It’s fall, and that means it’s time for us to begin a new focus as we finish the church year. Several weeks ago I came across the book Freeing Jesus by Diana Butler Bass. Bass tells the story of her praying one day in a side chapel at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., near her home. She knelt before a painting of Jesus that was familiar to her, but her usual prayers seemed blocked that day. After some time of nothing, she recalls hearing a voice saying, “Get me out of here.” Although no human was near, she heard again, “Get me out of here.” Eventually she became convinced that she was “hearing” the voice of Jesus, and she came to believe that she was to write about Jesus and who he is, beyond the traditional “churchy” teaching about his life. She tells this story in the introduction to her book and the scripture she chooses for that introduction is the one we read in Matthew 16.
Mattew 16:13-16, 20
When Jesus arried in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Missiah, the Son of the living God.”…
Jesus swore the disciples to secrecy. He made them promise they would tell no one that he was the Messiah.
We can read about possible answers to the question, “Who do people say that I am?” The answers in Matthew include several dead prophets, telling us that people heard the voice of the prophets in Jesus’ teaching. When Jesus asks the disciples, “But who do YOU say tat I am?” We get Peter’s answer recorded, “You are the Messiah.” That answer holds hopes of political and spiritual change, of remaking the known world, of the presence of God entering forcefully into their lives. When we read it in the Bible, it has the sense of being the one “right” answer. Jesus is the Messiah, even if we don’t really know all that meant to first century Jews or even what it means now.
I decided about six weeks ago that we’d “read” this book this fall, and like so often happens, I had no idea that it would have particular relevance beyond being interesting to consider. Then last week Charlie Kirk was murdered and we began to hear that he is a Christian martyr and we must all salute his amazing message of faith, especially his desire to imbed this faith and his politics in our nation’s youth. Kirk’s death is a great tragedy and certainly a call for us to reduce gun violence in our country. He should not have been killed. But as he filled the news, his teachings were repeated over and over. They gave me a profound sense that when Charlie Kirk answered Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” he was wrong. His politics and his faith and his Jesus bear no resemblance to the Jesus I know. That reminds me of how many times I’ve chosen scriptures for worship and had them mean much more in the moment they appear on the calendar than they would have when they were chosen. Diana Butler Bass is going to help us understand how there can be such vastly different understandings of Jesus and what his life means. Charlie Kirk, Diana Butler Bass, each one of us…we’re going to answer the question about Jesus over the next few weeks.
Bass reminds us that over 100 years ago Bible scholars began to distinguish between the Jesus of history – a Palestinian Jew who lived under first century Roman occupation – and the Christ of faith – a Messiah that 2000 years of church theology has given particular meanings to. One is a person of significance; the other is a way of understanding God. They are related, but not identical. And both are obscure. We can’t track down the historical details with any certainty. We can’t understand the theology without it being colored by the experiences of the people who first suggested its truth and by our own experiences of faith.
Hear how Bass describes this in her life:
(From Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way and Presence. Diana Butler Bass)
Understanding the Jesus of history has proved helpful (and even life-giving) for me; and I appreciate the theological traditions surrounding the Christ of faith. Yet neither historical scholarship nor conventional doctrine quite captures who Jesus is for me – the skepticism bred by one and the submissiveness inculcated by the other do not fully tell the story of the Jesus I know: the Jesus of experience. Well before I studied Jesus the Jewish peasant or worshipped Christ the King, I knew Jesus. Even as a small child, I knew his name. I had a sense of his companionship. I knew he was the heart of Christian faith. Although I now understand both history and theology, neither intellectual arguments nor ecclesial authority elucidates the Jesus I have known.
Over the next few weeks we’re going to let Bass help us explore six ways she finds meaning in the life of Jesus: friend, teacher, savior, Lord, way and presence. Each time we consider one of these, we’re also going to ask, “Is this a way that Jesus has meaning for me?” I suspect no two of us will have the same responses. Jesus was never meant simply to be an object of faith to get right. From soon after the moment of his death his disciples began to insist, “He is alive.” And so we cannot any one of us say who Jesus is without also saying how we encounter Jesus alive in our own lives. How does he live among us? Who do WE say that he is?
Bass continues:
My story can never be your story…But my story might inform yours, or be like yours, or maybe even add depth or another dimension to yours. If nothing else, sharing our stories might lead to greater understanding, tolerance, appreciation, and perhaps even celebration of our differences. (Introduction)
As we begin this journey, I want to say, “Jesus matters.” At the outset, I don’t have a finished answer to the question, “Who is he?” I feel in my bones that Charlie Kirk’s answer, while it may have held deep meaning for him, is not my answer. There’s a part of me that wants to cry out NO! when I hear his ideas about what Jesus wants. I know that Jesus has meant many things to me over my life, and I’m looking forward to reflecting on those along with our author and maybe adding to the list. I hope you’ll come on this journey with me with an open mind, an open heart, a sense of more possibilities than you’ve considered before. And I hope you’ll continue to ask the question of yourself, “Who do you say that I am?” I’m pretty sure we’re going to find many possible answers, that we’ll discover a rich diversity of experience and thought, and that along the way we may be surprised by faith.