20^th March 2012

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 4 March 2012

Lessons -- Exodus 3:1-6,13-15; Mark 8:22-36

'But who do you say that I am?,' asked Jesus (Mark 8:29)

Jesus attracted the masses, infuriated religious leaders, delighted outcasts, frustrated family, bewildered his own disciples. He was so remarkable that everybody asked, 'Who is this man? What is his true identity?' Some said, 'Who does he think he is? We cannot identify with him!'

They could not make head nor tail of him. He was unlike prophetic figures with whom they could identify. He attacked smug, loveless religion but insisted on true worship and 'righteous' living. He encouraged 'self denial' and 'losing one's life' (v34ff) but delighted in nature and enjoyed human company. He was more 'human' and more 'Godlike' than anybody they had met before. He had a unique identity!

Who was he, this man who could not be easily identified from their image of God and man? Who was he, who did not fit traditional expectations?

This dramatic episode shows how hard it was for them and how hard it is for us to see Jesus' true identity. We are all prone to make him in the image of our cherished values -- to try to give him an identity with which we can identify.

When asked, 'Who do you say that Jesus is?', we are likely to answer that he is the 'Christ of 1000 faces'. He is different things to different people. In our pluralistic society, where multiculturalism, religious tolerance and humanism are so highly prized, it makes sense to let Jesus'
identity be decided by our various points of view. What counts is not Jesus' identity but how different people can identify with in him. For some he is an unworldly Spirit-figure. For others he is an earthly teacher of practical truths.

Today Jesus is as controversial as ever! 'Who does he think he is?' is the cry of those who think his claim to uniqueness is dangerously narrow.
Others try to give him a 'new identity' -- a makeover. But, like it or not, he cannot be fitted into our ideas of what is 'divine' or 'human'.
His question, 'Who do you say that I am?' invites us to find our identity in relation to his unique identity.

It is not simply a matter of identifying with his teachings but of finding our identity in relation to him. That is why he does not ask, 'How does what I say fit in with your beliefs?' but 'Who do you say that I am?' It is a very personal question that invites us to see in him the presence of God and the perfection of our humanity.

We should not miss the significance here of the 'I am'. 'I am' is the unique personal name for God who called Israel to be a light to the nations. So when Jesus says, 'Who do you say that I am?' he invites us to see in him the Very Being of God: the God of 'all-sufficient grace' who identified himself to Moses and others as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Exodus 3:14)

Yet not everybody who sees Jesus identifies him in this way. We may have seen him for decades in the stories passed down to us but never accurately identified him. Peter, for one, sees that Jesus is the 'Messiah' but he is blind to who he really is. He does see that Jesus is different from well- known identities in the past and correctly identifies him as a Messianic figure. But Peter is mistaken to think that he has come to bring victory over evil without suffering for humanity (Mark 8:31ff). Surely the Messiah would make an end of evil and death!

Instead of being curious about Jesus' odd reply, Peter 'began to rebuke him' (v32). Jesus does not spare his feelings! He 'rebuked' Peter (v33).
He does not say, 'That's an interesting perspective.' He says, 'Get behind me, Satan!' -- a harsh and devastating criticism. It is demonic to give Jesus a false identity.

It is fashionable nowadays to attribute such harsh comments, not to the gentle, kind, tolerant and accepting Jesus, but to a Church that seriously misunderstood Jesus. If this were true, why would the Church keep a record of a story that showed its leader in such a bad light?

This dramatic episode tells us that Jesus is unlike any religious, moral or secular identity in history. It also tells us that, if we are to see his true identity, we must let him re-make our understanding of God and humanity.

The answer to the question, 'Who do you say that I am?', is that Jesus is the Incarnate Being of God: the fully human presence of God who was rejected, crucified and raised to life for our sake. That is his true identity!

Therefore we should not try to give him a false identity so that we can easily identify with him. This goes against the grain. Today, we are obsessed with our unique identity. Who I am -- my identity -- has become an all-consuming passion aided by the cult of celebrity and fascination with self-esteem. The emphasis is on me! Other people's identity, including Jesus', is only of interest insofar as 'I' can identify myself with them. The important question is said to be, not 'Who do I say that Jesus is?', but 'Who am I with my unique personality?'

Curiosity about Jesus' true identity is a casualty of this kind of thinking. In Stolen Identity: The Conspiracy to Reinvent Jesus (2006), Peter Jones looks at the popularity of books, like the Da Vinci Code, that deliberately give Jesus a 'false identity'. Like some popular preachers, they turn Jesus into a teacher of easy-going tolerance and equality who accepts everybody as they are and encourages us all to look within ourselves for our own inherent goodness.

Everybody it seems wants to give Jesus a 'new identity'. He must have a 'makeover' so that he will be more attractive to those who identify with the pluralistic values of our multicultural, multi-faith society. He needs more than a 'trim' or a 'nip and tuck'. The ugly bits -- Jesus'
incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection -- must be stripped away. The Gospel of God's saving grace in Christ, the call to repentance and the costly nature of discipleship must all be discarded as being out-of-touch
with what we can identify with.

Alas for the makeover artists, this 'new identity' has nothing in common with the historic identity of Jesus, as affirmed in the New Testament and its orthodox interpreters. Our text is typical. It insists that Jesus is not like anyone else in history. He is the crucified-and-risen Christ who is of 'one being with the Father' and has come into the midst of the broken world 'for our sake and our salvation became a man.' (Nicene Creed).

We are all tempted to draw-up an identikit of Jesus that looks like us!
But it is very serious when 'enlightened' ministers give him a new identity that bears no resemblance to his true identity. If they were trying to sell a 'forgery', we could argue about small differences. But when Jesus' identity has been 'stolen', and there is no match between the new and the original, it is right to speak of 'conspiracy'. He has been given a 'false identity'!

The plot must be exposed because we cannot simply 'agree to disagree' on the answer to Jesus' crucial question: 'Who do you say that I am?'

If we persist in asking, 'Who does he think he is to make such a grand claim?' 'Who does he think he is' to identify himself completely with God's suffering and triumphant purpose for humanity, then we too shall feel his withering response to Peter, 'Get behind me Satan! (v33).' This harsh reaction is necessary for our own good. Without it, we would miss seeing the wonder of who Jesus really is -- his true identity as the Incarnate Being of God, the fully human Son of God who is our Lord and our brother.

As all of us are prone to identify with the Jesus' who suits us, we do well to listen to what the poet WH Auden said about Jesus:

'I believe (that Jesus is Lord) because he fulfils none of my dreams,
because he is in every respect the opposite of what he would be if I
could have made him in my own image.'

It now becomes clear why Jesus once more 'charged them to tell no-one about him' (v30b). Only after Jesus' crucifixion-and-resurrection can they truly see who he is. Then, not only is his true identity revealed, but so too is the identity of those called to follow him. Seeing 'who Jesus is'
involves a life of radical self-denial (v35ff). We are summoned to identify ourselves with his costly, life-affirming mission in the world..
Our identity is inextricably linked to his!

In a society and a church that is largely hostile to the unique claim of Christ, and ruthlessly determined to 'steal' his true identity -- giving him a 'new identity' to fit our tolerant, pluralistic values -- it is easy to be disheartened or embarrassed by faith in him. At such times, we must heed his warning to not be 'ashamed' of him and his message of mercy and hope (v36).

May we not be ashamed of acknowledging Jesus' true identity, and so be encouraged to follow his costly, life-giving way. May we know the freedom of identifying with others who, like us, need to hear the Good News that, on the cross and in the resurrection, Christ has identified with our broken, sinful humanity and reconciled us to God.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.