Sermon 2nd September 2007
The sermon is from our Vicar, Cameron Barker, based on the reading from Matthew 16:13-18
WHO IS JESUS?
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in a different village, where he worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was thirty. Then, for three years, he was a travelling preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family, or owned a house. He didn’t go to university. He never visited what we would call a big city. He never travelled more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things we usually associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between 2 thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothes, which was the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, and the leader of human progress. All the armies that have ever marched; all the navies that have ever sailed; all the parliaments that have ever sat; all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of people on this earth as much as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE.
That anonymous piece of prose says it all, so very well. No-one who looks at the world today can deny the impact that Jesus of Nazareth has had on it. Look at our own country. It's not just that our towns, cities and villages are full of churches built in his honour. It's also that the whole fabric of our society has been affected by him. Many of our schools and hospitals were started by his Church as a way of serving him – like the school in our own parish, for example. Much of the law in our country was framed as an attempt to give expression to his teaching. It's true to say that so much of what we take for granted today only exists because a man named Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2 000 years ago.
But why has he had such an impact? The simple answer is that it’s because of who he is. It’s the nature, the character of the man that has given him such impact on our world.
So who is he? That’s the question we’re looking at today, as we begin our autumn series: who is Jesus? Between now and the end of November we'll be examining some of the key fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith. We'll be thinking about what we believe as Christians; about why we believe it; and about what that means for how we live each day. That's a crucial part of being mission-shaped – that we know and understand what we believe, so that we can explain it to others when they ask us.
The talks in this series will shorter than normal. That's to give us time to respond, to think and to talk afterwards. There will be a chance to do that after each service, and mid-week too (at St John's on Thursday evenings at 8.) And, at the end of this series, there will be a special opportunity to respond to what we'll have heard and seen in it. We'll explain the detail of what that will be during the course of this series.
But this is where it all starts – with the issue of who Jesus was and is. That question is absolutely foundational to the rest of our series. It's foundational because in the coming weeks we’ll go on to tackle the range of questions that naturally arise from asking who Jesus is.
So, who is Jesus. Well, the reality is that he’s many things to many people. Ask anyone you know who they think Jesus is, and they will almost certainly give you some kind of an answer. Their answer may surprise you, so why not ask your friends and family, and hear what they have to say. A few years ago there was song written that put many of the answers about Jesus' identity to music. I'll spare you the singing, and just read the lyrics:
Some say he was an outlaw,
that he roamed across the land
with a band of unschooled ruffians
and a few old fishermen.
No-one knew just where he came from,
nor exactly what he’d done,
but they said it must be something bad
that kept him on the run.
Some say he was a poet, that he’d stand upon a hill,
that his words could calm an angry crowd
or make the waves stand still,
that he spoke in many parables
that few could understand
but the people sat for hours just to listen to this man.
Some say he was a sorcerer, a man of mystery
that he walked upon the water
that he made a blind man see.
That he conjured wine at weddings,
did tricks with fish and bread,
that he made the lame to walk again,
and raised people from the dead.
Some say a politician, who spoke of being free,
he was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee.
He spoke out against corruption and bowed to no decree,
but they feared his strength and power,
so they nailed him to a tree.
Yes, Jesus really is many things to many people. But more often than not, Jesus is what people want him to be. They have some cause or concern that they champion. Then they paint a particular picture of Jesus, so that they can conveniently recruit him to their cause. But as we’ll see in a moment that really won’t do ...
Now to some people of course, Jesus is the stuff of fairy tales. He has no more basis in fact than the tooth-fairy, and faith in him is just a blind leap in the dark.
I know I told this story here recently, but it bears repeating now. It's the one about a missionary running an orphanage in the Middle East. She was driving her jeep when she ran out of petrol. She had no jerrycan in the car. All she could find was a potty. She walked a mile down the road to the nearest petrol station, and filled the potty with fuel. As she was pouring the petrol into the tank, a very large Cadillac drew up, occupied by wealthy oil sheikhs. They were absolutely fascinated to see her pour the contents of the potty into the jeep. One of them opened the window and said, ‘Excuse me! My friend and I, although we do not share your religion, we greatly admire your faith.’
And to some people believing in Jesus is just like that. It’s a blind leap in the dark that has no basis in fact or reason or history at all: faith and fact are quite separate. To such people faith is, as one little boy once put it, ‘believing things that you know aren’t true.’
