"WHAT SORT OF MESSIAH?"

Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9a, Mark 8:27-38

Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian Church, NY, September 13th 2009

One day Jesus and the disciples are walking down the road. He asks them "Who do the people say I am?" The disciples gave Him some of the answers that were floating around. "Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah or one of the prophets come back to life."

Jesus then makes the question real up close and personal. "What about you? Who do you say that I am?"   They waited for each other to speak before Peter responded, "You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God."

Jesus replies "Well done, you are absolutely right” Then comes an intriguing sting in the tale. Jesus says: "You’re right. But don't you dare tell anyone!" Why? You would think He would be saying "Spread the word, the Messiah has come". Instead He tells them, "Shush... keep it to your self." 

Although the disciples had started to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, they didn't really know what a Messiah was. “The Messiah is coming! The Messiah is coming! The Messiah is coming! Hold on. What’s a Messiah?”

According to some teachers of the time this was how the Messiah thing would work out. The world would get worse and worse, spiraling down into a moral and spiritual vacuum. When things could get no worse God would send Elijah to prepare the way of the Messiah.

Then God's Messiah would arrive as a great warrior king who would physically crush his foes. He would unite the people in a great Armageddon battle against their oppressors. Finally he would take his throne in Jerusalem and rule Israel in peace and prosperity. It would be just like the "good old days" when David was king, but much, much, better.

You can't blame the disciples for wanting that kind of Messiah. The Romans occupied the country. Pagan ideas and culture were corrupting the people. The High priest was a puppet in the control of a pagan power. The time was ripe for a Warrior Messiah to come and conquer the Romans, and take his rightful place on the throne of David.

But that was not the sort of Messiah that Jesus came to be. If people, especially the people closest to Him, thought He was that sort of Messiah then Jesus true mission would never be revealed.

So Jesus explains to His disciples God's plan for the Messiah. "The Messiah must go through great suffering. Even the elders and religious authorities will reject Him. He will be killed and in three days rise again."

This was a contradiction to everything the disciples expected. God's anointed king suffering and dieing? No way Hosea! That was blasphemy. It would be like Superman being taken down without the aid of Kryptonite!

So Peter rebukes Jesus. He doesn’t suggest that Jesus was mistaken, Peter rebukes Jesus. Bear in mind that in a traditional Jewish society disciples didn’t go around rebuking their teachers!

And Jesus reacts. Strongly! He calls Peter a mouthpiece of Satan. He wants Peter to know that, yes, He was the messiah, and good on you Peter for recognizing that, but, Peter, I’m not going to be the sort of Messiah you are expecting.

 Jesus then gives them God's definition of victory. "If any want to be my followers let them take up their cross and follow me." He continues, "For those who seek to save their life will lose it, yet those who lose their life for me and the Gospel will save it."

 This contradicted logic. If you want to save your life you should fight and kill to preserve it. But here Jesus says the way to life is through death. "For what do you gain if you gain the whole world and lose your life?" This was turning everything upside down.

It would take the disciples a long time to come to terms with this. True life, says Jesus, isn't found in human achievement or personal power. It is found instead in spiritual power, in relationships with each other and with God, in worship and in service and abandonment to the will of God.

Maybe, today, like Peter, we recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the son of living God, but we're not exactly sure what that means! And these words, about the cost of following Him, seem difficult and troublesome.

In our materialistic, pain fearing world, people love to hear the voice of the miraculous Jesus. Those who preach a gospel of instant prosperity or ceaseless blessing still draw crowds. People are not so sure they want to hear about taking up a cross.

This passage challenges us to ask ourselves "What sort of Messiah?"  The sort that tells us “Don't worry, be happy... live for ever and ever in a pain free, trouble free world because I’m going to take care of everything?"

Or are we to hear the voice of One who explained His mission in terms that involved undeserved suffering, a cross, and a resurrection alongside the promise of the empowering presence of His Holy Spirit.

One who saw prayer as an opening up of our selves to God's will, rather than as an exercise to persuade God to do things our way. One who spoke of putting our self- interest aside, dieing to ourselves and being prepared to live and die for one another.

I read the gospels and I am challenged to believe that God's desire for this world is that it be a place of miracles and blessing and healing and hope. But I am also challenged to see that such things do not come without struggle, without commitment and most of all without love.

I believe in the ability of God to turn hopeless situations, like crosses, into places that sing with the joy of resurrection emptied tombs. I believe in the reality of God’s presence to bring about changes that are otherwise never known. But I am also challenged to see that for change to come to others, it has to begin with me.

I believe that if we truly want to experience the life Jesus offers us, that it has to be on His terms, not ours. I recognize in myself that there is always the desire there for the easy way and the instant answer. I can see the attractiveness of a Messiah who would just take care of everything and blast away all the forces that drag us down into oblivion. Jesus was clear in explaining to would be followers that such was not the mission He came to fulfill. 

This Rally Day Sunday is a day to ask ourselves; "What sort of Messiah?” What sort of Messiah are we placing our hopes in? Are we expecting somebody to come and sort everything out for us or are we rolling up our sleeves and getting ready to rumble? Are we expecting our church to grow and thrive without our active participation and dedicated commitment?

 

What sort of Messiah? One who calls us to action and to caring and to love? One who promises that though the way can be tough that He believes in us enough to know we can travel along it joyfully just as long as we allow Him to walk with us? What sort of Messiah?

 

I believe there is only one and His name is Jesus.  And the way to life is found in His call to service, phrased in uncompromising terms; "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me".

 

I encourage you to give expression to your faith through your involvement with your church community. I encourage you to give of your time, talents and treasures in order that this little corner of God’s Kingdom may shine brightly. I encourage you to dig deep into God’s Word. I encourage you to have lives that are opened to God’s possibilities through prayer and hearts that have lots and lots of room for each other.

 

At the start of a new season in the life of this Church community let us seek to be faithful to the call God places on our lives, rely on God’s Holy Spirit for the resources we need and do all things in Jesus name. Let us rally together around His love that others may also experience His joy. Let us be clear what sort of Messiah we are called to serve… one who gave His life that others may live, one whom death could not defeat, one whose name and nature reveal the awesome love of God to a hard and hurting world. To His name be the glory.

 

 AMEN!!!

 

Rev Adrian.J.Pratt

 

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