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Luke 9:18-27 – Peter’s confession of Christ

Who do the crowds say I am? Sometimes, celebrities and people in the public eye candidly admit that they check up on what is written about them in the public sphere, on the Internet, on social networking sites. They can’t help themselves. They want to know what people think about them. What people are saying about them. Jesus’ question to the disciples wasn’t driven by insecurity or some kind of narcissism. The bible tells us that Jesus would not entrust himself to men, because he knew what was in their hearts. He knew how fickle they were. He knew how quickly public opinion shifted. In the lead up to Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, John records that Jesus knew that the Father had given him all things and that he had come from God and was going baqck to God. Jesus knew who he was and he knew why he had come. And he asks the disciples: What are people saying? Who do the crowds say I am?

The response that comes back is a hotch-potch of different answers and ideas: Luke 9:19:

“They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” The “crowds”, having seen Jesus in action – and they have seen him feeding five thousand people, and healing the sick, and they have heard him preaching the good news of the gospel – continue to come up with all kinds of explanations as to who Jesus is. He is a reincarnation of John the Baptist, he is Elijah come back from the dead, he is one of the prophets….

It is no different today. Who do the crowds say that Jesus is? Some people say that he was a prophet. Muslims say that still. Some say that he was a good moral person. Some say he was a good moral teacher like Gandhi or Mother Teresa. Very few question the fact that he was and is a historical figure who lived on this earth. John Ortberg has just written a book on Jesus and his impact on all areas of modern culture and society. It is called: “Who Is This Man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus”

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Nicki Gumbell asks the question: “Who is Jesus?” in one of his first talks on the Alpha course. He addresses the statement that Jesus was just a good moral person, an inspiring teacher of his day, by quoting C.S.Lewis: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be insane or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either Jesus was, and is, the Son of God, or else he was insane or evil, but let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S.Lewis concludes for himself: “However strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that he was and is God.” The crowds today say all kinds of things about who Jesus is or was. Many people know very little about him and his name crosses their lips merely as a swear word. Some know a little about him – things they have gleaned from the remaining trappings of institutional Christianity in modern culture – a Christmas nativity, an Easter service there, a few lines from Songs of Praise. But they certainly wouldn’t claim to know Jesus – much less have a relationship with him.

And so Jesus turns from the views of the crowd, and asks his disciples, in the plural: 20: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Jesus makes it personal. I hear what the crowds are saying. But what about you?

You know what your husband is saying. You know what your parents believe. You see people around you at church with faith and, they say, a relationship with Jesus. But what about you? What is your response to Jesus? There are no second-hand, second-generation Christians. There are no grandchildren of God. It is personal. It is between you and God. You cannot live off someone else’s faith or someone else’s experience. You can’t float along in some vague meandering sense of God in the river of religion. What about you? Who do you say I am? You can almost sense Jesus piercing eyes as he looks these disiciples in the eyes and fixes them with his gaze. You can have a head knowledge of what the crowds believe. You can study religion and faith. But the day comes when you are faced with a decision as to how it affects you and what your personal response will be.

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And that decision – and it is a decision – has eternal consequences, if Jesus is who he says he is, and the consequences of knowing him or not knowing him or what Jesus says they are.

Peter, ever the spokesman, responds on behalf of the disciples: 20: “Peter answered: “The Christ of God.”” Peter had seen enough, heard enough, experienced enough, to make this huge statement: “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God that we have been waiting for.” This profession of Christ is what we are all invited to do. At our baptism service last week, we listened to ten different stories of people, young and old, who have come to the point of confessing that Jesus is the Christ. They stood up publicly and stated that they wanted to follow Jesus and then they were baptised as a sign of this consecration to God. They are, in essence, making the same confession as Peter. It doesn’t matter what the crowds say. Crowds are so often wrong. I confess: “You are the Christ of God”.

21-22: Jesus’ response is to tell them not to tell anyone! Which seems strange. It’s just that the people are longing for, waiting for, a Messiah who will save them from Roman military and political oppression. They are waiting for and expecting one who will arise and deliver them from this state of captivity and servitude. Jesus now explains to his disciples something that they do not yet fully understand: He has come to suffer, and be rejected, to be killed and on the third day be raised to life. All of this will be revealed in good time. Slowly Jesus is revealing himself. His true nature. His true intent. Slowly it is becoming clearer to his followers who he realy is. It is like this with us! We don’t fully grasp who Jesus is or what he has done. Some of those on the Alpha course are having mini revelations of who Jesus is and the fact that God has raised him from the dead and his is alive today. We are constantly learning more about Jesus – we don’t yet have the full picture. As Paul writes: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

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While Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ, he and the disciples did not yet understand why Jesus had come or that he would die on the cross and be raised again to life. In fact, Peter tried to stand in the way of this plan of God and Jesus rebuked him. You and I are like Peter this morning in many ways. We may stand here and make a confession that Jesus is Lord, he is Christ, he is the Son of God – and yet we do not fully know him or his purposes. You may be on the edge of faith. You really are seeking God – and you believe that Jesus is who he says he is: the Son of God. You are not sure what this means for you personally, or what to do next. Where do you go with your questions? How can you become a Christian when you understand so little? What do you do with this revelation?

Let’s look at what Jesus says and spells out next. It may help us.

23-25: Jesus is saying: “Whoever lives a self-centred life focused on the present world (would save his life) will not find eternal life with God (will lose it); whoever gives up his or her selfcentred life of rebellion against God (loses his life) for the sake of Christ and the gospel will find everlasting communion with God (will save it).” Jesus is calling the disciples and those present to follow him. And this will mean taking up their cross daily and denying themselves. Jesus says: “What good is it for a man or woman to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” Sometimes we don’t realise how ridiculous our efforts to gain and amass things really is. Max Lucado wrote a number of children’s stories which we used to read to our children and which exposed in simple child-like terms how ridiculous this approach to life really is. In one story he writes of the Wemmicks’ attempts to collect more boxes and balls – bigger and brighter than anyone else. People are tottering around with large and high towers of boxes and balls, struggling to keep them all in the air. And the character Ponchinello gets sucked into the whole thing – and starts to do the same thing. He is so busy with all of this that he loses touch with his maker, Eli. What good is it, Jesus asks, if you gain all the boxes and balls in the world, and yet you lose your own soul?

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Do you ever read obituaries in the newspaper? I do. Sometimes. The captains of industry. The powerbrokers of yesteryear. Those that have made a big splash, a great impression. People who have contributed greatly to public life. But life is so short. And so fragile. And the things that we amass are so meaningless in the end. These are the words of Jesus: “

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) There is a lot hanging on this. Those who have the Son have life, those who do not have the Son do not have life. Eternal life is at stake. God so loved you that he gave his one and only son to die for you, so that if you believe in him, you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life.

Jesus turns to each one of us today and he asks:

“But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

If you can state in response: “I believe you are the Christ of God”, then the same call comes to you and to me as to these early followers of Jesus.

Now you must take up your cross daily. Don’t live a self-centred life. Deny yourself and follow Jesus.

Don’t be ashamed – but confess him publicly.