Who do you say that I am?

one of the things that comes up first when you look at Jesus is how popular he is.  He is everywhere, in all places, in all locations.  You can't throw a rock without hitting a picture, an image of Jesus.  His

face is all over the place, his likeness, ever present.  His name is all over the place too, people talk a lot about Jesus and who he is and what he's all about.  But his self is oddly polarizing, when it should be unifying.

Have you ever found it to be strange that there are so many Christian denominations on earth, so many variant groups and sects of Christians who will go off in a wide variety of directions who will be in disagreement about what Jesus is all about.  And this happens because we don't listen to who he says he is.

But we're not the only ones.  We think that this is new, but it isn't.  It's as old as Jesus himself, as old as the first century.  When Jesus asked his disciples, his close followers, who people on the street said that he was, the disciples didn't come up with a cohesive answer.  They didn't say 'people say you're Jesus of Nazareth.....what else would they say?' No, they didn't come up with that cohesive answer.  Their answers were much more all over the place.  Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others say one of the Prophets.

Now, the lack of a cohesive answer should plague us, really, because it's a matter for us for the long term too.  It's not just who the variety of Christian denominations says that Jesus is, it's not just a matter of who the people of Jesus' time said that Jesus was, it's more than that.  It's who we say that he is.

So who do you say that Jesus is?  Odds are, if you're Lutheran, you'll say 'he is the Messiah, the son of the living God,' and call it a day.  But is that really who you say that Jesus is?  All the time? The problem is not that we don't know who Jesus is, but that our perception of who he is changes through

the week.  This is the problem plaguing Christians, is that we have been brought up in the knowledge and faith of God, we have been raised in his word and sacraments, we know all the right answers, but it changes for us through the week.  In a given week, we will find that we say Jesus is a killjoy, an interfering busybody, a great teacher, a coach, a supporter, a miracle worker, a guy who lived two thousand years ago, and Lord and God.  And everything in between.  We don't have a cohesive answer, even when it comes to us.

Think of it this way.  If a married man were to use Ashley Madison, he would still refer to his wife as his wife, obviously, but he wouldn't be treating her that way all week.  That's the way we work with God.  We know who he is, obviously, We know who Jesus is, but how are we feeling about him all the week?  Because to be honest, we're going to get the answer wrong half of, if not most of, the time.
We get this wrong, we get it wrong all the time, which is why the determining factor isn't who we say Jesus is.  If it's up to us to get this right, to bridge the gap between heaven and hell by our words and thoughts, we're in rough shape.  But if it's not, if it's not about that, then we're in better shape.

Part of our desire is to have the right answer, and to have it rest on us.  But it doesn't.  The great thing about the various things that Jesus is called by everyone, is that he doesn't deped on us to get the right answers.  The right answer is his, and always has been.  Everything depends not on us getting

the right answer, heck, even Peter didn't do that twice in a row, and nor do we.  No, it's less about us getting the right answer, and more about us listening to the right answer that Jesus gives.  The question is not who do we say that he is, but who does he say that we are?  who are we?  We are forgiven, redeemed, renewed Children of God.  We are his friends, we are his companions, we are his dear and trusted people.  That's who we are.

Ultimately, it comes down to what we find in John 15:13-17

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Do you see what Jesus calls us? And why? We did not choose him, he chose us.  Chose us as friends. chose us as beloved companions.  Adpoted us as children.  In other words, we can taste salvation because he first loved us.

PJ.