Who is Jesus?
Before she returned to Egypt, Christie Pohl (who works as an archeological conservator in Luxor, Egypt) gave me the two recent issues of Biblical Archeology Review. The cover story of the November/December 2010 issue is entitled “Jesus: History versus Tradition.” It describes the ongoing scholarly discussion about the differences between the Jesus of history and the Christ of Tradition. The article mentions New Testament scholars who paint very different portraits of the historical Jesus. Some say he was a magician (practitioner of the magic arts), some say he was a shaman, others an Hasidic Jew, others a Cynic (a wandering Greek-style philosopher.) There is even mention of a book written in 1941 by a German professor entitled “Jesus the Galilean” which claimed that Jesus was a Gentile and not a Jew.
There has been, and still is, a great difference of opinion as to who Jesus was. That was true even in Jesus’ lifetime. In our Gospel lesson for today Jesus was traveling with his disciples in northern Galilee, and he asks his disciples what people were saying about him. “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” They give s variety of answers. “So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the first clear profession of faith by any of the apostles, and it was to become the basic Christian understanding of who Jesus was … and is.
My sermon today is the second in a series of sermons on the Apostles’ Creed. Last Sunday I preached on God and today I start talking about Jesus. I didn’t tell you anything about the history of the Apostles’ Creed last week, so I thought I ought to give you a little background on this historic document today. The Apostles Creed is the earliest of the Christian confessions of faith. A story says the creed was composed by the twelve apostles – hence it’s name. The story says that shortly after Pentecost the twelve disciples were sitting around and suddenly Peter gets up and says, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Then John says, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” And Matthew chimes in “He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.” And so forth. Each of the twelve statements of the apostles Creed supposedly composed by one of the twelve apostles. That story is pure legend made up seven hundred years after the apostles, but it is a nice story.
The Apostles Creed is usually dated in its earliest form to the end of the second century (c. 180 AD), although the wording that we have today likely comes from the fourth century with final editing done in the seventh century. Still it is the earliest and simplest creed. It is much simpler than the more sophisticated Nicene Creed, for example, which is the next famous creed in the fourth century. But the Apostle’s Creed has the basics, which is why I am using it for this series of sermons. I wanted to start off my ministry here in Sandwich with the basics. Last week I dealt with the first line of the creed. “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Today I take the next line: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” The word creed, by the way, comes from the Latin word credo, “I believe.”
Who was Jesus? Can we know anything about him? Some say we cannot even be sure that he existed. That is pretty far-fetched. The New Testament was entirely written within the first century – within the lifetime of John, the longest living apostle. Paul’s earliest letters were written in the in the late 40’s less than twenty years after Jesus’ death. These biblical documents are very early and very close to the events the record, within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses of Jesus. Compare that to Buddhist texts, which were written 600 years after the death of the Buddha. As far as historical evidence is concerned, these biblical documents are as good as it gets. We can be more certain that Jesus existed than that Plato or Shakespeare existed. The question is: who was Jesus really? The Apostles Creed – the earliest extra-biblical description of Jesus - describes him with three shorts words: Christ, Son, Lord. Those are the three points of my sermon today.
I. “I believe in Jesus Christ.” Contrary to conventional wisdom, Christ is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew term Messiah. It is a title that means, “anointed one.” When Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ” he was professing his belief that Jesus was the long-awaited Jewish messiah. What the term “messiah” meant in first century-Palestine is a whole sermon in itself. During Jesus’ lifetime the disciples themselves seemed not to understand exactly what that meant. Usually it described a political king, a descendent of King David, who was to rule Israel. In the first century there were dozens of men who claimed to be the messiah, and many of them were killed in uprisings or crucified as rebels. Messiahs appeared throughout Jewish history, even after Jesus. The famous Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) was centered on a man named Simon Bar Kokhba who was believed to be the Messiah. In the twentieth century Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson was considered by many of his followers to be the Messiah until he died in 1994. Messiahs are commonplace.
