Sermon 8/23/2020 “Who is your Jesus?”

Sermon 8/23/2020 “Who is your Jesus?”

Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection at VTS in Alexandria, VA
Text: Matthew 16:13-20
Day: 12Pentecost, Proper 16, Year A, during a pandemic

So, can you guess where I’m at? Yup. In the Memorial Garden of our property, with construction and listening to construction going on in the background. It’s a fitting place to preach from today.

So here we are, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, a pandemic that has isolated and marginated each of us—especially those “of an age” to be at highest risk of the disease.

So here we are, in the throes of the death of “political correctness,” characterized by painful reminders of just how mired we are in issues concerning race.

And—if those two realities weren’t enough—here we are, the day after the first-ever Diocese of Virginia retreat for LGBTQ+ people, an acronym lumping together all who Christians have historically marginated for being “sexual minorities,” to use the most polite definition of LGBTQ+ I have ever heard.

So, aren’t you lad you are “in” church today—where the virus can’t get you, as long as we remain diligent to safeguarding our bodies, safeguarding our health, and safeguarding our lives?

So, aren’t you glad you are “in” church today, where we work hard and vow each week to work harder at loving both God and absolutely everyone else as much if not more than we love ourselves?

God has provided. God has provided us with a gospel lesson [today] and gospel lessons this month that challenge us to unmarginate those we wish to keep hidden and silent. (Like that machine behind me threatens to silence me.)

Today’s gospel lesson is no different. Jesus was fresh from an encounter with a Syrophoenician woman who refused to let him dismiss her. She emerged from the margins of Jewish sensibilities and with great determination and faith had demanded Jesus heal her daughter. And, after trying to tongue-lash back into her “place,” Jesus truly saw her and revised his understanding of who he was and who he would be.

Today, though, Jesus is no longer in the marginated land of Samaria, but in the marginated pagan land of Caesarea Philippi, not too far [26 miles] from where Jesus had made his home in Capernaum. And, fresh from his altered understanding of his mission, Jesus asked his disciples the “identity question.”

His question started off safely, “Who do people say I am?” And he got the safe, testing-the-water-with-the-toes” answer, “One of the prophets; they’re not sure which one.” Their guesses were all over the map.

Let me give you today’s equivalent answer: “You want us to love everyone and give all our love, even to taboo ones, so you’re a flaming liberal. Or, “you uphold the law, hold the standard against divorce, are patriotic and establish the church to hold God’s line, so you’re ultra conservative.” Here’s the news: If Jesus were physically here today, he would unite the entire political spectrum—AGAINST him.

Who do you say Jesus is?

• An enlightened teacher or a demented fool?
• A gifted healer or just a good hypnotist?
• A savvy politician or the most real person who ever lived?
• A virgin who never married or one who assembled a great “family of choice.”
• A traitor to the Jews, or a [Jewish] zealot?
• The literal Word of God or just a supplement to scripture?
• The one whose life, death, and resurrection provided a way to make all creation whole, or just an example of how to live his life for God and others?
• Someone we know of but will never see or someone who we know well andwill meet face-to-face someday?

I could go on and on. That Jesus inspires so many competing questions, even today, shows how pivotal his life was to all of humanity and to our understanding of who we are today. Each of us has an identity rooted only in God through Christ Jesus, whose spirit gives us life and understanding and purpose.

Today, with Peter long ago, I affirm that Jesus was and is the Christ, the Messiah, the living son of the loving God, our Creator. And further, I testify that Chris Jesus lives on the margins. He lives in the center, too, but if you want to find him, feel him, see him at work in our world, the margins are where you should be. Visit our—or any—food pantry and look for the love. Better yet, be the love: listen, empathize, suspend judgment, be safe, listen some more, befriend. Every time I do [visit a food pantry], I meet Jesus there.

The margins are where Christ Jesus is easiest to find. Visit our construction site. Listen to the noise, which is beautiful. Think of who will be living in the affordable housing and pray for them.

Visit prison. There are Bible studies there, where even Jesus wears a mask—not because he needs one, but because we need him to, to reveal his humanity. Be the love: listen, suspend judgment, put yourself mentally in a prisoner’s shoes. You will meet Jesus there—or they will.

“The margins are easy to visit, even in a pandemic. The margins are within us, where we relegate people who scare us, people who we don’t understand, or people we just don’t like—the ones most like us in some way we despise about ourselves. Visit these margins and see who you have placed there.When you free others from that place, you free yourself to be more like Christ Jesus—the one we know but can never fully know until we meet face-to-face, in our heart or in the great by-and-by. In the meantime, visit the margins. Don’t forget to pray for those who work here and those who will live here.