Black Country Churches Engaged

the sub-region’s ecumenical intermediate body

Pat Nimmo on Identity

"Who do people say that I am?"

Today we have been asked to answer the question “Who is this man Jesus?” an inversion of…

Who are you?” Jesus was a Middle Eastern, Jewish, young male, unmarried. He was an itinerant rabbi, a miracle worker, religious teacher. Today how would he have been regarded? The Jews at the time of the life of Jesus were expecting a particular person who had a definite identity or so they thought. They were expecting the Jewish Messiah, the saviour who would lead them, a strong leader who would throw off the yoke of the Romans under whose rule the Palestinians lived. If you want evidence for this then you will find it in the caves of Qumran.

The story of Peter’s confession at Ceasarea Philippi (now known as Banais, on the borders of Lebanon) is a turning point. The statues of to the Greek God Pan can still be seen there and people sit and eat their sandwiches on them. It's there that Jesus asks, “Who do people say that I am?” It wasn’t normal for rabbis to ask questions of their pupils but this rabbi did. He asked them to test out the water, to find out the gossip. And they told him, Elijah or Jeremiah, John the Baptist or a prophet returned from the dead. Then he asks them who they thought he was and immediately Peter says “The Messiah, the Son of the living God!”. It’s a shocking answer! Its blasphemy but he says it. And because he has said it Jesus says to him “And you are a rock on which I will build my church!” He doesn’t deny it and so we presume it is true. And with that recognition, comes a passing on of the inheritance we remember on Ash Wednesday, the inheritance in this case of authority to bind and loose. Finally they are told to keep quiet because this knowledge is dangerous. You only tell those you trust with your life, such things.

The question Jesus poses is a juxtaposition between who you think I am and who I know I am? The “ I am/: reminds us of God's appearance to Moses. I am who I am Jehovah.. But we cannot ignore a fundamental problem with the answer to the question in Mark 8, Luke 9 and Mathew 16, “Who do you say that I am”? Jesus asked this question of his closest disciples, one of the few of such questions recorded. Why did he ask it? He asks this question, “on the way” as for all of us we learn as we journey, as we are traveling on in life. The question relates back to Mark 6, where some were saying of Jesus that “John the Baptist had risen from the dead…but others said Elijah and others said a prophet… “ Do the disciples think he is a reincarnation of John the Baptist, or Elijah or a prophet? Peter knew who Jesus was - the Christ, the Messiah. But while Jesus knows that this means he is someone who has come to challenge the authority of the scribes and Pharisees, and because of it he will be condemned and executed. Peter's understanding of Messiah is different and so he reacts and in turn is fiercely rebuked.

Where have you come from?

The prophesies in the Old Testament are slightly ambiguous about this coming Messiah. He would be a warrior king, he would be a servant of God, humble, a bruised reed he would not break, such was his gentleness.

Where are you going?

Jesus life is in danger because of who he is. He will suffer and die, and on the third day be raised from the dead. It's fantastic. A fantasy. It's no wonder Peter intervenes only to be rebuked by Jesus and to be accused of colluding with Satan.

Who people say you are?

If you look at the person next to you it maybe that you can tell me who that person is, what are their main personality traits or quirks, what are their likes and dislikes. What you say may be linked to their work because in our society we place a great deal of emphasis on work. Work in our society could become your total identity and when you cease working in paid employment you cease to have a role, an identity. In other cultures you have a role simply because of your gender or place in the family or caste. But none of that answers the real question of who are you?
As Christians we have taken on a different identity. To say to someone that you are a Christian means two things take place. Firstly people quickly reflect on what being a Christian means, a do-gooder perhaps, a good Samaritan, a nice person, patient, someone who gives money out and loving care and so on. Then they look at you and ask themselves if you fit the bill and inevitably you probably at some point don't. The point is that if we are going to openly identify ourselves as Christians we have a standard against which we are set and it is a very high one.
When Jesus asked the disciples “Who do you think I am?” they were engaging in a similar exercise. Prophets went about prophesying the future and did strange things. Maybe he’s a prophet. Elijah never died but was translated into heaven. Maybe he’s Elijah. But Peter had been doing even more thinking. He knew the prophesies concerning the Jewish Messiah and he matched Jesus with them. It's funny how the religious leaders did the same and came up with a different answer. Peter knew and was right that Jesus was the Messiah. A point contested by most Jews to this day. What he did not know was, the implications of this and at this point his perception of Messiah was wrong.

Who are you really?

Jesus knows who he is and where it will lead despite Peter's protestations. Do you? Do you know how your life will pan out? Your calling? What God wants you to do? We all have a distinct identity given to us by God and a destiny with that identity. Nobody else’s life will be like ours. We are unique. God given. Jesus's destiny was unique and but we too all have an identity and a destiny and the two are inexplicably interlinked. The closer we get to finding out who we really are, the closer we get to God, and to our God given destiny. Who are you and where are you going in this life that God has given you?
Identity
This question of who you are your Identity is something we can't ignore. Just look at Kosova, Coatia, Bosnia, Serbia once Yugoslavia. Look at the move from multiculturalism to separate ethnic identities. Look at the movement away from ecumenism. In each case there is a reaction to a unified identity (metanarrative - the big picture story) back to micronarratives - the smaller stories.
The growth of churches of ethnic churches indicate this same process. Who you are matters, Difference matters. If our society has any thing to say to us at present it is just that. Who you are matters. God is in our stories, our contexts, the local story. This is a time for stories. Your testimony.

Jesus knew who he was and what that would mean for his life. It is a fundamental challenge to all of us. Do you know who you are and what that means for your life and the direction it will take?

And this man. can I trust him? This Jew who was followed by dirty fisherman and tax collectors and lepers? This Jesus, a man born into a particular place in Israel? A Jewish man, teaching a variant of Judaism of the day. Some people cannot identify Jesus as a Jew even today! Can I as an educated white western woman in the C21st really trust him? Does he represent me as he did the common people of the land, the ham arez. And as ordinary women, prostitutes and even rich women followed him, can I too with integrity?

So how can you find out what is God's calling for you?
     1. Time with God
     2. From others
     3. From scripture
     4. Holy Spirit

We, like Jesus, are each on a journey, to discover who we are and what God wants from us, a pilgrimage through our own wilderness, deserts, with mirages, oasis and strange guides. In the desert, wilderness times, we will face ourselves in temptation and danger from wild beasts, from principalities and demonic powers, but also experience ministering angels. If we survive the wilderness experience, we will have forged a new identity, ready for the plan that God has for us.

Office Address:

18 Selman’s Hill

Bloxwich

Walsall

West Midlands

WS3 3RJ