#275 IDENTITY
IN CRISIS AND CONFIRMATION
Scripture Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-20, NIV
Orig. 5/18/1985
Rewr. 7/22/1990
Passage: Mark 8:27-30, 27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Luke 9:18-20, 18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
Purpose: Sharing a message of confirmation about Jesus, and our need to know who He is.
Keywords: Christ, Identity Luke Mark
Synoptic Gospels New Testament
Christian Crises
Timeline: Sequential/None (See #828c)
Introduction
John Pollock, in his book on the life of Jesus, The Master1(p61f), deals effectively with this question of the identity of Jesus. In fact, he heads this chapter, “Who Can He Be?”
Jesus had spent the day under the hot Palestinian sun following a rigorous schedule of teaching. Instead of going to someone’s home, Jesus told them that they would go to the other side of the lake. It was during that night that a squall swept across the lake, driving the small vessel to the point of capsizing. Through it all Jesus slept, until awakened by the disciples, one of whom [said accusingly], “Carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38).
Jesus arose, commanded the raw elements. “Quiet! Be still!” he demanded. The disciples raised the question as would any one of us, “Who can he be, that he orders the wind and waves, and they obey?” (Luke 8:22).
In the still that followed, they had to row their boat ashore, and had been blown off course.
In the first light of morning they could see the shoreline. There were caves nearby in the small hills near the water. Off away were swine herders tending their repulsive herds. Ashore they lighted a fire, started to prepare breakfast, and suddenly a maddening charge caught them off guard. A huge, naked, angry man was running toward them from one of the caves. His hair was dirty and matted. Dried blood stood on his exposed skin. He directed his anger at Jesus, the disciples cowering before this sudden onslaught. Without flinching, Jesus commanded, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit.” Running pell-mell at Jesus, suddenly he stopped, and fell to his knees saying, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God?” In the anguishing hours just past, they watched Jesus still the storm, and now the torrent raging in this disquieted man. No doubt, there were questions needing to be answered. “Who is He?”
I. There is, First of All, a Crisis of Identity. V18 (Luke), v27 (Mark), “Now Jesus and his disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; . . . He asked . . . saying, ‘Who do men say that I am?’”
It is Jesus Himself who raises the question. He knows that it is on their minds. They are asked to tell what they are hearing. He is leading up to some declaration from them about who He is.
An appropriate point of view here is relative to identity crises in Jesus’ life. Remember a crisis in His boyhood: Unknowingly left behind in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-50, only)—they found Him in the temple; from birth to age thirty, this passage only interrupts that seclusion—“Wist ye not that I must be about my father’s business?” (first word). From what did He gain this insight? Nature—harvest (John 4:35/sheepfold); human nature—parables; scripture—temptation; workshop—the yoke fashioned there must stand the test. As now, they made their way homeward; thoughts reverted to Simeon.
Recall another crisis at His baptism. He went out because John was preaching. Jesus comes for baptism. John withdraws. “Permit it, John” (aphiemi, “cancel a debt”).
Why would Jesus countenance this desert ascetic’s negative word? In support of his obvious sincerity and to identify with sinners (think again of Moses, Exodus 32:32). Two things came to Jesus then—a vision (heaven opens), and a voice (affirmation of Jesus).
C. 1825 Scotland, Andrew Bonar and Robert M. McCheyne were together: “I remember on one occasion, when we met, [McCheyne] asked what my last Sabbath's subject had been. It had been ‘The wicked shall be turned into hell.’ On hearing this awesome text, he asked, "Were you able to preach it with tenderness?"
There was a crisis also at temptation. This is confrontation. What each knew about the other, we are not privy to. “Whatever you are, you have to prove it to me,” Matthew 4:1-11. “What he was, proving it did not affirm, but compromise.” We Baptists would do well to listen to this dialogue. Satan—“Prove you are sovereign.” Jesus—“I will give evidence of my sovereignty by revealing my servanthood.” Satan would advance, not only our doubt, but that of Jesus also.
Review the crisis at the coming of Greeks, His ministry had been localized. The crisis is that of intent. John 11 closes with Jesus sought by “chief priests and Pharisees.” Chapter 12 opens with Jesus “anointed” for burial, received in honor in Jerusalem, acknowledges the Greeks. John 12:24, “Except a [kernel] of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone” (failure to endure). The Father has willed the death of the servant though He be the Son.
Holman Hunt left many pictures of his concept of Jesus. One was entitled, “The Shadow of Death.” Jesus is in the carpenter shop. Late in the day the rays of a setting sun protrude. Jesus is at the workbench. Suddenly, He relaxes from a cramped position and stretches. His arms thrust out from His side cast a shadow on the wall. It is the form of a cross.
II. Lastly, We Acknowledge the Confirmation of Identity. V29 (Mark), v20 (Luke): “And Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ.’”
Suddenly, all of the questions and concerns begin to take a new focus. They have all viewed Him variously—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah; John as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). They see Him one step more clearly than the demoniac.
Dr. James Stewart reminds us “that a great part of the responsibility for the death of Christ at Calvary must be laid at the door of the sin of the closed mind. . . . It was an unteachable spirit that erected the cross.”
In this dilemma confronting us between crisis and confrontation, what spirit are we? Is ours a “teachable” spirit? Or, are we yet among those erecting crosses?
How must we see Him? As Son of God and Suffering Servant: His death was not arbitrary, but fundamental, as a death to self for the believer is fundamental to the gospel. As Frank Stagg says (?) “Only the life lived in faith and love, committed to serving God and others, is true human life. . . . To seek to save self is to destroy self.”
We must see Him also as Lord, and as Head of the church. He is the “anointed” one. That the church, in His own time, but in mine as well, is His. “I will build my church,” He declared. That the community is nought more than a community of people under His Lordship. Want to measure affiliation? Think on Jesus’ Lordship. “Who do you say that He is?” Is His identity still a crisis, or have you confirmed Him as Lord?
Conclusion
Cervantes in Don Quixote declares, “Tell me what company thou keepest, and I’ll tell thee what thou art.” I would change that slightly. “Tell me in what identity thou accompanist with the Christ, and I’ll tell thee what kind of servant thou be.”
RESOURCES
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2057743.The_Master
1-Pollock, C.J. 1985. The Master: A Life of Jesus.