So, some people reject belief in Jesus because to them it’s as irrational as believing that there are fairies at the bottom of your garden. Other people want to hold on to Jesus. But they want to have him on their own terms, to make him into what they want him to be.
But neither of those approaches will do at all, because they ignore what is critical. What's critical is that faith in Jesus can be – and must be – based on solid, historical fact. We needn’t doubt Jesus’ existence: there's more historical evidence for the existence of Jesus than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar, for example!
Jesus is mentioned by the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, and by the Jewish historian, Josephus. But our primary source of evidence about Jesus is in the pages of the New Testament. And it’s important for us to remember that the New Testament is not a collection of fairy stories. No, it’s solid, sober, well-documented history. The gospels were written either by people who knew Jesus themselves, or by those who talked closely to such eyewitnesses. We can rely on the picture of Jesus that the New Testament gives us. And it’s the picture that the New Testament gives us – rather than our own fads and foibles – that must decide the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’.
It’s that question which is asked time and time again in the gospels. ‘Who is this man?’ is the question that puzzled Jesus’ disciples and opponents alike. And it’s that question which is at the heart of the short Bible passage I read earlier. In it, Jesus first asked his disciples how other people answered it. And they came out with a whole catalogue of views: ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah, or some other prophet.’ His disciples framed their replies in the religious language of the day. But it’s not that far from people today who label Jesus as a revolutionary, or a pacifist or a guru.
But Jesus then took the question and made it personal: ‘What about you? Who do you say I am?’ I stopped at that point; but there was an answer given. It was Simon Peter, who replied. He's most notable in the gospels for getting things wrong, but he got this one right: ‘You are the Messiah/Christ, the Son of the living God.’ We know that he got it right because of Jesus’ reply: ‘Good for you Simon, son of John! This truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.’
And, interesting as it is to ask what other people think of Jesus, sooner or later each one of us must answer this key question for ourselves. So it is as if Jesus turns to each one of us today, and says to us: ‘What about you? Who do you say I am?’
Who do you think Jesus is, then? And, if he is who Peter said he is, then what does that mean for you; and what will he want from you? It’s those critical questions that we all have to answer for ourselves at some time in our lives. And it’s those critical questions which this series can and will help us to ponder – and to answer – over the next three months. So now let’s pray that we'll do just that.
WHO IS JESUS?
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in a different village, where he worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was thirty. Then, for three years, he was a travelling preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family, or owned a house. He didn’t go to university. He never visited what we would call a big city. He never travelled more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things we usually associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between 2 thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothes, which was the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, and the leader of human progress. All the armies that have ever marched; all the navies that have ever sailed; all the parliaments that have ever sat; all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of people on this earth as much as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE.
That anonymous piece of prose says it all, so very well. No-one who looks at the world today can deny the impact that Jesus of Nazareth has had on it. Look at our own country. It's not just that our towns, cities and villages are full of churches built in his honour. It's also that the whole fabric of our society has been affected by him. Many of our schools and hospitals were started by his Church as a way of serving him – like the school in our own parish, for example. Much of the law in our country was framed as an attempt to give expression to his teaching. It's true to say that so much of what we take for granted today only exists because a man named Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2 000 years ago.
But why has he had such an impact? The simple answer is that it’s because of who he is. It’s the nature, the character of the man that has given him such impact on our world.
So who is he? That’s the question we’re looking at today, as we begin our autumn series: who is Jesus? Between now and the end of November we'll be examining some of the key fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith. We'll be thinking about what we believe as Christians; about why we believe it; and about what that means for how we live each day. That's a crucial part of being mission-shaped – that we know and understand what we believe, so that we can explain it to others when they ask us.
The talks in this series will shorter than normal. That's to give us time to respond, to think and to talk afterwards. There will be a chance to do that after each service, and mid-week too (at St John's on Thursday evenings at 8.) And, at the end of this series, there will be a special opportunity to respond to what we'll have heard and seen in it. We'll explain the detail of what that will be during the course of this series.
But this is where it all starts – with the issue of who Jesus was and is. That question is absolutely foundational to the rest of our series. It's foundational because in the coming weeks we’ll go on to tackle the range of questions that naturally arise from asking who Jesus is.
So, who is Jesus. Well, the reality is that he’s many things to many people. Ask anyone you know who they think Jesus is, and they will almost certainly give you some kind of an answer. Their answer may surprise you, so why not ask your friends and family, and hear what they have to say. A few years ago there was song written that put many of the answers about Jesus' identity to music. I'll spare you the singing, and just read the lyrics:
Some say he was an outlaw,
that he roamed across the land
with a band of unschooled ruffians
and a few old fishermen.
