August 21, 2011–Pentecost + 10

Jesus Tells Us Who We Are
Matthew 16:13-20
Pentecost + 10 – August 21, 2011

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” This question crosses Jesus' lips in our gospel this morning, but it's not a question unique to Jesus. Sure in that particular form, it is, but all of us at one point or another have found ourselves wondering who people say that we are. Maybe not all the time, but at those crossroads moments, when we are feeling insecure, uncertain, in those times of great change or crisis, when we're not sure who we are anymore, we wonder what the world thinks of us. And the world will try to tell us.

I don't know if you've seen this report that I read and heard a few weeks ago, about the want ads, and how there's a whole set of employers out there who are looking for workers – but they only want people who already have a job. And so in the ads, they say things boil down to “the unemployed need not apply”. This mindset got to be so prevalent out there that it made the news, and I was listening to a call-in show about it. And it was sad, because one man called in who had been out of work for months and years with no hope of getting hired, and you could hear his discouragement. He said that these kind of ads made him feel worthless. Less than. Of no value – to the point that at times he considered suicide. An extreme response, perhaps, but it reveals how much weight we give to the way we are seen in the eyes of the world.

We may not have all felt these questions to this degree, but we've all had them. Am I doing what I was meant to do? Is this the right job? The right person for me? Is it worth it to stay in a job I hate but that makes me a ton of money? Am I valued for what I am or for what I can produce or what I can consume? Even kids and teenagers face these questions. Am I wearing the right clothes, listening to the right music, hanging out with the right people? Who am I? And am I who I think I am, or who others think I am? We all wanna have enough self-esteem and self-worth to think we are above worrying too much what others think, and yet there are times for all of us when we are dogged by that question, “Who do people say that I am?” The world will give you 101 answers about who you should be, about the kind of person who is valuable, worthy, important – and too often, they will revolve around what kind of clothes you wear, or what job you have, or what neighborhood you live in, or what important people you know.

“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asks the disciples this question, and they have a lot of answers. “People think you are John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” All of them, pivotal figures. Loud voices in the story of the people of Israel.

“But who do ya'll say that I am?” Jesus says. And as always, there is Peter, ready to pipe up with an answer – and he says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Peter gets this answer as a revelation – he didn't figure it out for himself, but God the Father enabled him to see Jesus as more than a prophet or forerunner in the faith.

Peter's confession of faith is an important one. It's not the first time the gospel has called Jesus the Messiah, not the first time Jesus has been referred to as the son of God, but this is the first time these words have come from the lips of one of this followers. But what I want us to focus on today is the way Jesus responds to Peter's answer. Because in his answer, we see that Peter gets an answer to his own, unspoken question, “Who do you (Jesus) say that I (Peter) am?” Because as soon as Peter makes his confession of faith about who Jesus is, Jesus turns it right back around and tells Peter who he is: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!... and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...”

When Peter, by the gift of faith, identifies Jesus, he is himself given a new identity. He is blessed. He is given a new name, a new responsibility, a new role.

So it's not just a pivotal, hinge moment for Jesus, but for Peter too. This marks a new direction for him. When Jesus tells him who he is, it doesn't so much matter who others say that he is, who he has been, who he will be. Jesus gives Peter, the rock, a rock to build the rest of his life on – based on his identity in Christ, not on what the world will try to tell him. And that's good news, because the road ahead for Peter, and for all of the disciples, will often be a challenging one, one that will call into question what they are doing and why they are doing it – but they are able to continue because they know who Jesus is and who Jesus says they are, and that makes all the difference.

Jesus does the same thing for us. When, by the gift of faith, we see that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the Living God, when we learn Jesus' identity, he gives us a new identity too. He reminds us that we are more than the sum total of our job or our house or our clothes or anything else that the world would use to tell us who we are and what we're worth. No, in Jesus, we are more than what others see. In Jesus, we receive an answer to the most important question – who does Jesus say that we are? And he says to us – you are blessed. You are beloved. You are a child of God forever. And with Peter, we are given a new role, deeper responsibilities – to become living stones in Christ's church – partners with him in expanding, called to be witnesses, right at the gate of Hades, that the power of Christ living in us is stronger than the power of death. We are who Jesus sees us to be, with all of our flaws, all our uncertainties, all our insecurities. We are who Jesus says we are, gifted through our relationship with him and through our faith in him, to do things we never would have imagined we could do, gifted to serve God and others, building up the body of Christ and sent to carry the good news of God's love into the world.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.