Who Do You Say That I Am? Well, seven months ago we started this journey of reflecting on Jesus question, Who do you say that I am? and we have been privileged to have Janet Clarke, Richard Florizone, Lily Krause and Bill Pollock share their knowledge with us by sharing their faith stories and telling us who Jesus is for them. One of the books I read recently was Howard Cox s Future of Faith and he talks about three ages of the development of Christianity. He speaks first of the age of faith which encompasses the first 300 years of Christianity. This age was a tumultuous time that allowed for numerous expressions of Christianity. The first blush of the Christian faith resulted in a number of biblical texts like the Gospel of Thomas, one of many texts that came to light in modern times an there were numerous other gnostic texts which were not deemed worthy of including in the canon of the Bible in the following age of belief. The second age, the age of belief came about as a result of Constantine making Christianity the religion of the empire and in order to provide some regulation of the fait, the First Council of Nicea was held. It resulted in the first creed of the Christian church the Nicene Creed. From that point on the church decided who was in and who was out and the gauge for admission became the creeds which you affirmed that you believed or if not, you were branded a heretic. For the next 1700 years that form of control held sway over the church until we moved into the age of the spirit. You know this age by the many people today want to make the distinction of saying, I am spiritual but I m not religious. As we have focused on who Jesus is we heard from a variety of folks in our services about how God is manifested in their lives. The good news is that we don t 1
have to all believe the same thing because in the age of the spirit it is who we are that is important. When Jesus asks us who do you say that I am? He is not asking us what we believe but who is this person who calls us to a new way of life and how do we live out the answer to that question. Richard Rohr, on reflecting on Jesus question, says that Jesus practically begs for a profession of faith from his disciples, even after they ve witnessed His miracles and heard His profound teaching. Jesus put that question to them: Who do you say that I am? Don t give me your theologies. Who is the Jesus you know? That s the only Jesus that can really touch you and liberate you. Finally, Peter responds: You are the Christ! (Mark 8:29). And Jesus gave him strict orders not to tell anyone (8:30). Why? Because each one of us has to walk the same journey of death and doubt for ourselves and come out the other side enlarged by love. No one can do this homework for us. When Jesus asked that them question - who do you say that I am? He asks it in the context of the first century world view. A person was not defined as a an individual in the sense that we define ourselves by who we say we are or by what we do but rather by what other people said about you. In Jesus day if you wanted to know who someone was you asked their family, their friends because that is who defined who you were. In a similar manner, God s presence in the world today is defined by the church. We are now the face of Jesus, we are the body of Christ on earth, we are God s presence in the world. People today will likely never hear a voice from a whirlwind that drowns out all questions. Many will likely never get a personal glimpse of God in this life. They will only see me. They will only see you. When people want to know who 2
Jesus is they need look no further than those of us gathered here in worship today. Look around you now, the sister in front of you, the brother beside you, all those gathered here today are the body of Christ in this place. And that is an awesome responsibility and a humbling vision is it not? The murdered body of Jesus hanging on the cross of Good Friday, so fresh in our minds, is forever an image of what the world does to love it fears it and kills it, far too often. And yet the good news for today is that God will have the last word. God says to me and to you and to the world: This Jesus that you've killed and hated, I raise Him up and hold Him now before all the nations. Until the end of time, He is the sign of how love will win, for love is always stronger than death. Love lived out through all of us and love that comes to us in a variety of images like the one from our gospel reading this morning where Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches. He calls us to abide in him. When you think about it, that's mostly what we do in the church. Church is where we learn to abide in Christ. Here in church we study and reflect on scripture. We also come to church in order to develop those habits and practices whereby we can keep connected with the living Christ and abide in him. This confirms what I've often heard people say about church. Sometimes people say, "I come to church in order to touch base with what really is important in life, to connect with what endures." This is a very stable, secure picture of the Christian life. The Christian life is not so much about our busyness, our activity for good. The Christian life is trusting, confident abiding in Christ. But please note that in today's text Jesus moves on from the command to abide in him as he abides in us, to a more challenging, even sort of violent image. Picking up 3
on the image of the vinedresser, Jesus mentions "pruning." A good vinedresser works the vines with a knife. The vinedresser knows that there must be a ruthless, yearly pruning of the vines if they are to produce in the future. Note that the stress in this passage from John's Gospel is not only that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, but that we are the branches who should bear good fruit. The stress in this passage is clearly put on results, results that the Lord of the harvest expects from his branches. With Jesus, we are not merely to settle down with him and receive the benefits of his friendship. We are with Jesus in order that we should bear fruit, in order that the world might see the results of Jesus' power in us. Too often we in the church have stressed loving Christ but have not put an equal stress on obeying Christ, in bearing fruit for Christ. This pruning may be a rather troubling image of God for many of you, when you think about it. There is clearly a warning here. Jesus says that every branch that does not bear good fruit is going to be ruthlessly pruned. The Lord of the harvest is determined to have fruit, and there can't be good productivity in fruit if there is not also some pruning. And how does it feel to be pruned by God who is determined to see a productive church? Sometimes God's determination to be served by fruitful followers can be painful for the followers. A minmister told a story about two churches - Pleasant Grove and Pleasant Hill. In the previous year, each of these churches had about 40 members - mostly older. Pleasant Hill church decided that it really wanted to grow, get back in touch with its neighborhood. And so, the older women in the church started running an 4
after-school program for the children in the community. The after-school program attracted many children. The children were not only cared for after school, they were also invited to church. The children came to church, with their parents. Today, Pleasant Hill Church has about 75 active members, a rather amazing growth in less than a year. Pleasant Grove Church on the other hand, though it had the same number of members, did not really want to reach out to their neighborhood. Their neighborhood had changed. People of a different color than the predominate one in the congregation, people of a different culture moved into the neighborhood. If by chance one of them visited at Pleasant Grove, they got the distinct impression that they were not welcomed. This year Pleasant Grove Church was closed due to lack of viability. Is this an example of "pruning"? The Lord of the vineyard sometimes comes to us with a knife in hand. That which is dead and unproductive must be pruned away, cut back, so that new life and new growth can come forth. Well, I've said more about this image of "pruning" than Jesus does in today's Gospel. Jesus simply says that he is the vine and we are the branches and that we are to abide in him. When we answer the question of who Jesus is for us we need to live in light of that understanding. Then he says that the master of the vineyard will prune the vine so that new life can come. It's a parable of sorts. Maybe he lifts up the image of pruning of the vine for us in order to speak some deep truth to each of us, to call us to answer who do you say that I am? It's a challenging image of God's love for us and as followers of The Way, we are called to answer the question to bear fruit in response to God s gift of love. Thanks be to God. Amen. 5
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