We’re going to start this morning with a quick Marketing 101 lesson. Brand image is a key concept in Marketing 101. Brand image is the concept that you’re going to connect a particular product with a particular idea. Brand image.
They say that out of all the advertising dollars spent in the United States – whether it’s radio, television, magazines, newspaper, internet – more than half of advertising is not meant to get you to go out to buy the product. It is meant to get you to associate the product with an idea. To connect their product with some idea in your mind.
There’ve been Mitsubishi commercials that have been showing for three or four years now that are a perfect example of this. They’re all a little bit different, but they’re all variations on the same theme. In every single commercial, they drive a Mitsubishi car. It’s always full, there’s always four or five people in the car. They’re always young people. They’re always driving and looking like they’re on the way to some party or something. They’re always listening to music, and they’re always singing along with the music.
They change the cars, and they change the people in the cars, and they change the music playing, but otherwise the commercial is pretty much the same.
This commercial isn’t meant to make you rush out and buy a Mitsubishi, since you might not even be in the market for a car. What the commercial is trying to do is to associate Mitsubishi cars in your mind with this kind of attitude – youthful, fun-loving, good times with friends, enjoying life kind of an attitude.
So maybe, the next time that you are in the market for a car, or maybe the next time you’re passing by a Mitsubishi dealership, you will think to yourself, I fancy myself to be youthful. And I fancy myself to be someone who enjoys life, and likes good times with friends. And so, maybe Mitsubishi is the car for me.
And it’s not just products that have a brand image. Celebrities try to do this all the time. Politicians have their image that they try to present. Professional athletes have their image.
I was reading an article from Newsweek magazine not too long ago. They were talking about Meg Ryan’s new movie. Meg Ryan is an actress who starred in movies like “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “You’ve Got Mail” – romantic comedies. And she has a particular image that she presents – she’s wholesome, she’s innocent, she’s sweet, she’s cute, she’s young – that’s her image.
The article said she’s coming out with a new movie where she’s playing kindof a racy character, and they’re wondering if it’s going to be a success or not. In the last fifteen years, every single time she has been in a movie that played to her image – young, sweet, innocent, wholesome – they’ve been big successes. All her romantic comedies have been successful. But every time she’s tries to go against that image and be in a drama or a darker role or more of a serious movie, nobody has gone to see the movies. And so they’re not real hopeful that this movie will be a success for her, because it doesn’t fit her image.
Now, I mention this all because when we look at the Bible passage that was read this morning, you’ve got to admit, Jesus is not portraying an image that is going to ‘sell.’
So he asks the first question, “What are people saying about me?” “What do people think about me?” It’s a marketing question – “What is my image out there?”
One of the disciples says, people think that you’re Elijah, who has come back again. Elijah was a great miracle worker. He could do amazing things. Jesus, you’re doing amazing things – you must be Elijah.
Somebody else says, you’re john the Baptist who has come back. And of course, John the Baptist made a big announcement that “Someone is coming after me who is even more powerful than I am.” They figured if Jesus is coming after John the Baptist, then Jesus is announcing that after him will come something even better, and even bigger.
And then somebody else said, “People think you’re one of the prophets.” You’re somebody who is wise and knows what God wants to say to the world today, so you’re going to tell the world what God’s message is for the world today. You are a wise prophet.”
After Jesus asked the question, “Who do people say that I am?” he asked the question, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter was the only one who had the guts to respond. He said, “Jesus, you are the Christ. You’re not just any prophet. You are not simply a person in the Bible who has come back again. You are the Christ.”
But, when Peter said you are the Christ, he didn’t mean the actual Christ. He meant, his own idea of who the Christ was.
And at this point, I imagine Peter turning into a marketing consultant, sitting down with Jesus and saying, “Look, we need to work on your image! You’ve got some real problems with your image here.”
Peter started offering his advice, “First of all, you talk about suffering. You talk about people who will follow you and will suffer. Now suffering, I’ll admit, it was a fad a couple years ago. People were all into suffering! But that’s out, and that’s not going to fly any more.”
And Peter continued, “Second, this whole thing about being put on trial, where you’re going to be declared guilty, where you are going to be convicted, and you’re going to be crucified for a crime -- you know, that sortof makes you sound like a… criminal! I know that you probably have really good reasons for saying that, but, ‘criminal’ is not the image we’re trying to portray here. We’re trying to portray Christ.”
And then Peter says, “Third, where you say that people need to bear their cross to follow you... Look, we took that whole cross-bearing idea and we did some research. We tested cross-bearing with some focus groups, and they gave it a big thumbs down. Cross-bearing is not the way to go.”
“But don’t worry, we’ve got some suggestions for you. We’re going to improve your image and this is how we’re going to do it.
“First of all, where you say you’re going to have to die, let’s replace that with some kind of a prosperity idea. Tell the people, not that you’re going to die, but tell them that they’re going to get wealthy by following you. We think that’s going to be a much better selling point.
“Second, like I said, that whole suffering thing, it’s out. In its place, we’re going to put comfortable-ness. So, just tell people that they will just be comfortable if they follow you. Their problems will all go away. They will have no more troubles, no more hardships, no more difficulties. Everything is going to be smooth sailing as soon as they follow you. So, does that sound good, Jesus?
“Wait, what? Yes, I know, Jesus, that that’s not actually true, but you see, this is an image. And that’s why we call it an image. If it doesn’t reflect reality, that’s okay. We’re going to present an image of a Christ that people are going to like.”
“Third, like we said, the criminal thing is not going to work for you. Instead of being a criminal, how about being a conquering hero. How about telling people that instead of going to a trial and being crucified, you can tell people you’re going to ride into Jerusalem on a white stallion with an army behind you and you’re going to overthrow the Roman government. We think people are really going to go for that.”
