Sermon:  "Who Does Jesus Say You Are?"
Date:   August 21, 2011
Minister:  The Rev. Charles Ensley

Lesson: Matthew 16:13-20

A new name for Jesus.  That’s what Peter gives him when Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?”  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Peter boldly declares.  This is significant, for while the gospel-writer Matthew has used the term before, this is the first time someone in the gospel calls Jesus “Messiah.”

But before we take on the significance of the name, it is worth noting that today’s story starts with a location.  Jesus enters the district of Caesarea Philippi, about 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.  This spot had gone through some name changes of its own, morphing from a Canaanite site for the pagan worship of Baal into a place called Paneas, where the Greek god Pan was revered.  Then Herod the Great came on the scene and built a temple to Caesar Augustus, and later Herod’s son Philip enlarged the town and renamed it after Tiberius Caesar and himself.  That’s how the name of the district became Caesarea Philippi.  It marked a partnership between Caesar and Philip.

But does this really matter?  Matthew thinks so, since he takes the time to mention the name of the place, unlike his fellow gospel-writer Luke.  According to one New Testament scholar, Matthew probably wished to emphasize that Peter’s confession took place in a spot with Jewish and pagan associations.  It matters to Matthew that Peter calls Jesus “the Messiah” in the shadow of a Roman temple, in a place where pagans and Jews had worshiped their gods for centuries.  Labeling Jesus as the Messiah is a real slap in the face to all of the false messiahs who were revered on that spot:  Herod the Great, Caesar Augustus, Philip, Tiberius Caesar.

Now I could ask you the same question this morning that Jesus asked Peter:  essentially, who do you say that he is?  However, I’m going to focus on the other question, implied, when Jesus renames Simon:  “…you are Petros, and on this rock I will build my church.”  Jesus says that Peter is the foundation stone on which he will build the new Christian community.

Peter confesses who Jesus is.  Then Jesus tells Peter who he is.  Peter confesses his belief in what Jesus is up to, then Jesus tells Peter what Peter is to be up to.  What if the question were turned around and in this day and age Jesus asked who you are?  How would you answer Jesus?  Are you his faithful disciple?  Are you a fledgling Christian?  Are you a Christian with more questions about your faith than answers?  Are you someone devoted to service in Christ’s name?  What if you are not sure what your service should be?

Consider a church member we’ll call Alice.  People who know her realize she has neither a talent nor a gift for leadership.  But one year, when her church’s nominating committee could find no one else to chair the mission committee, Alice agreed to do it.  She did this not because she wanted the job, but because she loved her church and was willing to help out where she could.  And she tried, but soon folks noticed that the missions committee wasn’t functioning very well.

Later that year, however, the nominating committee distributed to church members a little self-survey that was designed to help them identify their spiritual gifts.  Alice took the survey, which entailed answering a number of questions about one’s preferences and experiences and then tallying up one’s scores.  When Alice computed her scores, she found that she came in very low in the area of leadership.  But she had one of the highest scores in the congregation in the area of prayer.  Alice looked at these results and said, “No wonder I’m having such a hard time chairing the missions committee!”, and she asked to be relieved of that responsibility.  The nominating committee agreed, but then asked her if she would head the prayer chain, a position that didn’t require much leadership but did need time spent in prayer after informing others of the current prayer concerns.  Alice jumped at the chance, and was soon doing a great job in that position.

I have observed over my years here that of the 64 positions available on our seven commissions, some church members move from one commission to another.  In some cases, they are “termed out”—they’ve served the maximum of two two-year terms.  Yet they still wish to be of service, so they say “yes” the next time the nominating committee asks, or they let it be known they are interested in another position.  Other times, they may serve one term, or not even complete it, and find it isn’t where their skill-set or interests are.  So they ask to be placed on another commission.  Similar to Alice’s story, they just weren’t serving in the right place for them.  And then there’s the whole matter of our past moderators.  After serving the highest lay position of our church, seven of them are currently back on commissions and one serves as registrar.  Talk about dedication!

Would Jesus say you are an evangelist?  Wait, wait!  I’m not talking about going door-to-door hawking religion.  Evangelists share the Good News.  So Sunday School teachers are evangelists.  Youth group leaders are evangelists.  Any time you tell your friends about our church or invite them to worship with us or attend a study group, you are an evangelist.

Would Jesus say you are a worship leader?  You haven’t been to seminary, you say?  No matter.  Each member of our choir who sings to the glory of God is a worship leader.  Julie, who directs the choir is a worship leader, as well as a worship planner.  Alicia, who plays the organ and directs the handbell choir, is a worship leader.  The handbell ringers who give their time to playing joyous, moving music in worship; the servers who reverently prepare and pass the sacrament of communion each month; the deaconesses who participate in the sacrament of baptism—all these are worship leaders.

Would Jesus say you are a behind-the-scenes server?  The ushers who pass out worship bulletins and take up the offering serve.  Those who prepare, serve coffee and donuts and clean up after fellowship time are servers.  The faithful women who show up every Wednesday morning to fold the Carillon and sort it for mailing are servers.  Those of you who cook and bake meals for Christian Outreach in Action, generally unseen and unknown to those who eat the dinner each month, are all behind-the-scenes servers, serving in the name of Christ.  What they do is as important as the disciples who passed out bread and fish to the five thousand, or as those of us who serve the sacraments.

In Paul’s epistle to the Romans, paired with today’s gospel lesson, he writes:  “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.  We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us:  prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”  (Romans 12:4-8)

Jesus renamed Peter, and said that he is the rock, the foundation.  The house that Jesus began to build with Peter continues to be constructed, and each of us is a living stone, and the gates of death have not prevailed against what has been created in Christ’s name.  The Greek word for church that is used in this passage is ekklesia, a term used only twice in the gospels.  It is a piece of vocabulary coined to describe the new Christian community.  Ekklesia, translated “assembly of citizens; church,” literally means those who are “called out.”  And each of us is called out to serve by whatever name Jesus chooses to gift us.