“Who Is Jesus?”
Ash Wednesday C –
Luke 6:17-27
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Grace and Peace to you from our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This Lenten season, our theme for Wednesday night worship will parallel the beginning of a new season of Alpha classes at Christ Lutheran. Alpha is a kind of Basics of Christianity program. It addresses the simplest, yet most profound questions of faith, no matter how much or little you know about Jesus and the Bible.
Tonight and for the following five Wednesdays here in worship, we, too, will grapple with some of the basic questions of Christian Faith:
· Who is Jesus?
· Why Did Jesus Die?
· How Can I Be Sure of My Faith?
· Why and How Should I Read the Bible?
· Why and How Do I Pray?
· How Does God Guide Us?
Regardless of your relationship with Christ, whether He is a complete stranger or a trusted friend and savior, be prepared to hear surprising answers to these questions. In fact, C.S. Lewis reminds us that the first thing we need to do is make sure we are asking the question correctly.
Tonight as we ask, “Who is Jesus?” that is to say, what do we make of him, Lewis suggests that the real question is not, what we are to make of Christ and who is he, but what he is to make of us, and who are we in relationship to him.
Picture a fly sitting on an elephant, Lewis says, and then imagine the fly describing what he makes of the elephant! The fly can’t even begin to see all of the elephant. And even if he could, he would have no brain, no senses, no power of thought or reason sufficient to even begin to grasp the concept, “elephant”. The whole idea of us asking what are we to make of Jesus? Lewis says, is “frantically funny”.
The point Lewis makes is that, in truth, Jesus comes to us, not us to him. What did words did Pastor Rolf and I speak over you tonight? “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That is the answer to who we are. It is the witness to the truth of human existence. We are born. We live. We die. End of story.
Who is Jesus? The God who lived that story and rewrote the ending for you. Why? So you might live your life with joy and hope, and live eternally as a child of God. We answer the question “Who is Jesus?” most clearly in his acts. Even his words are acts. They heal, they bless, they call, they forgive. We do not know who Jesus is by “dialoging” about him. We know who Jesus is by believing what the Bible tells us he did said. Or as Luther says, “I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or believe in him.”
Yet the New Testament is full of people asking “Who is Jesus?” God the Father answers the question at Jesus’ Baptism and the Transfiguration by saying “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus himself asked asked the question, though sort of in reverse, when He asked Peter, “Who do you say I am?” And throughout the gospels, the question is asked and or answered by disciples, high priests, demons nearly 30 times and in a variety of ways: Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God? Are you the King of the Jews?
Jesus, explosive answers to these questions is to say, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Or to put it bluntly, “I am he.” Lewis notes that if you went to Socrates and asked him if he was Zeus, he would have laughed at you. If you went to Muhammad and asked if he was Allah he would first have torn his clothes and then cut your head off. Neither of these great men claimed to be God. Jesus did. Often. And repeatedly. This was something completely new. And it still is.
Jesus made the unprecedented claim to be the salvation of all nations. But does reading that claim or speaking those words tell me who he is? Does knowing who he is save me?
It’s like you’re out swimming and your legs suddenly cramp and you find yourself going under, drowning once, twice, and your about to go down for the third time when you see the splashes from powerful strokes and kicks coming your way. At a moment like that do you say, “Oh, I believe that’s Jane Brown.” Or “That seems to be the distinctive red swimming uniform of a certified lifeguard” – does it make any difference who it is or what their name or title may be or what they are wearing?
Of course not, the only thing that matters is that someone is acting to save you. To allow your life to continue rather then end in the weeds on the bottom of a lake. Perhaps by the act of saving you, your life will be made better. That’s what we would like to have happen. That’s who we would like Jesus to be – our personal life guard – a guard or protector of the life we already live. But is that what Jesus wants for us? Is that who he wants us to be?
The Jesus of the gospels was no lifeguard protecting the lives of people. Instead he called people out of the lives they lived through repentance. Only through repentance do we receive the grace which saves us. The acts of Jesus show us that the old life in us must drown, die, so that he can raise us up from death to life. And this saving, raising act is not to make life better, but to make it new and everlasting. It means living this life behind.
Jesus is the one who asks you to accept his gracious offer, “Yes, I believe he did it. He does it. And he will do it – FOR ME.” Otherwise, “Remember you are dust, and to dust shall return” becomes merely a biological fact, an acceptance of our ultimate annihilation. But because of what Jesus did, which cannot be separated from who he is, we know our return to dust is a true beginning, not an end.
You can see why, then Jesus was never regarded merely as a teacher, a preacher, or a healer, nor did he leave that impression on people. Lewis says that Jesus “produced mainly three effects – Hatred, Terror, Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild disapproval.
In our day, we Christians do a much better job of expressing mild disapproval of who Jesus is. Especially when faith becomes inconvenient, demands too much of our time or attention. When push comes to shove, we’d really rather have a lifeguard than the Savior. Someone who we can “identify” with, who suits our tastes and our lifestyle. Someone who we can know instead of someone who knows and loves us to the deepest, darkest corners of our soul. If that’s who know Jesus to be, then you know a really nice person, but you don’t know Jesus.
Here’s my confession. I don’t know the answer to the question “Who is Jesus?” It is beyond my reason or my imagination. It is a mystery to me. I am like the fly on the elephant. But I do believe that what the Bible says of Him is true, truer than I can possibly understand or know. Every word and every act is for me. Without him, I am dust and death, and there is no health in me. With him, I am given everything. His name alone is enough to do it.
When someone asks me “Who is Jesus?” My best and truest answer is to say, “Read the bible, but first let me tell you what he has done for me.” Let our Lenten journey be a shared telling of what Jesus has done for us. In light of his gracious acts in our life, and the shadow of the cross that awaits, let us then reflect upon his sacrifice and respond in faith to the one whom the Scriptures reveal as Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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