CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
August 23, 2009
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373
www.blakehart.com/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
www.cypresswoodchurchofchrist.com
PRAYERS AND PETITIONS:
God’s will for our congregation Various relatives, friends, and co-workers
Our nation, military and leaders The spread of the good news
WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
“’But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’” (Matthew 16:15).
There once was some graffiti on a wall of St. John’s University that said:
“Jesus said unto them: ‘Who do you say I am?’
They replied: ‘You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being,
the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationships.’
Jesus said: ‘Who?’”
That is a humorist way to say that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, probably done by theological and philosophical majors. The question Jesus asked is still important and is answered in a number of ways. In reading a book recently, the author made a point I had not thought about. Based on people’s backgrounds, which would include cultural, historical, economic, education, and religious ideas, people hear the gospel differently, that is, they relate the words to their own experience. The following is an illustration of this.
“There’s the Republican Jesus who is against tax increases and activists judges, for family
values and owning firearms.
There’s the Democrat Jesus who is against Wall Street and Wal-Mart, for reducing our
carbon footprint and printing money.
There’s Therapist Jesus who helps us cope with life’s problems, heals our past, tells us how
valuable we are and not to be so hard on ourselves.
There’s Starbucks Jesus who drinks fair trade coffee, loves spiritual conversations, drives
a hybrid and goes to film festivals.
There’s Open-minded Jesus who loves everyone all the time no matter what, except people
who are not as open-minded as you.
There’s Touchdown Jesus who helps athletes run faster and jump higher than non-Christians
and determines the outcomes of Super Bowls.
There’s Martyr Jesus, a good man who died a cruel death so we can feel sorry for him.
There’s Gentle Jesus who was meek and mild, with high cheek bones, flowing hair, and
walks around barefoot, wearing a sash and looks very German.
There’s Hippie Jesus who teaches everyone to give peace a chance, imagine a world
without religion, and helps us remember all you need is love.
There’s Yuppie Jesus who encourages us to reach our full potential, reach for the
stars, and buy a boat.
There’s Spirituality Jesus who hates religion, churches, pastors, priests, and doctrine;
and would rather have people out in nature, finding the god within and listening to
ambiguously spiritual music.
There’s Platitude Jesus, good for Christmas specials, greeting cards, and bad sermons;
he inspires people to believe in themselves, and lifts us up so we can walk on mountains.
There’s Revolutionary Jesus who teaches us to rebel against the status quo, stick it to
the man, and blame things on the ‘system.’
There’s Guru Jesus, a wise, inspirational teacher who believes in you and helps you find
your center.
There’s Boyfriend Jesus who wraps his arms around us as we sing about his intoxicating
love in our secret place.
There’s Good Example Jesus who shows you how to help people, change the planet,
and become a better you” (1).
What we can see in the above is that people hear what they like and want, but are not challenged with what they truly need to see in Jesus. When Jesus asked that question, Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). But how did Peter understand this? By the time we get near the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we find Peter wanting to be an important official in the new reign of the Messiah in Jerusalem. He was looking for and seeing a political solution and was missing what Jesus was saying about suffering and death. Jesus became the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
In all of the above ideas of Jesus, there are two things that are not seen. One, Jesus is Lord. In each case, those in the various categories want a Jesus they can handle, not a Lord that they bow down to; a Jesus who will answer their needs, not a Jesus who rules their lives. To recognize Jesus as Lord means to commit oneself to selfless living, seeking what is best for others. Our current cultural philosophy is selfish in its views of others, or to say it another way, “what can I get out of this?”
The second idea in the above list that is missing is community. One either accepts their view or something similar or one is just not as spiritual, faithful, etc. The community aspect isn’t just people gathering on a Sunday morning, it is a family that has broken down the walls that hinder relationships between God and us and between us and us. Economic, racial, and national boundaries are not a part of God’s people. The book of Acts in particular shows the early conflict and how it was worked out so that Jews and Gentiles, poor and rich, could worship and work together.
In thinking about this question, “Who do you say I am?”, how have we in churches of Christ answered this question? We have answered it with how Jesus answered Peter; our answer has been the church. Jesus said that He would build His church, or congregation or assembly, on this confession of Peter’s. So that is where we have gone. We answer the question by saying that we are building His church. Our theology has emphasized this. We read scripture with this in mind. Any scripture that does not address the church is ignored as irrelevant. We read the Gospels through the eyes of the church. Let me illustrate this.
A number of years ago I attended a gospel meeting at a sister congregation in a rural area. The guest speaker was talking about the parables of Matthew 13. These are parables that ask the question, “What is the kingdom of heaven like?” The speaker defined kingdom, not as rule but as church, and each parable was a period of church history. And like others who do this, we were in the last and worse period of time (2). He read the parables through the eyes of the church and not the eyes of Jesus. That is how we have read scripture and why we have spent years of study in Acts and the letters. Jesus is the Head of the church but then we spend time speaking about the church, its organization, worship, how to get into it, and its purity in all doctrinal matters. We have found doctrinal error much more serious than moral error, except the really bad ones such as adultery and divorce. Rarely do we speak about gossip, covetousness, and some sins of speech. The church must be kept pure, so we say, forgetting that the church is made up of sinful people learning to walk in the light.
By seeing Jesus as Head of the church, we have ignored the same two key areas that others have. Jesus is Lord and has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18-20). We don’t really believe this and we really need to be very careful about the idea of any delegation of that authority to us. If Jesus is Lord, then our responsibility is to humbly bow and serve. Likewise, while we understand the church to be God’s community, we have not done a good job in emphasizing what is involved in that community. Again, the church takes priority over people. One example would be if someone wasn’t present in the assembly, that person cannot be encourage. Finding out why and how we can serve a person struggling is something rarely practice.
How do you read scripture? Through what eyes do you see texts? We would like to say that we read it through Jesus eyes but that is easier said than done. What we must recognize is that we have our cultural influences that affect the way we read scripture. Some do not wish to acknowledge that but it is true. If I read a text one way and someone else reads it another way, how can we find common ground? We might have to see if we define words the same way. Like the example above, the word kingdom in Greek means rule but in churches of Christ we use it exclusively as church. They are not the same so we must work out the differences in the how we understand the word.
How we interpret scripture also has its differences. Many in churches of Christ have used the method of commands to be obeyed, examples to be followed, and necessary inferences from the texts, though not all commands and examples are followed due to cultural differences. One example would be the holy kiss of scripture which now is the holy handshake. Others however look at scripture in its historical and cultural contexts letting the text speak. These two different methods have cause controversy in the church today. Neither is denying the authority of scripture. They are two different approaches to scripture. Some of us have a foot in each method and struggle to work through various ideas.
Back to Jesus’ question. “Who do you say I am?” How do we answer that question?
George B. Mearns
(1) Kevin DeYoung, Who do You Say That I Am, copied 6/15/2009,
(2) I have heard the same thing done with the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3, reading the text through the eyes of twenty centuries of church history and not the eyes of Jesus in the first century.