Don Friesen
Two Sundays ago I began an alphabetic series of sermons, using the English alphabet as an arbitrary device to identify twenty-six important biblical words and themes. If you are bracing yourself for a rather lengthy trudge through the English alphabet, you will be relieved that I did not choose the Thai alphabet, which has forty-four consonants and thirty-two vowels!
The Scriptures' C-list; C Is not for Condemnation
The Scriptures offer a cornucopia of C-words, and not very many negative words! There's "condemnation," "contempt," and "covetousness," but that's about it. Some may regard "chastity" as a negative concept, but then they probably wouldn't like the word, "commandments" either. I wasn't sure whether to classify "circumcision" as negative or positive, but it's an important word and occurs frequently in the Bible. The word, "Christmas," on the other hand, is not in the Bible.
C-characters include Caesar, Caiaphas, and Cain, but positive words are in abundance: "charity," "children," "comfort," "compassion," "covenant," "chosen," "creation," "cross," "confession," "call," "character," "conduct," and "conscience". The top two contenders, however, are Christ and church -- two heavyweights, but one is really derivative of the other and so I have chosen Christ. The letter, "A," is for "awe," the letter B for "believe," but this sermon is brought to you by the letter, "C," which stands for "Christ," from the Greek word, Christos, meaning the Anointed One, or, the Messiah. It is the most common title of Jesus in the New Testament. Every reference to Jesus as "the Christ" is a reference to Jesus as the Messiah.
Centuries before the birth of Jesus Israel nurtured an implausible dream that someday God in His fathomless mercy would send them Somebody to make everything right. He was referred to as the Messiah. The timing of the Messiah's arrival was unsure. The method of the Messiah's influence was debatable. Oh, there were a lot of theories: He would come as a great warrior king. No, he would come as a great priest, like Melchizedek. No, he would come as a prophet, like Elijah. Who could say? Whatever his method, whenever the time, he would be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace," and "of the increase of his government and of peace there would be no end...." (Isaiah 9:6-7, RSV) When Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a mule, a small group hailed him as the Messiah, the Christ, but a much larger group relegated him to the periphery, dismissing him as messianic nonsense.
Christ Is the Centre of Christianity
It's seems a no-brainer to me to put Christ at the centre of the faith that bears his very name, but he continues to be what Paul calls a "stumbling block" to some and "foolishness" to others. (1 Corinthians 1:23) People may feel awed by God's presence and believe in God's redemptive power but they balk at the thought that Jesus was and is a revelation of God. A stumbling block for some is Jesus' humanity; a stumbling block for others is Jesus' divinity; yet another stumbling block is the paradox that he is both! Some Christians emphasize Jesus' divinity at the expense of his humanity and end up with an ethereal authority figure remote from our earthly and earthy life. Some Christians emphasize Jesus' humanity and end up with an above-average social worker, or a popular guru, or an ill-trained doctor. It strikes some people as quite implausible that the Christ-story -- a story of a suffering God, a servant King, with an unadorned message of love and peace -- ever took root in any century! But it did.
I recognize some of the intellectual difficulties posed by Jesus, but I cannot identify with them. Jesus is the one who drew me back to faith in God. Kathleen Norris, on the other hand, confesses that she found Jesus a stumbling block to faith, but, she writes, "I often felt a void at the heart of things. My Christianity seemed to be missing its center." (Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, page 162) The irony of her situation was drawn to her attention by an unlikely trio -- a Pentecostal Baptist woman, a Roman Catholic bishop, and a Lutheran friend -- all of whom thanked her for her "love of Christ". She found comfort among Orthodox Christians, who seem to be able to live more easily with paradox than the rest of us.
A Christianity without its centre is like a garden without flowers, a building without a foundation, or a skeleton without bone, muscle, or sinew. Even if some Christians are unsure of the place of Christ in Christ-ianity, the Scriptures are quite clear. The Gospel of John tells us that "...the Word became flesh and lived among us ...we have seen his glory...." (John 1:14). John tells us that "No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son ...who has made him known." (John 1:18) We have seen God's glory in Jesus Christ.
Philippians tells us that "God ...highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord...." (Philippians 2:9-11)
Colossians has the loftiest view of Christ anywhere in the Scriptures; to the Colossian believers Paul writes, "...in (Christ) all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ...in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell...." (Colossians 1:17-19)
The book of Revelation calls us to remember the centrality of Jesus Christ in history, in His Church and in all things. He is "...the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:13)
Christ: No Other Foundation
The New Testament states it very simply in 1 Corinthians: "For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11, RSV)
This week Mr. Foundation, a local business specializing in leaky basements, came to our house to dig around our home's foundation, which developed some leaks and had to be repaired. A faulty foundation is a very serious thing. The New Testament agrees and suggests that what we build on a foundation will only have enduring value if the foundation itself is sturdy. (1 Corinthians 3:12-13) It must be able to withstand the onslaught of spiritual storms akin to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and others!
A dubious foundation will cause problems, as I and my banker now know! If a foundation is not a sturdy one, that which rests on it is placed in jeopardy. You will have to keep rebuilding it until you get it right! The counsel of the Scriptures is the same. The writer of Hebrews warns us about the waste of "laying again (and again [PHL]) the foundation". (Hebrews 6:1) Do it right the first time! In other words, if we learn the "first lessons of the Christian message" (Hebrews 6:1, TEV) well, then we can move on! If you master the ABCs, you can move on to words and paragraphs and stories and poetry!
