ends. He is our light when the darkness finally arrives. He is God who has come to grant us pardon and eternal life. This is Jesus Christ.
Amen.