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SMSA#63, Pentecost 11B
Charles M. Pope August 9, 2015
2 Samuel 18:5-9,15, 31-33 Ephesians 4:25-5:2 John 6:35, 41-51
There are many things that call for our attention in the Christian life. And because our access to information is unprecedented, we are in touch with more options that call to us.
I ran into a book while we were away having to do with “our last invention.” It is a book about artificial intelligence and how close we are to being victimized by robots of our own creation. And perhaps that will be in a future sermon. And wouldn’t that make a great discussion topic in some sort of group? But whatever we consider that emrges in oour culture we eventually as Christians return to a consideration of Jesus Christ. And one of the most important things we do together in the church is wrestle with the person of Jesus Christ. This morning is no exception.
For the past week, this week, and the next 2 weeks, the gospel readings will come from the gospel of John. Whenever we transition from one of the other gospels to the gospel of John, it entails a spiritual transition, as well as a different author. For many of us, this transition is difficult to put into words. But it is an extremely important transition. So, it is before us to make the effort to describe the change.
In the first 3 gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the events of Jesus’ life are portrayed in his birth, his Baptism, the beginning of his ministry, the calling of the disciples, the miracles, the healings, the teachings, the move toward Jerusalem and betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection. 2
In those 3 gospels, Jesus makes reference to his being sent by the Father. He refers to his being the Son of God. But in the gospel of John, there are not mere references to Jesus divinity. It forms the backbone of the whole gospel.
It is well established that the gospel of John was written later than the other 3 gospels.
There is also a concensus that the gospel of John came out of an early Christian community called the Community of the Beloved Disciple. The beloved disciple was the apostle John, not John the Baptizer, who had lived earlier. This community was caught up, not only in the events of Jesus life, but in his divinity. In the first chapter of John are found the words, And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us.
The Word refers to the word of God that has always been present with God. Through the word of God, all things were made, creation was effected.
The transition between the first 3 gospels and the gospel of John, has to do with moving toward more of an emphasis on the divinity of Jesus Christ.
You recall that part of the Nicene Creed that we will repeat shortly, We believe in one
Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from
God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
The incarnation, then, was the Word of God becoming a person. Other references to the word of God refer to the Eternal Christ. Hence the name that we are accustomed to repeating in the liturgy, Jesus Christ. 3
So, we have before us that enigmatic figure, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah. And particularly more enigmatic in the gospel of John because of the emphasis on his divinity.
Artists have painted depictions of him, sculpted depictions of him. How do we get to him? How do we get a clear picture? How do we see him as he really is?
There have been many attempts to decribe Jesus Christ. Albert Schweitzer’s book,
The Quest for the Historical Jesus, is perhaps the best known attempt. In recent times,
A.N. Wilson has written a book entitled, Jesus, A Life. For years Marcus Borg had been the driving force behind the Jesus Seminar.
Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey have written a book entitled, The Archaeology of
Ancient Personality. The main thesis of the book is that we in modern times tend to impose our idea of personality on persons who lived in other times. Specifically, they say, we impose our idea of personality on people like Jesus, Paul, the apostles etc.
Further, they say, people in the first century had specific ways of determining who they were as persons, that are not at all like 21st century ways of doing that.
First century persons were not interested in your individuality or your uniqueness. There was no idea of a specific resume that fits a particular person. Rather, the factors that determined your identity had to do with where you were from, your gender, your parents, your teachers, and who you could be compared with. So frequently you would hear, Paul of Tarsus, Jesus of Nazareth. This was not just to give a geographical orientation. 4
It was to tell people, in part, who you were. So, you can imagine the furor that arose when Jesus said, I am from God. God sent me.” Further, “I am the Son of God. The
Father and I are One.
Perhaps you recall the responses Jesus brought forth when he made claims like this:
Aren’t you from Nazareth? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called
Mary? So, we are not the only ones who have struggled with who Jesus Christ is. When
Jesus stood up in the boat and calmed the winds and waves, his followers asked, What sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?
We can say with certainty that no one has been able to “capture” Jesus Christ in an art form or in words. The people in the first century struggled with their inability to “capture his essence.”
They struggled then , as we struggle now. We are left then, with the eyewitness accounts of his followers, primarily the apostles. Surely this would be a primary source, people who saw Jesus in the flesh, lived with him, spent time with him. Helmut Thielicke, in his book, I Believe, I Believe, says that those eyewitnesses faced a monumental task in writing an eyewitness account, because what they heard in Jesus was unheard of, and what they had to say about him was to a degree unspeakable.
Thielicke concludes that the eyewitness reports of the apostles were the testimonies of people of faith who had been profoundly affected by Jesus. 5
So, we can see that it was not possible for those people to render a cool, dispassionate, objective testimony about Jesus Christ. Similarly, at the crucifixion, when the sky darkened and the earth shook, the centurion said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
So, we come here and worship together. We will say the words of the Nicene Creed every Sunday. We sing the hymns that have to do with Jesus and our lives of faith. We partake of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus. And we are not able to completely and objectively describe him, the Messiah, the Word become flesh, the Savior. When push comes to shove, we are just like the disciples. We are profoundly affected by his presence, and we can only speak in faith. In faith, we know that he did not just proclaim
God. We know that he is God.
But even though it is practically impossible to capture him in words or otherwise, the fact of his life among us cannot be ignored.
And thus the peculiar irony of the Christian faith. We follow our Lord whom we are unable to completely and objectively describe. But because we are affected by him, we continue to follow, continue to have faith. For many in our society outside the church, looking in, this appears as utter nonsense.
Helmut Thielicke says that it does not matter that we do not have clearly objective descriptions of Jesus Christ. He says that what does matter is that we continue to ask questions toward a more mature understanding of our Lord. 6
If we are committed to asking the questions, to searching the unseen and the unknown of
Christ, our questions will gain in maturity and quality. The asking of those questions, and the answers that we receive, constitute our growth in Christ.
The inept, confused, and bewildered disciples stumbled and struggled their way toward the crucifixion and the resurrection. But you know, the questions they asked, the struggles they went through led to the establishment and spread of the church.
And so, as we continue our excursion through the gospel of John, let us not be afraid to ask the questions about Jesus Christ that are there in our hearts and minds.
And if we are not able to come up with a professional quality description of our Lord, that is OK. Because we are hearing the unheard of, and we are trying to speak the unspeakable. To the world, a person profoundly affected by Christ might appear foolish.
And if that is the case, then let us claim that as a job title. St. Paul said, I am a fool for
Christ’s sake.
Perhaps our foolishness would lead to the hungry being fed, to the sick and injured being healed, to the ignorant being educated, to the bigoted being enlightened and merciful.
Perhaps our foolishness would prevent drunk drivers from killing others on the highways.
Perhaps our foolishness would lead to peace on earth. Perhaps our foolishness would lead to the building up of the church. Fools for the miracle worker. Fools for the healer.
Fools for the teacher. Fools for Jesus Christ. Amen