Tuesday, January 22, 2013

“Who Do You Think I am?”—Luke 9:18-27

Please read today’s passage here: Luke 9:18-27

Sometimes in reading a passage in the Bible it is a good idea not only to look at what immediately preceded it—to see where it is “coming from”—but also what immediately follows—to see where the argument is headed.

In the case of this passage it is particularly helpful to do so. In Luke 7:18-23 a somewhat discouraged and confused John the Baptizer sent disciples from his prison cell to Jesus to ask if he was indeed the Expected Savior from God, or not. Jesus’ answer was that John should compare reports of Jesus miracles with the predictions in the Scripture and draw the proper conclusion. And as Luke tells of the mission trip of the Twelve (Luke 9:1-9), he tells of Herod Antipas’ reaction to hearing about the ministry of Jesus in verses 7-9 and his reception by the people of Galilee. What he hears there are the same opinions that the Twelve will report to Jesus in answer to the first of his questions in this passage: “Who do people believe me to be?” This is the background for today's passage.

As for where this session of question and answers is headed, the next major event in Luke’s narrative will be the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration (vv. 28-36), where testimony as to his identity will be given by God himself in a voice from the sky (v. 35). God will tell us who Jesus is. So in this long section of his gospel Luke is building a case for the true identity of Jesus. He is also asking his readers to form their own belief based upon his narrative.

Luke does not provide a specific chronological setting for this episode. His use of “once when Jesus was praying in private, and his disciples were with him” (v. 18) shows that the setting that he considers important for his readers is the setting of privacy and prayer. Privacy, in that he was not surrounded by the usual crowds, or even by the broader circle of disciples. This session was intended only for the inner circle. Prayer, in that Jesus and possibly also his inner circle were engaged in communion with God.

Often the gospels refer to Jesus praying alone, as most of us do in our daily quiet times with God. But the very existence of what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”, which he taught to his disciples, shows that sometimes Jesus must have prayed privately with his own intimate circle. That is, they have a small prayer circle, at which times the disciples could learn even better from the very example of Jesus how to pray to God.

The question: “Who am I?” Can have several senses. If I were to ask you that question, you might say: “Of course, you’re Harry Hoffner!” And since that is my name, your answer would be correct. But if you thought: “Obviously, he knows his own name. He must mean what is his occupation: what he does for a living,” you could answer: “You are a (retired) college professor, a researcher and a writer.” That too would be correct. From reading this column you could also be even more perceptive and say: “You are a Christian, who wants to understand and obey God’s Word in the Bible.” Then you would be penetrating beyond surface perceptions and getting to my real core.

The Twelve had seen the same miracles that the crowds had whose opinions they now gave to Jesus. But they had also lived with him. Perhaps only his parents Mary and Joseph had a longer intimate association with him. Still, it is safe to conclude that his disciples knew more intimately than anyone else. Only God knew him better. Now he was asking them what they believed about him.

The crowds’ beliefs were of lesser importance to Jesus. Towards the end of this passage we'll see that he commanded his disciples not to tell anyone outside the circle of his immediate disciples what they knew about him! Apparently, Jesus knew it was God’s will that the crowds come to their own conclusion. Apparently, he also felt the popular conception of “Messiah” did not fit his true mission. Apparently, he knew that it was God’s will that the people as a whole and their leaders would not accept him as the Messiah, but put him to death (see verses 21-22; also Acts 2:22-24). No, the opinions of the crowds were elicited in his first question only in order to test whether his own inner circle saw more than the crowds did. Their conception of him was important to him.

The common denominator of the crowds’ opinions was that he was a prophet, for John the Baptizer, like Elijah (and Matthew’s addition Jeremiah), was a prophet, although as we read earlier a very special one. What was the conviction of the Twelve? All three synoptic gospel writers agree that the common opinion shared by the Twelve was expressed by Simon Peter. It was “You are the Messiah”. Matthew gives a fuller form that adds “the Son of the living God”. Since both the Hebrew word Messiah and its Greek translation Christos mean “anointed (one)”, Mark’s longer form “Christ of God” (literally, the One Anointed by God) adds nothing significant. It is likely that Matthew’s long form is his own elaboration. Not, I would assure you, to falsify or claim more that the shortest form. But merely to explain or “unpack” the word “Messiah” for his own audience.

This is not the place for a long detailed explanation of the meaning of the term Messiah in Jesus’ time. Suffice it to say that the concept of anointing by God places the origin of the concept in the days of the first Israelite kings (Saul, David, Solomon), whom—you recall—were anointed as kings. The anointing consecrated them—set them apart as men especially holy to God. Do you remember how David refused to lift a hand against King Saul, when the latter was seeking to kill him, and David had opportunity to strike him first? David said to him men, “Far be it from me to raise a hand to strike the Anointed of God” (see 1Sam 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11, 16, 23; 2Sam 1:14, 16; 19:21 [scroll down the resulting window to see all these verses]). And when after Saul’s death, an Amalekite sought to curry favor with David by claiming to have been the one who dealt Saul the death blow, David had him killed after asking him “Why were you not afraid to deal a death blow to the Anointed of God?” (2Sam 1:11-16).

