January 16, 2019—Transferred Feast of the Confession of St. Peter
When I was a kid both of my parents were theater
professors. This meant that often I would not go home after school, but up to
Samford University where they taught. There I would occasionally do homework,
but mostly I would draw or play. My parents’ college students sometimes would
chase me around the theater department, and on one occasion one of the students,
who was carrying me around on his shoulders, dropped me on my head.
The way my family tells the story, everything stopped.
I don’t remember it because it was a long time ago, AND I had just been dropped
on my head. My sister Elin ran to get my
parents, they dropped what they were doing, and we rushed off to the hospital. That
night I was put into the concussion protocol—not the one you hear about during
football games, but the one in which a patient is awoken every hour and asked a
battery of simple questions. That night was a tough one. My mom and dad woke me
from my sleep and ask me things like, “Where do you live?” and “Where do you go
to school?” And, throughout the whole night every hour they asked one
particular question.
Every hour my family asked, “Who are you?” During
the first few hours, I responded my name is John Seth Olson. But one hour, deep
in the night, I was asked, “Who are you?” And my response was “I don’t know…”
My mom began to panic. She sat me up and asked again. “I don’t know,” I said
again. Then a third time she asked, “Who are you?” Irritated that I was still
not resting my head, I replied, “I DON’T KNOW! But, my sister’s name is Elin Keith
Olson.” Even if it was not what they were looking for, it was good enough that
my parents let me go back to sleep. And, seemingly I have a semi-functional brain
to this day. And, on this day when we remember Jesus asking, “Who do you say
that I am?” and Peter’s wise response, we are called to recognize not only who
we are, but also who Christ is and what our relationship with him is!
As the first half of Matthew’s Gospel account
unfolded, Jesus revealed his true identity, his fully human-fully divine nature
to his disciples. Slowly they were beginning to see that Jesus was not simply a
teacher. Still it wasn’t until here at the halfway mark that Jesus gave a pop
quiz to his disciples. The first question, “Who do people say that I am?” would
have been easy enough. They only needed to report what others had said. But
then came the tough question, “Who do you say that I am?” In it there was
nowhere to hide!
After the question was asked I wonder how long it
took Peter to speak. A second? A minute? As long as it took me to respond to my
midnight concussion questions? It’s unclear. What is clear though is that Peter
gave an audacious response, and its audacity was only outdone by its correctness.
“You are the messiah, the Son of the living God.” While this response was all
about Jesus’ true nature as the Christ, Peter’s response changed his own
identity too.
When I could not recall my own name on that night
long ago what I did know was my relationship with my sister. What we remember
today all this time after Peter’s martyrdom has everything to do with his
relationship with Jesus. Certainly there was some other disciple who recognized
some other teacher who asked the same question as Jesus, but we do not remember
that disciple—we remember Peter. And, because Peter knew Jesus as his Savior
and the Son of God, Peter’s life also changed. His identity changed. His
relationship with God and others changed! The way he lived out his life was
different as a result.
Peter would quickly rebuke Jesus. Later he would
deny Jesus three times. Still, Peter’s life, identity, and relationship with God
all changed because God did not call him to be perfect. God called him to be a
building surface on which God would build. And, the same is true for us.
God wants to build upon us too! Today we ask
ourselves what Jesus asked his disciples long ago, “Who do we say [He] is?” It
is not always easy to articulate what we believe about Jesus—of course we can
rely upon the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. Still we must distill these
beliefs passed down to us by the Church, so that each of us can answer this
question for ourselves. Who do we say that Jesus is? Who do you say He is?
Jesus is not simply some great teacher who lived
long ago, nor is Jesus just some far off deity that now resides on a cloud
somewhere. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And, He still lives
mystically and truly within us. Through God’s Spirit Christ lives in us more
closely than we can ever know or imagine. Jesus’ identity as the Messiah means
that He still saves. He saves us from ourselves, from our tendency to put
ourselves above God, from our idols, from our sins, from our brokenness, and even
from death. Jesus being God means that He is in all that has been created, whether
it is seen and unseen, both the quick and the dead, and that means He is in us
and with us always. Jesus’ identity, then changes our own identity and who we
say that we are.
In Christ we are made a new creation. We become
different. Our lives, our identities, our relationships all change! Our old
selves die and we are made something new altogether. We recognize this in
Baptism, but it is always happening within us. Through God’s love we are being
purified and refined and redeemed, and this is the best news.
Life can be a struggle as we try to answer, “Who
are you?” Early in life we build up our sense of self. During our midlife we are
challenged to live healthy lives in which we are not codependent or boundary-less.
Later in life we worry if we will be remembered—and may struggle to remember ourselves.
As we wrestle with these concerns may we understand that the question of who we
are is less important than who Jesus is. Who do we say that He is? When we
allow God to be God, and us to be united in relationship with God through
Christ Jesus, then we can live into our true identity as God’s beloved
children. Even if you are concussed and cannot answer “Who are you?” may you
always be able to respond, “My Messiah’s name is Christ Jesus, and through Him
I am God’s child.” Amen.
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