The Most Important Question

What's the most important question you've ever been asked?  For me:

"Joe, Do you take Marcia to be your wife?"  (very important ?, but not the most important)

Or "Joe, will you assume this office of ministry... believing that the Church's call is God's call?"   (awesome ?, but not the most important)

These are astounding, life-changing questions they are, but not the most important.

Jesus put a life-changing question to his disciples. I believe it is the most important question they or we could ever be asked. It came in two parts.

First, he asked them, "Who do people say that I am?" It was a very important question because there were all sorts of rumors circulating around as to just who Jesus was; all sorts of expectations about when the Messiah would come and what the "Messiah" would do and be.

Some expected the "Messiah" to come as a great warrior or political king, like King David of old!  Some expected the "Messiah" would be like one of the great priests or prophets - like Elijah! “Who do people say that I am?”   It was a very important question, but not the most important.

So, Jesus pressed on to the most important question.  He got uncomfortably personal, even confrontational, "But who do you say that I am?"

Jesus sought a personal answer because as time went on, he began to look less and less like the popular messiah people were expecting!  He wasn't a great warrior or political ruler like David! He wasn't a great priest or prophet like Elijah! More and more he didn't look great and powerful at all! He looked weak and more and more like a fool.  

His friends were not the power folks or the status folks, but his best friends were the ordinary, and even included the tax collectors and people with shady reputations! He reinterpreted sacred law, which was forbidden and considered blasphemy!

Where Moses said "Do not murder!"  Jesus said, "Do not be angry!"   Where Moses was against the act of adultery, Jesus was against feelings of lust!  Where Moses said "love your neighbor" Jesus said, "love your enemy!"

People were talking! Discontent was spreading!  It was reaching a crescendo. "Who does he think he is? What does he think he's doing?" He became a threat, both to the established church and the established government.

He did very little of what the popular messiah was expected to do, especially when they nailed him to a cross, and the crowds gathered around to watch and mock him as he died!

So you see, Jesus knew that if his disciples' faith was going to be authentic and survive the crises and crunch that was soon to come, they needed to come to terms with the core-meaning of what it meant to follow him.  And if our faith is going to be authentic and survive the crises and crunches of life then we need to come to terms with the core-meaning of what it means to follow him.  

Jesus stands before you this morning and looks you square in the eye and asks, "Who do you say that I am?" It is the most important question you've will ever be asked to answer.  Every other question is secondary, and the answer you provide will inform all the other important questions you will ever be asked to answer. 

Decades ago, the 70’s I had the opportunity to meet a former Miss America at a party.  I don't know exactly what I expected, but I didn't expect a Miss America to smoke cigars and tell raunchy jokes.  I was disappointed and disillusioned.

That's exactly what happened to Peter.  When Jesus laid out the plan and told him there was a cross down his road, Peter protested, "Don't tell me that!  I reject it!  I can't live with that!"  

Peter couldn't live with a messiah that came with a cross!  To put it in the language of our time, to Peter it seemed “counter-intuitive.”  Why should he follow a Lord who says “take up your cross and follow?”  It didn’t make any sense.  It seemed crazy, illogical, and counter-intuitive!

And perhaps we can't live with him for the very same reason when he says, "Take up your cross."   So what do we sometimes do?  We reinvent Jesus and make him into a kind of Messiah that we can accept and live with. 

Perhaps we would like to think that Jesus is a "messiah" that will bring us success, wealth and security; or make us comfortable; or sanction our self-indulgent schemes; or bless our prejudices, or join our side on the battlefield.  In the current issue of Time Magazine, the cover reads “Does God Want You to be Rich?”  There is a so-called Christian message being preached today that sees Jesus as a kind of popular sugar-daddy messiah who rewards believers with material blessings and a life of wealth, comfort and security. Some call it a “prosperity-gospel or gospel-lite.”  To me, it boils down to nothing more than following Christ without the cross and is nothing more than religious justification for self-indulgence and neglect of the poor. 

"Who do you say that I am?"  Jesus is a "messiah" who comes with a cross, leads with a cross, saves with a cross and lords with a cross!

But what kind of a cross is it?  Often we think of the cross as a difficulty that we bear, a burden inflicted by life or circumstance. Susan was born blind. "That is her cross," we might say! John lost his job. "That is his cross," we might say.  For sure, circumstances of poverty, disability, or illness, are indeed crosses, but I do not think these are the crosses to which Jesus is referring here.  There are two kinds of crosses. The crosses we bear, and the crosses we “take up.”

What we hear Jesus say today is, "Take up your cross and follow me!"

The cross of which Jesus is speaking is something we choose to do for Christ’s sake. It is not a cross that is inflicted upon us without our consent. This cross that we "take up" is intentional for the sake of others. The cross "we take up" is a sacrifice we make for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ who took up his cross for our salvation.

To be afflicted with cancer, or AIDS, or whatever, as torturous as those diseases are, is not the cross of which Jesus speaks here. Rather the cross is "taken up" by those who show compassion to those with AIDS; those who choose to share in the fear and anxiety of the cancer patient.

To be poverty stricken or homeless is not the cross of which Jesus speaks here, difficult as such deprivation is. Instead the cross is "taken up" by those who do not need to work in soup kitchens, but choose to; the cross is "taken up" by those who do not need to take a stand against injustice and inequality, but choose to; the cross is "taken up" by those who willingly question the priorities and values of those in authority, in order to bring about just change in our society.

A young seminary intern training to be a pastor was taught that what people expect of a pastor more than anything else, was that the pastor listen to their troubles. The seminary professor had said, "If you cannot do anything else, you can still listen." The young intern was determined to do just that!

One day a lady came to see the young student pastor, complaining of a terrible, horrendous head-ache. "Tell me what's bothering you!" said the young intern. So, the lady began to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk... for two hours straight... non-stop. And the young pastor listened, and listened, and listened, and listened and listened for two hours straight!

At the end of the session the lady said, "Pastor, I feel so much better. I came in her two hours ago with such a headache, and now it's gone, gone, gone!" And the pastor said, "I know, I know, I know because now I have it!"

"Who do you say that I am?”  It is the life-changing, soul-searching question.  What cross are you being called to "take up" that is substantial and sacrificial: for your family, your church, your neighbors, your community, the world, the poor, the sick, the homeless, the environment, for peace?  It may cause you great inconvenience, great trouble, and sacrifice of your time, talent, and treasure!   But we must never forget that there is a promise attached to this; a most wondrous and mysterious promise: “. . . for those who lose their lives for the sake of the gospel  will save them.” 

The word in Greek for “save” bears the meaning: “to be made whole.”    Take up your cross, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and you will be made whole.  It is positively counter-intuitive.  It is a paradox, but it is the gospel truth!

Jesus never calls his followers to do anything that he hasn't already done, and more!

What do you want from life? If you know what you really want from life, then give it away and be made whole. You want friendship— then be a friend, especially to the friendless - and you will be made whole.  You want love—then love others in concrete, sacrificial service - and you will be made whole.  You want wealth, then give it away and you will be made whole in ways you cannot imagine.  You want fulfillment, then give yourself away selflessly, and you will be filled with the things of God – and you will be made whole.  

 “Who do you say that I am?”  It’s the most important question.  So what’s your answer?