St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Fourth Sunday of Pentecost
24 June 2007
Luke 9:18-24

This relatively brief Gospel passage for today is, although brief, definitely one of the most important passages in all of the Gospels. There is a very important amount of history in this passage. It is really a turning point in the earthly ministry of Jesus that is recounted for us here in these few verses. I would like to spend a few minutes this morning going through this passage in some detail. If you would like, please follow along in your bulletin.

Luke tells us, “Once when Jesus was praying alone. . .” Now we see throughout the Gospels, particularly in Luke, how important it was for Jesus to go off to pray. Jesus always went to pray before he continued his ministry. While that is not the focus of today’s sermon, it is an important reminder of the foundation of prayer for our daily lives. When Jesus goes for his prayer time, the disciples are near him, though not exactly with him. Then Jesus asks the question, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Now this is happening in the course of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus has been ministering for some time. The word is out that there is a very special prophet, a new rabbi, wandering the countryside preaching like no one else, teaching like no one else, performing miracles that no one else can offer. So, Jesus checks in with the disciples – the ministry is unfolding, momentum is clearly building for Jesus’ ministry. So, out of the blue one day, he asks his disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am? What are people saying about me?” So, what do they say? They answer, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” So, what the disciples are telling Jesus is, “The people think you are a prophet. They recognize that God is at work in you.” Now, obviously, some of the people thought that John the Baptist had been brought back to life. There were people in the crowds, apparently, thinking that Jesus was a reincarnation of John the Baptist. Very interestingly, Elijah is mentioned here. There is a real historic reason for that. If you will remember, Elijah, in the book of 2 Kings, is said not to have experienced a natural death. Elijah and Elisha were talking, Elijah hands over his ministry to Elisha, and then 2 Kings says, “Elijah was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. That is in 2 Kings 2, verse 11. A part of Jewish theology, by the time of Jesus, was that when the kingdom of God came Elijah would come back and inaugurate it. That is what many Jews believed – that when the kingdom comes, Elijah will come back as the forerunner for the kingdom. Malachi 4:5, the last book of the Old Testament says, “When the time has come for the kingdom of God to reappear, Elijah will return.” So, obviously, some of these Jewish people in the crowds think that this is Elijah. The prophecy is true. He has come back.

Then Jesus, having gotten a feel for what the crowds think, says, “But who do you say that I am?” So, now Jesus brings the question away from the crowds in general to the disciples, to the inner circle of his followers. “OK, that is what the crowds are saying. Who do you say that I am? Who am I to you?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Christos, the Christ of God, it reads in Greek. The Christ. The Anointed One.

Someone once said to me, “I feel embarrassed to ask this, but I am going to ask, ‘What does Christ mean?” I said, “You shouldn’t feel embarrassed. It is a perfectly good question. The word Christ in Greek means anointed.” So, the answer Peter gives here, “You are the Anointed One. You are the Christ,” we interpret this to mean the Messiah, in the Jewish context.

I want to stop here, and have us think about this from a specific point of view. When we read the Gospels, when we hear the stories of Christianity, we hear the story with the benefit of 2000 years of hindsight. For 2000 years, this story has been proclaimed in the church. We are the beneficiaries of that 2000 years of history. There is nothing wrong with that – that is who we are. We live 2000 years after the time of Christ. But, if you can do this with me, think about what it would have been like to be there in the moment. The disciples did not have the benefit of 2000 years of history. They didn’t have the benefit of 2000 years of Bible study and Christian theology like we have the benefit of. My point is this, imagine being there that day. You are an every day Jew. You have been called by Jesus to be in his inner circle. You are following him around the countryside. You have heard him preach, like no one else can preach. You have heard him teach, like no one else can teach. You have seen him do miracles that no other person can do. Imagine being in that group without the benefit of 2000 years of reflection. Be there in the moment, at that time, and Jesus says, “Who do you say that I am? Who am I to you?” My point is, imagine the courage, the faith . . . the faith that is involved here when Peter says, “You are the Christ of God.” Imagine that faith for Peter to believe, “You are the one our ancestors have waited on for generations -- the Messiah. You are the one. You are the Christ of God. You are the Messiah.” The faith that is involved in that statement, the risk! What if Peter had been wrong? What if the movement had not turned out the way that they had hoped? Actually, Jesus prepares them for that. Jesus, in effect, says, “You are right. I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. But here is what that is going to mean.” Then the rest of the verses, which we are not going to look at in a focused way today, are Jesus beginning to teach the disciples, “Yes, I am the Christ of God. You have understood that to this point. But here is what that is going to mean.” Jewish persons believed that the Messiah would be a military leader. The Messiah in orthodox Jewish theology, by this time in history, would be a person to bring back the kingdom of David. He would reinstitute the glory days of the kingdom of Israel. That is what the people were looking for. Jesus, of course, knows that, so when Peter says, “Of course, you are the Christ of God,” Jesus has to begin teaching them. Jesus says, “Yes, I am, and here is what that is going to mean. This isn’t a military kingdom. I am not here to institute, (what we modern people would call) a theocracy.” Jesus says, later in Luke, “The kingdom of God is within you. It is not a political reality. It is not a kingdom in the sense of a political entity. The kingdom is within when we receive God’s forgiveness, when we embrace God’s love, when we are at peace with God, and with our neighbor. That is when the kingdom of God is present.

So, Jesus begins to teach the disciples in the remaining verses in this passage. “Yes, I am the Messiah. It is not going to look quite like you think. I am going to suffer. And, those who are my followers, will need to take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus knows that the religious leaders of his day will not accept his message of grace and his message of forgiveness. So, he is preparing his disciples, “You may meet the same fate as I do. You may be rejected, as I will be. But, still, I am the Christ of God, and the kingdom of heaven has come near you.” This is an extraordinary passage when Peter comes to that realization, speaking on behalf of the disciples, that this rabbi, this person whom the crowds think is a prophet is, indeed, the Christ of God.