Who are you?

Since there are so many asking, it is not surprising that there are lots of answers floating around: false answers, partial answers, misleading answers, pretend answers.

On the silly level, I've always been amazed and puzzled with the great American craze about team clothing and corporate logos.

Why should we strut around with Adidas or Nike emblazoned on our clothing, giving free advertizing to the companies.

Shouldn't they be paying us to wear their names?

Are we so shaky in our identity that we have to take a name from a company?

Why should kids wear jerseys from Dallas Cowboys or San Diego Chargers, places they have never even seen?

Are our only heroes in sports?

[Besides, everyone knows that the only appropriate things to wear are from the Pittsburgh Pirates.]

It seems to affect everyone from the youngster with the superhero underwear to the grandfather driving the bright red sports car.

Who am I?

When we are not sure of an answer, we'll borrow a name from the things which surround us. How sad!

On an even more disturbing level are those who are so confused about their answer to the question that they try to hide:

--the frantic anorexia of the teenage girl,

--the vacant stare of the drug addict,

--the bleary incoherence of the alcoholic....are all signs that the answer through which they try to hide will kill them.

Who am I?

I hate my answer, many say by what they do to themselves.

Asking Who am I? leads to dead ends.

Our Gospel today leads us to understand that we will make no progress with the question until we see the answer to a different question: Who is this Jesus?

Again, there are a variety of answers:

--Is he an engaging teacher for the crowd,

--or a clever arguer against the snooty Pharisees,

--or just a wonderful friend to the downtrodden...

Oh, yes, all that and more.

However, all of that is safely in the past, and has not yet touched us.

Matthew is not content merely to tell a quaint story from history; he means for this story to grab hold of us.

Did this detail puzzle us when we heard the Gospel?:

whom does the voice from heaven address?

--We notice that there is no mention of a crowd.

--There are no disciples yet.

--John seemingly does not hear or see.

Who is left?

“Hey everyone, This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well-pleased,” the heavenly voice says.

Who hears it?

Since Jesus already knows who he is, and we have accounted for other possible characters, then the persons being addressed must be...us!

All who hear this story proclaimed are shaken awake.

Who is this Jesus?

Is he another nice guy?

No, he is the Son of God, whose nature we now know.

The heavenly voice has echoed two very special scripture passages, Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42.

Psalm 2 is one which was sung when a King is crowned.

Isaiah 42 is the passage we heard as our first lesson today, the song of the Servant of God who suffers for his people.

Put together, these two passages yield a wonderful result: Christ is the one who is in charge of all creation as well as the one who serves his people; he is both King and Servant.

He is the one who stand ahead of us, calling us to himself,

and also the one who stands beside us and helps us in every distress and trouble.

Who am I?

Our first true answer to that question is to say that I am a person who has heard who Jesus is.

I am not alone.

I have a Lord, and I am In a web of relationships, a community with that Lord, and through him with his people.

It is good news to a philosopher who falls into a well of his own words.

It is good news to the old woman who feels so alone as she sits watching the empty doorway of the nursing home.

It is good news to the shocked worker tossed out by the latest corporate reshuffle, feeling used and useless.

I am not alone.

I have a Lord Jesus who is in charge of things.

I am in a web of relationships, a community, the church of all ages, the body of Christ Jesus.

How do I know?
How am I sure that this news applies to me?

Because long years ago, God made a promise to me, and not just to people in general, but to me individually.

I will be your God, and you shall be my people.

This pure Gospel was acted out as a Pastor Mont Bowser poured water and baptized me in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

This is my beloved Son, given for you and and for me.

The body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you and for me.

What a difference it makes!

Martin Luther, when he was in despair and confusion over this or that crisis in the church in turmoil would say loudly to himself, “But I am baptized!”

The devil of despair chases me, but I am baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It is just as true for us as it was for Martin.

Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, Paul reminds us.

So, how shall we live?

There may well come the day when each of us is despairing, a day when it is hard for each of us to remember this Good News that there is a Lord Jesus who is for us.

Then we will have to depend on those around us to tell us the story again, to hold us up in our weaknesses.

Some days we may be going through the motions of praising God,

but when we join in with enthusiasm and the Spirit of God, we pray that the same Spirit will enliven us.

Rajakumari runs a retreat center in India.

One day Dennamama came in, despairing and alone, abandoned by her husband, at the point of suicide.

Rajakumari gently spoke with her and persuaded her to wait at least one more day.

And then she gave Dennamama a job.

“Take this map and this newspaper.

After reading it, lay your fingers on the places you know know that there are others in pain, and pray for them.”

The next day, another paper and more prayers.

Ever so gently, the Lord Jesus welcomed her back to an active life.

Ever so gently she began to know, to appreciate, to rejoice in the web of relationships she was exploring in prayer and in person.

Ever so gently she began to see again the answer to the big question “Who am I” in relation to that bigger question of “Who is this Jesus?”

This news is for infant neophytes as well as those of most senior age.

Because we come to know who this Jesus is, we then know who we are,

children of God, born to praise God and serve one another in the name of this Lord Jesus.

Let all of us sing Alleluia, praise God, forevermore. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.