Pax Romana, Roman peace, held the empire together for centuries. Among it’s dictates was one concerning religion. It seems that if Rome took over a nation or people with their own religion they never made them switch to the Roman gods. Their thinking was sound…why give them a reason to rebel. Because of this peace Jerusalem was able to keep the temple and their beliefs. They were allowed to keep their feasts, attend synagogue, and the rest.
It still wasn’t a time of peace though. A group of radicals called zealots wanted to start another rebellion like the Maccabees had done earlier and toss Rome out. Others, like the Sadducees, understood the reality of the situation and tried to make the best of a bad world. Others believed that if the law was kept even more intensely then God would save His people. And most believed that Messiah (in Greek the word is Christ) would be the leader who would destroy the current world order and set things right.
A ruling power, a political leader, one who could single handedly destroy Rome those were some of the thought I imagine were rattling around in the minds of those who waited. If we are to believe the Bible and other ancient texts there were those who proclaimed themselves Messiah and attempted to lead revolts. They were destroyed by Rome without mercy.
John the Baptist wasn’t unusual in a lot of ways. Every age has its predictor of the “end of the world” and John was just one more voice added to that group. The difference was that John had been given the task by God himself even before His birth. The Holy Spirit was on John and allowed Him to discern, to understand and see, things that was missed by most. That was how he was able to jump for joy when his Aunt Mary entered their house pregnant with Jesus. And it’s how he knew something was different when this same cousin came to be baptized.
Here he was, the one he’d been speaking about. He wasn’t worthy to untie this man’s sandals. This one coming into the water was to take away the sins of the world. This man wading toward John was the Lamb of God and John wanted to be baptized with the fire and Spirit that his cousin Jesus would baptize with. That was not to be, instead after a short exchange John relents and baptizes Jesus. Sinless, Jesus identified with those sinners for whom he would be executed in three short years. Without blame or fault Jesus, in this moment of humility, takes upon Himself that blame and our faults.
And as Jesus exits the water heaven is opened, a dove descend and a voice declares just who Jesus is. John saw and heard what happened because he was attuned by the Spirit to it. Jesus saw and heard too because His heavenly Father delighted in the choice that Jesus had just made.
Jump ahead five or maybe six years and in Acts 10 we have Peter standing in the house of a non-Jew. Peter had witnessed the power of Jesus first hand as his mother-in-law was healed. He’d been commended for a statement of faith when he declared Jesus was the Christ; and he’d also been quickly chastised when he tried to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem. He’d been there during the miracles, the arrest, looked on at the trials from afar (that was one night Peter wanted to forget) and was the first one in the empty tomb on the Sunday following Jesus’ execution.
He’d become a leader of the Christians in Jerusalem and now, after a series of visions, he finds himself about to tell a Roman soldier, a leader of Roman soldiers about this Jesus. And what Peter testifies too is the fact that Jesus had been given the power and Holy Spirit in order that people would believe in Him and be forgiven of their sins through His name.
The issue before us, almost 2000 years later is the same as it was for those disciples who chose to follow Christ and for Cornelius and his household. Who is this Jesus? And What do we believe about Him? Our answer doesn’t only impact our day-by-day life but our eternal future as well. Our belief about Jesus can give us peace and joy in midst of tough times. And it offers us the promise of being accepted into God’s Kingdom.
You might think the choice would be pretty obvious but it’s not. Most people in our nation, our state, and our neighborhoods have never fully answered this question or have chosen to answer it based on the testimonies of others. Who is this Jesus? Well he is the elder brother for Mormons and an advanced medium or ascended master to New Agers. A false Messiah or good teacher to Jews and an avatar (son of god like all people are) to the Hindus. A good teacher, a nice man, revolutionary, exalted human, example to be followed, a god (small ‘g’) or any number of other descriptions has been used about Jesus. And what may or may not surprise you is that even among the church there are those who accept these definitions over God’s own declaration. Right now a congregation in our own Presbytery may face charges because of a letter they sent in which they limited Jesus by saying “Jesus is OUR Savior”.
God’s word makes it clear that these views are inferior for Jesus is The Christ, Messiah, Son of God. We hear the word “beloved” and think of compassion and love but the word has the power of commissioning and election. Peterson brings that out in his paraphrase of God’s declaration in The Message, “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”
What do we do with this? Have you seen the Charles Schwab commercial where the old doctor is taking the woman’s temperature? He talks about how he’s known her all her life and as he tells her to get rest he suddenly tells her she needs to rebalance her portfolio. The tag line for Schwab is something like, “Wouldn’t it be nice if the person you trusted most was your investment manager.” A real life episode happened while I was in seminary. A train derailed in a populated area of Los Angels and one of the cars lying on its side was filled with chlorine gas. The news lady doing the story from nearby told her audience how a firefighter had told them that if the alarm they had set up went off they were to run “that way” and she pointed off camera. She wondered why they couldn’t get in the news truck and drive off, surely that would be faster. And the firefighter explained to her that their truck was downwind of the car and if the gas escaped it would rob the air of oxygen and the car wouldn’t start. What stuck with me was how this woman assumed that the firefighter was telling her the truth. I guess she could have argued or if the car leaked (which it didn’t) she could have tested his theory by getting in the truck. Instead she simply believed what he told her and accepted it as truth.
How is it we are so willing to accept with little or no discussion statements about our physical health, and well being but figure we have the ability to guess at our own answers when it comes to our eternal health? God’s declaration of Jesus as His Son is a statement everyone will either affirm or deny. And eventually we’re told everyone will affirm it is true even though it pains them to do so.
It was Peter’s confession of Jesus as Christ that took him into the streets of Jerusalem that first Pentecost. It was Peter’s acceptance of God’s word which allowed him to enter into a gentiles home to present Jesus to a people who didn’t know much about him at all.
The application for this weeks message isn’t very time consuming but I hope it will stretch your understanding of Jesus. If you already believe that Jesus is the unique and only Son of God why do you believe it? What led to you accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior of the world? Many of those born before 1945, pre-baby boomers, were raised with a religious background. Even if you weren’t in church the nation around you from school to radio were pretty much Christian in their morality and spiritual truths. For many of these folks it’s was easy to believe in Jesus as the Son of God because that’s the way the world worked. Those born later didn’t have the luxury. Questioning authority led to a wholesale rejection of their parent’s beliefs. For many of these folks it was a personal search for meaning that led them to discover Jesus. Still others craved the experience of being close to God and for them it was the crusade, the retreat or other mountain top experience that led to a place where they finally believed.
So if you’re already a believer what is it that led to that belief and then beyond that what evidence have you seen that you made the right choice?
If you’re not a believer I would like you to wrestle with the question of who or what do you accept as a legitimate and true authority when it comes to matter of the soul? Some may look to the Church, or their own feelings. Others say it’s a trusted friend or the outcome of their own research. What ever your answer work through the question till you have one or two sources you believe when it comes to spiritual things. A follow-up question is what if your trusted source is wrong and the Biblical witness is actually true? What differences will that make in your life?
Who is Jesus? He’s the Son of God testified too by the apostles and God Himself. He’s been shared with much of the world and denied by most, yet Jesus remains the Son of God. In the words of a cartoon from a few years back, “Now you know! And knowing is half the battle.”