In time, God revealed that he was going to send one like David—only even greater than he—to assume rule over his people at the end of history. Isaiah and other prophets added that this One sent would also be a Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) who would suffer and die for the sins of Israel (and the world as well). This final Anointed king and servant came to be popularly known simply as the Anointed One (Hebrew Messiah; Greek Christos).

In Jesus’ day the Suffering Servant aspect of this Messiah was still known, but was either played down in favor of the aspect of the Messiah as the mighty King who would destroy God's enemies, or it was simply attributed to a different future figure. But Jesus united both Suffering Servant and King in his person. In a sense, he acted to destroy God's true enemies—not Roman soldiers, but demons who brought painful diseases— during his earthly life by expelling demons from suffering Israelites and by defeating Satan at the cross through his death for our sins and his rising to life again. Yet until he comes again at the end of history, when his kingship in its fullest form will be shown, Jesus' kingship is mainly shown inwardly through his rule over the lives of us who are believers.

Peter’s confession was met with Jesus' command that I mentioned earlier: the disciples were not to share this view with the world at large (v. 21). I do not believe that Jesus meant that the Twelve were not to share this view with other true disciples in the wider circle. He might have meant that, but I consider it unlikely. Rather, they were not to use this title of him in their public ministry, such as the mission trip that they had just finished. This was because of the false expectations abroad that the Messiah would drive out the Romans, an expectation that Jesus knew was not God's will for him.

What are we to make of this passage so far as what God wishes of us today? First, like the apostles, we too need to have a proper understanding of who Jesus was and is, in order to understand what we should expect (and not expect) from him. We need to know that as the Suffering Messiah, he suffered death not for any misdeed of his own, but for our misdeeds. Dying on that Roman cross, he bore God's punishment for the sins of every human being who ever lived or will live. Consequently, we may expect from him that he can wipe the slate clean of all our failures and misdeeds, when we trust him to do this. Secondly, as the Ruling Messiah, we need to want him to guide and rule our daily living. A king who doesn't rule is not a king. These things we can learn from who Jesus is.

From his command to the disciples not to tell this to the broader public we may learn other lessons. Obviously, after the crucifixion and resurrection Jesus no longer forbade his disciples to declare his true identity to the world at large. On the contrary, he commanded it. Today we joyfully share with the world the full truth of who Jesus was and is. Our message is much richer than simply “he is the Anointed One of God”. We proclaim him as the Son of God—the God-become-Man, who suffered death in his humanity and as a true man took upon himself on our behalf the sins of the world, and then rose again successful in this mission. Exalted to the throne of God, he now presides from Heaven over the Church he formed and will come again in glory to set up his eternal kingdom of righteousness and peace at the end of history.

Is there, then, no sense in which we should heed the command not to tell others that he is the Messiah? Perhaps only in the sense that there are times when we have to know when is the best time and circumstance to provide certain truths to those who are either opposed to the gospel or who are only beginning to grasp it. Not everyone understands what we mean when we say—as I did in the preceding paragraph— that he is the "God-become-Man", that he united in himself full deity and full humanity. Not everyone understands that God cannot simply forgive everyone, regardless of whether or not they believe in Jesus or wish him to help them change their lives for the better, bringing them into harmony with God's will. When we share God's truth with others, we have to ask ourselves where these friends are in terms of understanding the basic concepts of the Bible. And then we must shed the insider "lingo" we use with others who have a more thorough understanding, and put things in everyday terms. I once thought a good title for this Luke study would be “Luke in small bites: easy to digest”. Because overwhelming someone with too much information and in large doses only causes mental indigestion. It also causes the friend to lose interest very quickly.

In that sense, then, we might learn from Jesus’ words that there is a time and a place and a manner to give information about Jesus to people who are interested to know about him. Not everything can be explained immediately. Trying to do so may only confuse. So we go slowly and step-by-step. And we ask our friends to have patience if not everything is crystal-clear immediately. On the other hand, we do not try to make the gospel palatable by diluting or sugar-coating it. We do not present a false picture of Jesus, just to make him more likable or "exciting" to our friends. Giving others a false impression of Jesus will only lead to eventual disappointment, when they discover from reading the Bible on their own that he was really not like what they were told. Jesus is likable and exciting enough just as he really was.

So let's focus on "eating a healthy diet" ourselves from Scripture and on "chewing" it thoroughly, by asking ourselves lots of questions about how this passage relates to the way we think and live each day. Truth that you yourself have “chewed on” and digested will be much more likely to help you "feed" others.

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