Ephesians tells us, "Firmly beneath you is the foundation, ...the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself." (Ephesians 2:20) One can build on that solid foundation with confidence. Confident that in Jesus we have a clear glimpse of God, we can go the second mile, even if there is no immediate payoff. We can forgive seventy-times-seven, even if holding a grudge would be more satisfying at the moment. We can love our enemies, confident that our efforts will ultimately contribute much more to peace than the tactical planning going on in the defence departments of the world.
Christ Presents a Personal Challenge: Who Do you Say that I Am?
The importance of Christ's identity was brought to a head by Jesus himself when one day he asked his first disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" (Matthew 16:13) Several replies hinted of Christ's prophetic nature. There is no doubt that Jesus was a prophet. Sometimes he sounded like Micah, with his call to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Sometimes he sounded like Amos, given his denunciation of the rich and his compassion for the poor! Sometimes one could hear echoes of Jeremiah in his spirit, calling for an authenticity and depth of spirit. Sometimes one could hear Hosea in his emphasis upon God's faithfulness.
"Who do people say that I am?" (Mark 8:27) An intellectually intriguing question became poignantly personal when Jesus asked his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15) This is the quintessential Christian question: Who do you say that Jesus is? It has proven to be a durable question, a question that has provoked deep responses from generations of thinkers, writers, and artists.
Messianic longing finds its most eloquent expression in the Old Testament, but the first disciples found the fulfilment of these longings in Jesus. Upon meeting Jesus Andrew ran to find his brother, Simon Peter, telling him, "We have found the Messiah." (John 1:40-41) Isaiah's moving account of the suffering servant who has no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2) yet by whose bruises we are healed (53:5) was readily adopted by the New Testament writers as pointing to Jesus. (e.g., Matthew 8:17; 20:28; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24; etc.) Likewise, for the patristic writers who followed in their wake, there was no question that many Old Testament messianic passages referred directly to Christ.
Others have been equally confident of Christ's importance, prompting a Spanish priest (Juvencus), for example, to write a lengthy poetical life of Jesus around the year 300. In the ninth century (~825) someone else (anonymous) penned an Old Saxon epic called Heliand, or Saviour, which presented Jesus as a warrior leader to Low Germans of the time. The Middle Ages were charged with messianic expectation. In 1602 a Jesuit (Hieronymus Xavier) completed a life of Jesus in Portuguese; it proved to be a sufficiently compelling portrait that it was translated into Latin and Persian!
Seventeen centuries did little to dampen Christ's attraction; consider the stirring verse of Alexander Pope (1688-1744):
... The Light himself shall shine
(cited in David Jeffrey, Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, page 502)
(William Cowper, The Task, cited in Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, page 502)
Giving our Hearts to Christ
Literary responses to Jesus' quintessential question, "Who do you say that I am?" abound. Likewise the responses of theologians. There are many, many treatments of the One we call "The Christ". There was, is, and continues to be a compelling fascination with the One at the centre of our faith. Malcolm Muggeridge writes of being drawn to the person of Jesus. Another contemporary writer tells of his joy at discovering Christ, saying, "‘To become a Christian' sounds like an achievement, (but) ...I ...think of it...more as a lucky break, a step in the right direction. Though I was brought up in a family where church played virtually no role at all, through a series of events from childhood on I was moved ...closer and closer to a feeling for that Mystery out of which the church arose in the first place until, finally, the Mystery itself came to have a face for me, and the face it came to have for me was the face of Christ." (Frederick Buechner, "The Face of Christ," Listening to your Life, page 30)
"Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15) Jesus' question has precipitated a host of replies, some more serious than others, and it remains a haunting question because it is so deeply personal. I noted last week that in Greek the word, "to believe," means "to give one's heart to". I gave my heart to Jesus because I found him a trustworthy friend and guide. A human being of such integrity and wholeness cannot help but beckon to those qualities within myself. A human being of such depth and beauty cannot help but summon similar responses from my own spirit.
To believe in Christ is not so much a dogmatic assertion as it is a relationship. Believing Jesus is not unlike believing in another human being. I married Dorothy because I was drawn to her. Still am! Similarly, I believe in Jesus because I am drawn to him. There is so much about him that draws me to that which is wholesome, true, beautiful, and holy. The Gospel of John says of Christ, "...to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." (John 1:12)
Someone has described a Christian as "...one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank." (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, page 16) The Apostle Paul said that we see through a glass darkly. Sometimes we don't see Christ clearly; his presence is a shadowy one. He may come to us in cognito. We may manage only to touch his garment's hem, but the New Testament attests to the deep effect Jesus had upon those who encountered him. Next weekend, at the retreat, we'll study Luke's story of the two disciples who encountered Christ on the road to Emmaus. Reflecting upon their time with him, they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us...?" (Luke 24:32) People are attracted to Jesus, the Christ -- to his winsomeness and warmth. He leaves in his wake an assurance that you are loved and cherished to a depth you never imagined possible. To God be the glory!
"The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold:
The most celebrated Messiah of the eighteenth century is undoubtedly that of George Frideric Handel, moving one pundit of the time to wryly observe that thousands of people with no particular interest in the Messiah -- or in redemption for that matter -- nevertheless heard a fair précis of Scriptural salvation history for the sake of listening to Handel's great music. Or as he put it, more elegantly,
Hear him ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day.
‘Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe...."
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns!"
"...ten thousand sit
You may be interested to know that a clergyman (John Newton) of the time took advantage of the successful run of Handel's Messiah to preach a series of fifty sermons on the subject -- makes twenty-six sermons seem like a short series!
Patiently present at a sacred song,
...content to hear
(Oh wonderful effect of music's pow'r!)
Messiah's eulogy for Handel's sake!"
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.