In the fall of 1999 ABC launched a television game show that quickly became the #1 rated television program in the country. Hosted by Regis Philbin, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? hit the airwaves and soared in popularity. Airing three nights a week during primetime it seemed that Americans just couldn’t get enough of the new game show.
Perhaps you remember how the game was played. Once a contestant settled into the “hot seat” the goal was to answer 15 multiple-choice questions correctly in order to win the final prize of a million dollars. Of course the questions got progressively more difficult. Each question was worth a specified amount of money, and the contestant always had the option of “walking away” and not giving an answer after being presented with the question. In that case, their game ended and the contestant was awarded the amount of money that he or she earned for his or her previous correct answer. You may recall that the contestants on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? were also given three lifelines if they needed help to answer one of the questions. In the original show they could choose “Ask the Audience,” “Phone-A-Friend,” or “50/50.”
Although you won’t win a million dollars if you answer this question correctly I am wondering if someone here can tell me the tag line that each contestant had to give before the correct answer was revealed. Regis Philbin would ask, “Is that your final answer?” Then the contestant would state his or her answer to the question and say, “That’s my final answer.” At that point there was no going back and changing and answer. The correct answer was revealed and the contestant either advanced to the next question or he or she had to leave the show.
In our Gospel Lesson for today we heard Jesus ask his disciples a couple of questions. Unlike Regis Philbin Jesus wasn’t going to give them a million dollars if they answered correctly. No, through his questions he wanted them to receive eternal life through faith in him. He then led them to realize that correct answers to his questions would have consequences in their lives for time and for eternity. He wanted them to give their “final answer” concerning who he was and what he had come to do for them.
Jesus’ questions are still important. And today he wants each of us to give our “final answer” to one main question concerning who he is and what he has done for us. Giving the correct answer about Jesus and believing it in our hearts won’t win us a million dollars. It will bring us all the unbelievable things God has promised to give to those who become his children through faith in his Son. May God the Holy Spirit enable us to answer the question printed in our service folders:
“WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?”
I. In light of the facts about Him
II. In light of the effects of your answer
When we look at our Gospel Lesson in the broader context of Jesus’ life we quickly see this event as a turning point. Because of his preaching, his teaching, and his miracles Jesus enjoyed a period of popularity among the people. But things were about to change. People were beginning to turn away from Jesus because he wasn’t the kind of Savior they had been hoping he would be. They also found many of his teachings to be too offensive to accept. Soon Jesus would be betrayed into the hands of those who hated him, suffer horribly, be crucified and die. So before he entered the final phase of his mission to save mankind Jesus wanted his disciples to correctly answer the question, “Who do you say I am?” And he wanted their correct answer to be their final answer no matter what happened to Jesus and no matter what they face in life
I.
Luke gives us very little background information for the specific circumstances surrounding Jesus’ loaded question to his disciples. “Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” With an “ask the audience” approach to the question Jesus asked the disciples to state the things that they had heard about him.
So why did it matter what the crowds thought of Jesus? Having the disciples state what others were saying about him would help separate the facts about him from the fiction that was being said about him. The disciples 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.” Although each of these answers regarding who Jesus is might have seemed plausible to many people they were all incorrect. King Herod had executed John the Baptist because of his preaching against his immoral living. And yet because of Jesus’ powerful preaching people thought he might have actually been John the Baptist raised from the dead. In Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets the LORD had said that Elijah would prepare the way for the Savior. It turned out that John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy. But instead of accepting Jesus as the Promised One and John as the Elijah who was to come they thought Jesus was only preparing the way for the Savior. That certainly is ironic. And finally because Jesus spoke God’s Word with authority many thought he was an Old Testament prophet that had come back to life. One could argue whether or not these answers were reasonable or silly but in the end they were incorrect.
If we were to go around today and ask people who Jesus is we would get even more answers than the disciples had heard. Muslims will say that he was a prophet. Buddhists will gladly call Jesus a “guru” and one of the incarnations of Buddha. Mormons say that Jesus is “a son of God” along with many others. Philosophers may acknowledge Jesus as one of the great minds of the ages. Historians point to him as one of the most influential people that has ever lived. Jesus has been called a first rate teacher, a political activist, and a worker of miracles. Although these answers to the question of who Jesus is may sound wonderful they all fall short of the full truth—the most important truth.
Of course it would be hard to find a person or group to say something bad about Jesus but it is worth noting what many won’t say about him. A person can know many things about Jesus but not know him in the way that matters. That is why Jesus turned the question away from the crowds to his disciples. “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” The crowds were confused but did the disciples know and believe the truth about Jesus? Peter gave the correct answer. Jesus is, “The Christ of God.”
It is probably impossible for us to grasp the impact of this confession when it was spoken. The hearts of the twelve Jewish men who had been called as Jesus’ disciples must have skipped a beat when that answer came out of Peter’s mouth. The promised Savior was standing in front of them. Immanuel—God with us—had finally come and he was there with them. These men had memorized many of the Old Testament prophecies that pointed to Jesus. When all the pieces finally fell into place they must have wanted to jump for joy.
Without the advantage that the disciples had in regards to their knowledge of the Old Testament we need to slow down for a moment and consider Peter’s confession. What was he saying when he called Jesus the “Christ of God.” In the language of his people Peter would have called Jesus the Messiah not the Christ. Messiah is the Hebrew word for Christ. Both titles mean the same thing. Peter was acknowledging that Jesus was the “anointed One.”
