Paul Walker, “The Inevitable Question”

     My son, Rob, is a freshman in college this year. Since there was no room in first year Spanish, he got assigned to Russian. Russian, I’m told, is a notoriously difficult language to learn. There are six students in his Russian class. He sent us a picture of his Russian professor, a man who has taught Russian at the University for decades. He looks like someone who has taught Russian for decades. A little bit scary.

     Fortunately for Rob, he was able to find a way into a Spanish class. He was sitting at his desk in his new Spanish class when his Russian professor walked by in the hall. He stopped at the doorway and said, “Rob. You dropped the Russian.”  Rob replied, “Um… Yes, sir.” “Rob. Why you dropped the Russian?”

     The professor didn’t really ask that second question, but it is fun to talk that way! My point is that not all difficult things are worth doing. Unless you want to read Dostoyevsky in his own language or enter into a life of high -level espionage, you don’t need to take Russian. You can drop the Russian.

     Somethings in life, however, are inevitable. People say that death and taxes fall into that category. There are others too. One of our Christ Church kindergarteners just started school. His mom asked him how he liked it. He said, “I like it. I have a friend. But it’s a big waste of time. I think I’d like to retire from kindergarten.” His mom replied, “Well, I get that, but I’m afraid it’s just a little too early to retire.”

     In our gospel today we are presented with one of life’s inevitabilities. It is the question that Jesus poses to His disciples. It’s an eternal question. The coverage of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 yesterday was incredibly moving. That tragedy, like all tragedies, make us focus on what is important, what is eternal. The gospel text for today couldn’t be more germane.

      So what is happening in today’s passage? Jesus had been making a pretty big splash with his feeding the 5000, walking on water, and stilling a storm at sea. Not to mention all the people that he had healed right on the spot with a single touch or a commanding word. Word on the street was that if you had any kind of demon or affliction or disease, you could just go to Jesus and be cured. There was even a rumor that he had raised a little girl from the dead!

     But, he’d also done some really bizarre things, like breaking the laws of the sabbath and the laws of ritual purity. He taught in the synagogues, but he didn’t sound like the other religious fellows. In fact, he seemed to be always at odd with them. Apparently, he didn’t hold back when it came to parties and feasts and wine. People even said he was a drunkard and a glutton!  For that matter, he hung out with the wrong sorts of people – bad people, the kind of people your mother told you to stay away from.

     People sure didn’t stay away from him, though. Just the opposite. People flocked to him. And not just to be healed, but to hear him talk. He had a way of talking right to your heart. Of seeing right through you in a way that made you feel both naked and yet safe at the same time. When you were near him, it was like you didn’t have to pretend anymore. You could even stop pretending to yourself. The long and the short of it was that there had never been anyone like him before.

     Of course, Jesus was aware of the stir he’d caused, so he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” The people threw out some wild guesses – John the Baptist (who’d had his head chopped off by this point, so that was unlikely), Elijah (he’d been transported to heaven in a whirlwind, so maybe he had come back in the form of Jesus?). People may not have known exactly who Jesus was, but they did know that they wanted to be near him.

     Jesus is often misidentified. Several years ago, there was a solitary, long-haired guy who always walked all over Charlottesville. Since he looked like Jesus, our kids started calling him Jesus. At dinner each night, we would play that where was Jesus today game. I saw Jesus by Charlottesville High School about 3pm. I saw Jesus on the Corner this morning. Jesus was on the Downtown Mall around 5 o’clock. As far as I know, Jesus has left the City of Charlottesville, but that may be a topic for another sermon!

     But now we come to the question Jesus poses to the disciples, the inevitable and ultimately unavoidable question for us all. “But, who do you say that I am?”  The inevitable question isn’t “who do people say that I am?”   In other words, it is only of secondary importance what your parents, your friends, your teachers, and your preachers say about me. It is only of secondary importance what you read in books about me or hear in lectures about me, or conjure up in your own head about me. What is of the utmost importance is this: Who do you say that I am?

     This is where the evangelical wing of our church rightly reminds us that Christianity is not religion. At its core, it is simply relationship – relationship with Jesus Christ. And who is Jesus? Peter answers the question – “You are the Messiah.” Messiah literally means “the anointed one.” He is the One that we’ve all been waiting for. Not John the Baptist, not Elijah. Jesus is the One – Jesus is the one and only Savior.

     It must be said that the answer to the inevitable question (You are the Messiah) necessarily narrows the field to only one Savior. Elsewhere Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Many people find this extremely offensive. Maybe you do too. But we are not at liberty to define the terms ourselves. 

     This means that Buddha is not your savior, Moses is not your savior, Mohammed is not your savior. This also means that your money is not your savior, your status is not your savior, your intellect is not your savior. Your good works are not your savior, your good intentions are not your savior. It also means that your religion is not your savior, your right theology is not your savior, and yes, even grace is not your savior. 

     And here is where we get to the best part. This means that you are not your savior! The scripture says, “there is one name under heaven by which you must be saved.” And here best part continues. This Savior is no “task master”, as John Milton has misidentified him. This Savior has nothing to do with taxes or staying in the school of virtue or even the school of hard knocks. 

     And by his cross and resurrection, this Savior has already trampled down that other inevitability: death. This Savior is grace – grace for you, grace for the whole world. And who doesn’t want grace? Who doesn’t need grace? 

    But, who do you say that I am?  He is more than you could ever have hoped for or imagined. He is our Messiah, still walking through our town.

    Amen.