Wh

September 17, 2006

Mark 8:27-38
 “Lost Identity”

Our identities are important things. You’d think so since we spend every moment of our lives creating them, discovering them, shaping them, or even avoiding them in some sort of way. Some folks spend a lifetime trying to find their identity. Others spend a lifetime trying to get rid of their identity. Your identity is what will end up in your eulogy, and so you sorta want to do a halfway decent job on it!

“Who Am I?” “Who are you?” These are two of the fundamental questions human beings seek to answer in their lifetimes. The other animals of the world are lucky they don’t have to bother with such existential questions. Or are they? One of my favorite songs from the radio is by Jessica Andrews and is called “Who I Am” and she reminds me, and us, that maybe it’s a marvelous part of life to explore one’s identity:

If I live to be a hundred
And never see the seven wonders
That'll be alright
If I don't make it to the big leagues
If I never win a Grammy
I'm gonna be just fine
Cause I know exactly who I am

I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know just where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am
. . . .
I'm a saint and I'm a sinner
I'm a loser; I'm a winner
I am steady and unstable
I'm young, but I am able

Jessica’s got a great grasp on who she is, both the good and the not so good, the gifts and graces and the warts and disappointments. Isn’t that who we all are in the end, a bundle of mixed experiences, wisdom and foolishness, achievements and failures, and, most importantly, lots of relationships?

Who are you? Would some of you share your identities with us? If Jessica is Rosemary’s granddaughter and young and able, who are you?

[Discussion]

The text we have in front of us today is all about identity. On the surface, it’s about who Jesus is, but one doesn’t have to dig too deep to figure out it is, as always, more about the disciples’ identities – read that OUR identities – than Jesus’. And isn’t it just like Jesus to confuse us about what he expects us to believe about his identity and how to respond to it. On one hand he’s Leonardo di Caprio on the bow of the Titanic screaming at the top of his lungs “I’m the king of the world!” and the next moment he’s Jean Valjean from “Le Miserable” running from his captors. One minute Jesus is performing miracles in front of thousands and the next he’s sternly ordering them not to tell anyone about him.

Jesus’ identity does not rely entirely upon who he says he is, however. Not only do his actions speak much louder than words, but the prophecies of old seem to have been proclaiming his coming. Not to mention, in hindsight we see so many things in this man, we can’t help but tag him with labels that seem to fit.

Who was this man? The angels, God, the Holy Spirit, and even Jesus himself name him “Son of God.” So do John the Baptist, and the disciples John, Peter, Nathaniel, and Martha. Strangers such as the eunuch and the centurion recognize his relationship with God. Even the unclean spirits can’t help but identifying Jesus, “Thou art the Son of God!”

From Genesis to the Revelation of John names for Jesus envelope him like a silk robe: a Man of Sorrows, the Word, the Lamp of God, the Good Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Vine, the Light, the Chief Cornerstone, the Great High Priest, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Alpha and the Omega. (1)

First, Jesus asks the disciples the easier question: “Who do people say I am?” That’s an easy one. They knew what the crowds were saying: John the Baptist (maybe some didn’t believe John had been beheaded), Elijah (he was taken up into heaven, maybe he’s come back down), or simply one of the prophets (there were so many, any one of them might have had more God-work to do.” Then Jesus brings it home: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter steps into the spotlight and, being a man of boldness and bravado, proclaims words that echo throughout the centuries: “You are the Christ!”

Christ is a Greek word. The Hebrew word is “Messiah.” Both mean “the anointed one.” It’s not as unique a label as one might imagine in the Bible. It is used to describe Adam, Cyrus the Persian King who frees the Jews from their Babylonian exile, and in Luke it even describes those who are born again. But you and I and Peter all know that this was no ordinary use of the label “Messiah,” this was THE anointed one, the long-awaited one, the ultimate Christ for all time.

Does Jesus bask in the glory of Peter’s proclamation? No. Not only does he not revel in it, he “sternly” orders them not to say anything more about it. And then Jesus goes into fleshing out, literally, this identity of his. “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.”

Wait… this was not the rescuer, knight-on-a-shiney horse kind of Messiah they were expecting, perhaps even betting their lives on. And Peter tells Jesus so. “Shush, Jesus, enough of this suffering business. People might hear you, and, worse yet, start believing you! That’s no way to inspire a following or start a revolution!”

Don’t we get Jesus’ Identity mixed up, also? I was thinking of some of the identities that seem current in our culture:
• Jesus the Excuse – Blame it on Jesus, he can take anything!
• Jesus the Magician – Come on Jesus, this one’s for you, come on, come on!
• Jesus the Pal – (a la George Glick, George Carlin character’s “Buddy Jesus” in the movie, Dogma)
• Jesus the Forgotten One – Jesus who?
• Jesus the Curse – “Jesus H. Christ!”
• Jesus the Pretty Picture – And pretty bracelet, and pretty blanket, and the pretty screen saver, and the pretty dishtowel…

And then Jesus offers his harshest words ever said to anyone in scripture, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

How could Peter be so right about Jesus identity, and yet so wrong about it at the same time? It is because it is our human nature to want the best out of any given situation, and “great suffering,” “rejection,” and being “killed” are not attributes anyone wants for those they love.

But Jesus was tapped into a much deeper, more central identity that he knew was closer to the identity God called him to, and all of us to. Jesus remembered the ancient words of the prophet Isaiah in describing the Suffering Servant who would do God’s will: “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.” (53:1-2)

Jesus knew that the road to glory leads unswervingly past Calvary. Hey! It’s September, Lent’s months away, and we forget that part of the story. But Jesus doesn’t forget, because suffering and servanthood are primary parts of his identity. It is we who have lost part of Jesus’ identity, and therefore our own as Christ-ones, and Jesus is not at all very tactful about reminding us to get it right. I Am A Suffering Servant. You Are Suffering Servants. Mother – Uncle – Gourmet Chief – Truck Driver – doesn’t matter: All who follow Jesus also are Suffering Servants.

I’ve been thinking about identity theft a lot this past week, and those crazy credit card commercials that have a drastically different voice connected to a person. You’ve seen them on TV: The grandmotherly type with a biker’s voice. The big burly man with the California Valley Girl’s voice. They get the point across that it is all too easy for someone to get your sensitive financial information and abuse your account for their own purposes.

Funny, isn’t it. Jesus actually wants us to steal his identity, wouldn’t mind in the least for his voice to be coming from our bodies. Thing is, there’s a price for taking on the Suffering Servant’s identity. We must join him in serving humanity, sometimes to exhaustion, sometimes to poverty, sometimes even to death. Then, and only then, will we know the grace that comes from identifying with our savior in such a way: Who Are We? We will realize that then we are Beloved Children of God, and that’s an identity we can live with.

Amen.

1. Nevin, Alfred, Ed., et al. "Names, Titles and Characteristics of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord," The Parallel Bible. Blue Letter Bible. 1 Aug 2002. 16 Sep 2006. http://blueletterbible.org/study/parallel/paral19.html.


Rev. Allen V. Harris
 

Copyright 2006 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096