Once again we are at a disadvantage compared to the disciples. They knew that for centuries prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with a special oil to mark them as chosen by God. They also knew that the prophecies of the Old Testament said that some day God would come to his people as THE ANOINTED ONE and serve as all three persons--prophet, priest, and king—at the same time. He would be the ultimate prophet, priest, and king.
There was also no gray area in the disciples minds about what Peter meant by saying that Jesus was “the Christ of God.” The Jews believed that when the Christ came he would be equal to God in all power, authority, and majesty. We don’t know what their grasp of the Trinity was but the disciples did here acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth was the eternal Son of God and nothing less than God himself.
Friends in the faith, let Jesus ask you the same question he asked the disciples so long ago. “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Your answer to that question is important for you both now and when your time of grace ends. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the correct answer to you. He alone can cause you to know and believe the truth about Jesus. From your faith filled heart you can say with Peter, “Jesus is the Christ of God.”
And what blessings come to you when you know and believe the truth about Jesus? Knowing and believing that Jesus is your prophet, priest, and king changes your relationship to God and everything in your life. As your prophet he speaks from God and for God through the Scriptures. His living Words still talk to your heart. When you believe in Jesus as your priest you have confidence that he is your go-between. His blood covers your sins. He takes your prayers to the Father. He brings blessings from the Father back to you. When you know and believe that Jesus is the King of kings you have peace and security under his rule
Knowing and believing that Jesus is the “Christ of God,” assures you that you have a substitute who lived and died in your place. That fact about who Jesus is confirms the truth that your salvation was taken care of by God himself. As John wrote in his gospel, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31) In light of the facts about him may we give the correct answer to the question about who Jesus is. And may we make it our final answer!
II.
Jesus’ reaction to Peter’s correct answer to his question might seem a little surprising. Our gospel lesson continues, “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Now we can begin to understand why Peter’s correct answer about Jesus being the Christ would be challenging to believe. Why would the Christ of God suffer many things and be killed? Being “the Christ of God” meant that Jesus was destined for the cross. That is how he would open heaven for sinners. After living a perfect life in perfect obedience to the Ten Commandments Jesus would die in the place of those who had broken the Ten Commandments. He would be the sacrifice for sin. And through his resurrection from the dead he would establish the fact that he had made atonement for sin, crushed the devil, and conquered death.
Very soon after the event in our Gospel Lesson the disciples would see Jesus arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Old Testament Lesson that I read earlier we heard about the time when Jesus the Shepherd would be struck and his disciples would be scattered. On Good Friday the devil would challenge the disciples’ belief that Jesus was the Christ of God. But in the end the Holy Spirit would enable them to hold firmly to their “final answer” regarding Jesus.
When a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? gives a correct answer the studio audience cheers. When someone gives the correct answer about Jesus it stirs up a very different reaction. Jesus went on to say, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Since the world hated Jesus the world would hate his disciples.
If the stories about Peter’s death that have been handed down over the centuries are true he literally took up his cross and followed Jesus. We are told that he was crucified because he was a follower of Jesus. But he also went the way of the cross in a figurative sense. He suffered for the cross. His sinful nature that caused him so many problems was put to death with his crucified Lord.
The message for us today is that if a person makes the truth about Jesus his or her final answer he or she will face attacks from the devil, the world, and his or her sinful flesh. Life will not be easy for those who know and believe the truth about Jesus. The life of a Christian is a life of denying oneself, taking up a cross, and following where Jesus leads.
And the way of the cross involved more than just a life of suffering and persecution. Following Jesus would involve the death of their sinful nature. Their pride, their self-centeredness, any desires outside of God’s will, their personal goals not in keeping with God’s Word, would all have to be nailed to the cross. It might not have seemed fair, or easy to accept but it was the way God planned it and so it was the only way it could be. It would be the way of the cross for the disciples if they were truly going to follow Jesus.
To avoid disappointment every generation of believers must hear what Jesus said about the way of the cross. There are some Christian churches that are promoting a “theology of glory” as it has been called. They teach that if a person is obedient to God he will bless that person with career advancement, financial success, and good health. They say that a follower of Christ should be on top of the world. If a believer suffers they say it is because he or she is not right with God. You can understand the disastrous consequences of this kind of thinking. The way of the Christian is the way of the cross. It was that way when Jesus spoke these words to Peter. It is still that way today.
And the way of the cross is ours in another sense as well. All that we are apart from God must die with Jesus on the cross. Our pride, our personal desires for self, our wishes apart from God, must be nailed to the cross. This is something that the Apostle Paul declared so strongly in his letter to the Galatians. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24) “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14) The way of the cross is our way to life with God.
Giving a correct answer as your final answer on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” puts a person one step closer to winning a million dollars. For a fortunate few their final answer may even win them a million dollars. Giving the correct answer about Jesus has a very different outcome for those who follow him.
Because of its early success and continued popularity I am sure that most of you are familiar with the television show, “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” As a contestant answers a series of increasingly difficult questions he or she wins more money. If a contestant gets stuck and can’t answer a question he or she can use a “lifeline” for help. I wonder what would happen if Regis Philbin asked a contestant the question in our gospel lesson. “Who is Jesus?” If you do get on the show I hope you don’t have to call me for the correct answer. Let your answer be the one that Peter gave so long ago. Let it be your final answer today and always. Amen.
