Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Whiteboard: Q&A

It is the question we strive to answer each and every Sunday in worship.

It is the question we build our faith in answering.

It is the question that lies right at the very heart of the Gospels.

"Who do you say that I am?"

Jesus asked the question of his disciples and Peter gave the good response, "You are the Christ!"

Jesus asks that question to us still. "Who do you say that I am?" Not just in worship. Not just in our most faithful moments, but in everything that we are and everything that we do. Can we live out our faith in such a way that we are constantly and continually answering that question? Can we be a living testimony that proclaims, "Jesus is the Christ!"

We see from the very next lines of scripture that it isn't an easy. Right after Peter gives that faithful response, Jesus begins to teach them about everything that will happen. He teaches them about how he will suffer, how he will be killed, and even how he will rise again. Suddenly Peter (perhaps emboldened by his previous right answer?) pulls Jesus aside to try and talk him out of it! At which point Jesus has some harsh words for Peter ("Get behind me Satan!") and some challenging words for us too. If we are to follow Christ, to really truly live into the fullness of that proclamation "You are the Christ!" then we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him.

It would seem that talk is cheap, and that this life of discipleship won't be easy.

Then again, the promises of faith are never that it is going to be easy. Rather, the promises of faith are that it is going to be meaningful. And this one, this Jesus the Christ fills our life with meaning and purpose!

So let us answer the question  not only with our words and proclamations, but with our lives and witnesses as well!

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Mark 8:27-34
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
 
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

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