Luke 9: 18-24
Repeatedly the disciples and others around Jesus had asked one another who Jesus was.
Jesus now turns the question back on the disciples.
He did not ask who he was but who they believed him to be.
Beyond the question of identity is the issue of confession.
Peter gave the best answer he knew, the highest confession he could imagine, (“ The Christ of God”)but it wasn’t enough.
On the one hand, it failed to see the struggle and sacrifice that lay before Jesus;
on the other hand, it wasn’t enough because it failed to recognize the sacrifice and demand that would be required of any who confessed Jesus to be the Christ.
The questions that mean most in life may be the questions of identity and relationship.
“Who are you?”
“Who is God?”
“What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?”
And, maybe even more important: “What do our answers to these questions mean for our values, priorities, and commitments?”
The answers to these questions usually emerge from experience and require a commitment of life.
We answer these questions by the way we live.
Peter may have been partially right about who Jesus was,
but he was completely wrong about what following Jesus would mean for him.
Jesus was on his way to a cross, not a throne,
and those who follow him must be ready to follow him on this road of obedience to God’s redemptive will and sacrifice for the salvation of others.
I sometimes hear that my homilies are too harsh.
But, those who preach a cheap grace or a gospel of health and wealth not only offer false promises, but also they preach a false gospel.
Discipleship and lordship are always interrelated.
When we offer false assurances and teach a cross-less discipleship, we proclaim a distorted christology.
On the other hand, when we preach a crucified Christ,
the only authentic response is for us to give up all other pursuits that might compromise our commitment and devote ourselves completely to the fulfillment of the kingdom tasks for which Jesus gave his own life.
The nature of our discipleship always reflects our understanding of Jesus’ lordship.
Discipleship is also a continuing process.
That means first that however lofty our understanding or obedient our discipleship,
most of us are probably not far from Peter—confessing but failing to grasp the implications of our confession;
understanding, but only in part;
following Jesus, but maintaining our own aspirations and ambitions also.
The present tense verbs of the sayings on discipleship should, therefore, not be overlooked.
We might paraphrase: “If you want to continue following me, deny yourself now and take up the cross every day, and keep on following me.”
What net profit is there if having gained everything you lose your own life?
There are only two impulses in life.
One is the impulse to acquire, take, hoard, own, and protect.
The other is the impulse to give and to serve.
One assumes that each of us can be the Lord of our own lives
and that our security and fulfillment depend on our ability to provide for ourselves.
The other confesses the sovereignty of God and devotes life to the fulfillment of God’s redemptive will in delivering and empowering others,
establishing justice and peace, tearing down barriers, reconciling persons, and creating communities.
Those who devote themselves to these tasks confess that the true fulfillment of life is to be found in the service of Christ and that our only security is in him.
There is a further truth hidden in the contrasts between the present and the future in the coming Son of Man sayings.
In the context of teachings on discipleship, the emphasis is not on the coming Son of Man
but on the truth that the way we live in the present determines our relationship to the Lord in the future.
We are becoming who we shall be.
Who we say Jesus is now determines what he will say of us in the future.
How we answer the question “Who do you say that I am?” through our day-to-day discipleship is the only answer that matters
—but everything depends on that answer.
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