11/26/23 – Identity of Christ by Rev. Tim Mitchell

ACTIONS REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF CHRIST AND HIS FOLLOWERS

November 26, 2023
Christ the King Sunday
Rev. Tim Mitchell

In the Church I grew up in, everyone who became a member was asked a personal form of this question that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”. The unique format of that was “Who do you say that Jesus is?” Everyone was to answer as did Peter, “Thou art the Christ the son of the living God.” This passage of scripture talks of a Christian’s identity and that is what I want to talk about today.

Speaking of identity,  After many years in an institution, a mental patient was discharged. But he was very unhappy. “You’re cured,” said his doctor. “Some cure,” the healed man pouted. “When I first came here, I was Abraham Lincoln. Now I’m nobody!”

The president went to visit a nursing home. He walked up to a lady in a wheelchair and said, “Mam, do you know who I am?” She answered, “No sir, I don’t know who you are, but if you go up to that desk, they can tell you.” Byrl Shaver

One more on identity, A man approached me on the street just last week. “Why, Art Smith,” he said, “It’s so good to see you. Why I hardly recognize you, you’ve put on so much weight. And your hair has so much gray in it what hair you have left. What has happened to you? You’re so pale. Have you been sick? Either that or you are not getting outdoors enough. Why, you look positively terrible. It is amazing that I recognized you at all.” Finally, I interrupted. “Wait,” I said, “I’ve been trying to tell you that I am not Art Smith.” “What?” he said with much surprise. “You’ve gone and changed your name too?”

Sometimes people are fixed on who we are regardless of how we might attempt to convince them otherwise. I would postulate that is what has happened to Jesus. During Jesus’ time on earth, there was a cultural and historical understanding among the Jews of who and how a messiah would be and act. The Jews of the day believed that Jesus was ordained as both a “spiritual” king and a political king. Therefore, he would truly be “king of the Jews”.

Many would envision, including Peter, Jesus as a military leader who has come to conquer the horrible, heathen heretics known as the Roman empire. Jesus is ordained to deliver the Jews from all foreign oppression.

Jesus does not deny that he is ordained of God as “Messiah,” the spiritual leader of all people. But being a leader means becoming a servant of all. The scripture today says that just as you “did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Jesus chose this path to the cross and became a “suffering” and “rejected” leader who would end up dying. But many of Jesus’ followers do not want to end up dying and, like Peter in another passage, cries out, “No, this can’t be! This will never happen to you!”

This strikes at the heart of Jesus’ identity and the identity of those who follow him. Just who is this Jesus? Jesus did not use the word messiah or Christ when referring to himself. He uses the word “Son Of Man” or The Human One, as the Contemporary English Bible puts it. Jesus chooses not to focus on “A Conquering Messiah” but instead on one who is the Son Of Adam.

Jesus has come to show what it means to be Human—to lead us into being fully human. The salvation of humankind can be achieved when we’re willing to follow him. Do as Jesus does—look at one another and be ready to give sacrificially.

A Fellow named Tim Bruster tells a powerful story about a mom who took her children to a crowded restaurant one day. Her six-year-old son asked if he could say the grace. He prayed: “God is great, and God is good; let us thank him for the food, and God, I would thank you even more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!”

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, the woman at the very next table growled loudly: “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. The very idea of asking God for ice cream! Why I never.”

Hearing this, the little six-year-old boy burst into tears and asked his mother: “Did I do it wrong? I’m sorry. Is God mad at me?” The little boy’s mother pulled him over into her lap. She hugged him tightly and assured him that he had done a terrific job with his prayer and God was certainly not mad at him. Just then, an elderly gentleman walked over to the table. He winked at the little boy and said, “I know God really well. We visit daily, and I know that God loved your prayer. It may have been the best one He has heard all day.” “Really?” the little boy asked. “Cross my heart,” said the man. Then he leaned over and whispered into the little boy’s ear. Pointing at the woman at the following table who had made the remark that started the whole thing, he said: “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.”

Naturally, the mom ordered ice cream for her kids at the end of the meal. The little six-year-old boy stared at his for a moment and then did something that no one in that restaurant that day would ever forget. He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman at the following table. With a big smile, he said to her: “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is good already!’ The people in the restaurant applauded, and somewhere in heaven, Jesus was smiling… because that little boy had already learned to look at others with the eyes of sacrificial love.

That little boy is learning to live in this identity of Jesus—The Human One. One who sees the needs of others and responds. That little boy was claiming the identity that Jesus proclaimed. I understand Jesus’ claim as the “Christ” and the implications of a future eternal kingdom where Jesus reigns. Our hope is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus.

I also see the claim on our life here and now by Jesus referring to himself as The Human One. In writing on this passage in a paper Messianic Expectation, Craig Keener says: “Jesus indeed associated his ministry with such hopes for the future, but first by sharing our experience of mortal humanity and suffering in the present. The Gospel of Mark opens with the preaching of the kingdom but climaxes with the king’s crucifixion.

https://faith.yale.edu/sites/default/files/keener_expectation_0.pdf

Today, we are called to humble acts of human service. Today, we are called to be fully human. During the dark days of World War II, England had a great deal of difficulty keeping men in the coal mines. It was a thankless kind of Job, totally lacking in any glory. Most chose to join the various military services. They desired something that could give them more social acceptance and recognition. Something was needed to motivate these men in the work that they were doing so that they would remain in the mines.

With this in mind, Winston Churchill delivered a speech one day to thousands of coal miners, stressing the importance of their role in the war effort. He did this by painting for them a mental picture. He told them to picture the grand parade that would take place when VE Day came. First, he said, would come the sailors of the British Navy, the ones who had upheld the grand tradition of Trafalgar and the defeat of the Armada. Next in the parade, he said, would come the pilots of the Royal Air Force.

They were the ones who, more than any other, had saved England from the dreaded German Lufwaffa. Next in the parade would come the Army, the ones that had stood tall at the crises of Dunkirk.

Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in minor’s caps. And someone, he said, would cry from the crowd, “And where were you during the critical days of the struggle?” And then from ten thousand throats would come, “We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.” We are told there were tears in the eyes of many soot-laden and weathered-faced coal miners. The man at the top had given them a sense of their self-worth.

Service only sometimes comes with big fancy ribbons. And it is forever true, that it is often the humble acts of kindness that provide us with the most profound sense of joy and the most fulfilling satisfaction. Jesus said those who are willing to lose their life for my sake shall find it.

Let me close with another example of learning to be Human. Mother Teresa heard of a family whose nine members were starving to death. She hurriedly obtained some rice and went to the family, giving them enough rice to prepare a meal. But the woman divided the rice into two piles, placed one in a bag, and started to leave. Mother Teresa asked where she was going. The woman said she would also visit another family she knew was starving.

Please join me in following Jesus’ life of being Human.

 

© Rev. Tim Mitchell, 2023, All Rights Reserved
Westminster Presbyterian Church | 1420 W. Moss Ave. | Peoria, Illinois 61606
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