But when Christians say that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, we are saying he was a spiritual leader who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. We believe that Jesus was the one whom the Hebrews scriptures prophesied about. Skeptics say that the authors of the New Testament made up stories about Jesus to fulfill the biblical prophecies. Christians believe that the stories were recorded because he did actually fulfill the prophecies. It all depends on how trustworthy you believe the scriptures are.
That is what Peter was getting at in our epistle reading for today. He writes: “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. (Then he describes his experience of the transfiguration of Jesus, which we will get to in a moment. Then he says) 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
It boils down to whether you think the gospels are reliable historical documents or not. If you think the New Testament is all legend and myth – “cunningly devised fables” as Peter puts it – then Christianity is based on a lie. The Biblical Archeology Review article I referred to at the beginning of this sermon says: “If we say Jesus is purely a construct, without any historical roots, then Christianity itself would be in danger of collapsing.” My study leads me to believe that the New Testament authors are credible witnesses. So I believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. (If you want to investigate this further read The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.)
II. Second, the creed says, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son.” Here we move beyond history to theology. This is an incredible statement. The creed says that Jesus is God’s Son. More than that – that he is God’s only Son. In our gospel lesson, Peter was the first one to believe this. He professed “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus confirmed Peter’s statement. Jesus answered, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
In our epistle lesson, Peter said that he actually heard the voice of God say this. He refers to the scene of the transfiguration of Jesus, which is recorded in chapter 17 of Matthew’s gospel. Peter, James and John went up a mountain with Jesus and saw Jesus transformed before them, shining with a divine light. We have the account in the gospels, but Peter himself records what he heard in his letter. He writes: “17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
To say that Jesus’ is God’s Son is a theological statement. It means that Jesus shares the nature of God. The Apostles’ Creed does not try to explain the divinity of Jesus like later creeds do. The Nicene creed for example says, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” They were trying to explain exactly how Jesus was divine. The Apostles’ Creed simply says that Jesus is God’s Son – period – and let’s us wonder what that means. That which is begotten shares the nature of the one who begets. Squirrels do not give birth to birds, and cows do not beget horses. That which is begotten of God is divine. So we are saying that somehow Jesus shares the nature of God while still being a man.
To say that Jesus is God’s only Son means that he was unique among human beings. Historically no other founder of any other religion ever claimed to be the Son of God. That is not claimed by or about Moses or Muhammad or Buddha or Confucius or Lao Tzu. The only religious figures that ever claimed divinity are clearly mythological characters like Hinduism’s Krishna and the Greek and Roman gods. Only one real human being ever claimed to be the Son of God.
In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”
Peter believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter said this in Matthew 16 and then experienced it in chapter 17 at the transfiguration. He believed it not just because he thought it up himself or trusted someone else’s words. He believed it because he experienced it. To be completely honest, that is what it boils down to for you and me. We should not believe something just because other people 2000 years ago said it was true or because the religion we were raised in says it is true. You should not believe this simply because I – or any other religious leader - say so. For you to say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son” you need to experience it. Even religious experience is not infallible. People can be deceived by religious experiences and emotions. There is that danger. We might be deceived in believing that Jesus is the Son of God. But we might also be deceived by rejecting it. Each person has to investigate and decide for themselves.
III. That leads to the third word the Apostles’ Creed uses for Jesus: Lord. “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” To call Jesus the Christ is an historical statement. To call Jesus the Son of God is a theological statement. To call Jesus Lord is a statement of faith. It moves us from the theoretical to the practical and personal.
People misunderstand faith. Faith is not believing without evidence. Faith is trusting in what you believe is true. It is moving beyond doctrine to living. People can believe that Jesus is the Messiah and not be Christian. People can believe that Jesus is the Son of God and not be Christian. You can believe lots of Christian doctrines and not be a Christian. A Christian is one who trusts Jesus as Lord.
The Apostles’ Creed is the earliest church creed, but the earliest confession of faith is in the Bible. It is simply “Jesus is Lord.” The apostle Paul writes, “Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” (I Cor. 12:3) He says in Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Standing at the graveside of Lazarus, Jesus said to Lazarus’ sister Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha replied, “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” I ask you the question Jesus asked Martha: Do you believe this? Can you say in your head and with your heart, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord?”
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