And Jesus responds to Peter, “But that’s not who I am.”
Peter is doing the marketing thing here. He is trying to give Jesus an image of what it means to be a Christ that is going to be appealing, that is going to be attractive, that is going to get people to follow him. But Jesus says, “But that’s not who I am.”
But I admit, I still do that today, we still do that today. We try to recreate Christ the way we want Christ to be, because that’s so much easier. When we look at who Christ is in the Bible, our response is usually, “Yeah, but that’s so hard.”
When we read about the rich young ruler in the Bible, there’s a line in that account that we usually skip over – Jesus looked at the man, and Jesus loved the man. Then he said, “But you know what, all those possessions are getting in your way of loving God. You’re going to need to get rid of them all.”
And the rich young ruler says, “Yeah, but that’s so hard. Maybe I could get rid of a few and keep the rest. Is that okay?”
Jesus responds, “No, I’m not saying the possessions are bad, but in your case, they’re keeping you from loving God. You need to get rid of them all.”
And the rich young ruler says, “Yeah, but that’s so hard.
And Jesus responds, “Yes, but that’s who I am.”
When Jesus says, “You’ve got to love God and love your neighbor.”
And the guy is taking notes on this, so he says, “Love God, sure, no problem. Love your neighbor, sure, no problem.”
And then he starts thinking about it, and asks, “Wait, who’s my neighbor?”
Jesus answers him with a story about a good Samaritan. But the Samaritans are the despised people. They are the lowest of the low. Everyone considers the Samaritans beneath them. And Jesus says, that Samartian who got beat up, who got robbed, and got left by the side of the road. And one fellow came and loved him enough to nurture him back to health – that one was the one who loved his neighbor.
And the response to Jesus was, “Yeah, but that’s so hard. I can love the family that lives next door, they’re okay, but I’m not loving *that* Samaritan. I’m not loving that guy. He’s not my kind. He’s beneath me. I can love my neighbor, but don’t ask me to love that Samaritan. That’s too hard!”
And Jesus says, “Yes, but that’s who I am.”
When Jesus says, “Love your friends.”
We say, sure, we love our friends.
But Jesus goes on and says, “Yes, but that’s no big deal. Everybody loves their friends. Even a scoundrel loves his friends. You’ve got to love your enemies.”
And we respond, “Yeah, but that’s so hard! We can love people that we don’t like much, but not loving our enemies.”
And Jesus says, “But that is who I am.”
And every time that we take a look at the Bible and respond, “Yeah, but that’s too hard,” we try to recreate Jesus the way that we want him to be, because that’s a lot easier.
So what ends up happening is that we recreate Jesus into a swell guy. Jesus is just somebody who wants us to all get along and wants us to be friendly to each other.
But Jesus says, “No, that’s not who I am.”
Then we say, we want a ‘wealth and prosperity’ Jesus – somebody who if we follow Jesus, he’s going to help us get rich and drive a big car and live in a nice house.
Jesus says, “That’s not who I am.”
So we try to create a ‘feel good’ Jesus. A Jesus who says, “Don’t worry, if you just follow me, all your troubles are going to go away.”
Then when your kid is still addicted to drugs, that’s because you didn’t have enough faith in the feel-good Jesus.
When your mother still has cancer, that’s because you didn’t have enough faith in the feel-good Jesus.
The feel-good Jesus would have fixed everything. That’s not the Jesus we find in the Bible, either.
And we try to create a feel-good Jesus, because at least we can be comfortable with that Jesus. At least that Jesus wouldn’t challenge us too much.
I do it, you do it, we do it all the time – we try to recreate Jesus to be who we want him to be.
The good news is that Jesus isn’t who we want him to be.
The good news is that Jesus is who Jesus is.
When we look at John 3:16, we find probably the most familiar verse in the Bible – God so loved the world that He sent his son into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world. That is who Jesus is. God who came into our world to become one of us, to love the world.
There’s that old Bette Midler song, “God Is Watching Us from a Distance.” And that song drove me crazy. I couldn’t stand it. Because that’s not the God I see in the Bible.
Because the God of the Bible didn’t want to watch us from a distance, but wanted to love the world enough to become one of us, to become a part of the world, to see the world up close and personal. And when God came into the world in Jesus, what Jesus saw, must have just torn him up. When Jesus saw the injustice, saw the oppression, saw the violence and the warfare and the racism and the prejudice that we have created – up close and personal, not from a distance – it must have broken his heart.
Yet in the face of all that, Jesus loved the world anyway. When I read through the Bible, I see it again and again. Jesus loving sinners. Jesus loving tax collectors, who nobody liked. Jesus loving the prostitutes, who had made a mess of their life. Jesus loving even the Roman soldier who led him to his death. Jesus loving even the man who nailed him to the cross. Jesus looking to the criminal next to him on the cross who is being executed and loving him too!
And in every single place, we see Jesus loving the world, even when we didn’t deserve to be loved.
And that’s where I see Jesus saying, “Yes, that’s who I am.”
This morning, I want us to just take a moment to think of that question that Jesus asks of his disciples, and that Jesus continues to ask of us today, “Who do you say that I am?”
Please be in prayer, considering the question that Jesus asks of us this morning, “Who do you say that I am?”
[Prayer in silence]
Jesus loved us enough to become one of us.
Jesus loved us enough to suffer for us.
Jesus loved us enough to serve us.
Jesus loved us enough to even die for us, in the ultimate act of love.
This is the good news for the morning – that Jesus is not who we say he is. Jesus is who He is – the Son of God who loved us enough to become one of us in order to save all those who choose Him. Amen.