No-one knew just where he came from,
nor exactly what he’d done,
but they said it must be something bad
that kept him on the run.
Some say he was a poet, that he’d stand upon a hill,
that his words could calm an angry crowd
or make the waves stand still,
that he spoke in many parables
that few could understand
but the people sat for hours just to listen to this man.
Some say he was a sorcerer, a man of mystery
that he walked upon the water
that he made a blind man see.
That he conjured wine at weddings,
did tricks with fish and bread,
that he made the lame to walk again,
and raised people from the dead.
Some say a politician, who spoke of being free,
he was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee.
He spoke out against corruption and bowed to no decree,
but they feared his strength and power,
so they nailed him to a tree.
Yes, Jesus really is many things to many people. But more often than not, Jesus is what people want him to be. They have some cause or concern that they champion. Then they paint a particular picture of Jesus, so that they can conveniently recruit him to their cause. But as we’ll see in a moment that really won’t do ...
Now to some people of course, Jesus is the stuff of fairy tales. He has no more basis in fact than the tooth-fairy, and faith in him is just a blind leap in the dark.
I know I told this story here recently, but it bears repeating now. It's the one about a missionary running an orphanage in the Middle East. She was driving her jeep when she ran out of petrol. She had no jerrycan in the car. All she could find was a potty. She walked a mile down the road to the nearest petrol station, and filled the potty with fuel. As she was pouring the petrol into the tank, a very large Cadillac drew up, occupied by wealthy oil sheikhs. They were absolutely fascinated to see her pour the contents of the potty into the jeep. One of them opened the window and said, ‘Excuse me! My friend and I, although we do not share your religion, we greatly admire your faith.’
And to some people believing in Jesus is just like that. It’s a blind leap in the dark that has no basis in fact or reason or history at all: faith and fact are quite separate. To such people faith is, as one little boy once put it, ‘believing things that you know aren’t true.’
So, some people reject belief in Jesus because to them it’s as irrational as believing that there are fairies at the bottom of your garden. Other people want to hold on to Jesus. But they want to have him on their own terms, to make him into what they want him to be.
But neither of those approaches will do at all, because they ignore what is critical. What's critical is that faith in Jesus can be – and must be – based on solid, historical fact. We needn’t doubt Jesus’ existence: there's more historical evidence for the existence of Jesus than there is for the existence of Julius Caesar, for example!
Jesus is mentioned by the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, and by the Jewish historian, Josephus. But our primary source of evidence about Jesus is in the pages of the New Testament. And it’s important for us to remember that the New Testament is not a collection of fairy stories. No, it’s solid, sober, well-documented history. The gospels were written either by people who knew Jesus themselves, or by those who talked closely to such eyewitnesses. We can rely on the picture of Jesus that the New Testament gives us. And it’s the picture that the New Testament gives us – rather than our own fads and foibles – that must decide the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’.
It’s that question which is asked time and time again in the gospels. ‘Who is this man?’ is the question that puzzled Jesus’ disciples and opponents alike. And it’s that question which is at the heart of the short Bible passage I read earlier. In it, Jesus first asked his disciples how other people answered it. And they came out with a whole catalogue of views: ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah, or some other prophet.’ His disciples framed their replies in the religious language of the day. But it’s not that far from people today who label Jesus as a revolutionary, or a pacifist or a guru.
But Jesus then took the question and made it personal: ‘What about you? Who do you say I am?’ I stopped at that point; but there was an answer given. It was Simon Peter, who replied. He's most notable in the gospels for getting things wrong, but he got this one right: ‘You are the Messiah/Christ, the Son of the living God.’ We know that he got it right because of Jesus’ reply: ‘Good for you Simon, son of John! This truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.’
And, interesting as it is to ask what other people think of Jesus, sooner or later each one of us must answer this key question for ourselves. So it is as if Jesus turns to each one of us today, and says to us: ‘What about you? Who do you say I am?’
Who do you think Jesus is, then? And, if he is who Peter said he is, then what does that mean for you; and what will he want from you? It’s those critical questions that we all have to answer for ourselves at some time in our lives. And it’s those critical questions which this series can and will help us to ponder – and to answer – over the next three months. So now let’s pray that we'll do just that.
posted by Parish Administrator at 11:30 pm
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