Sermon for Second Sunday in Lent Jesus – who was he?
Tonight, as you have probably seen from the press and the TV, yet another film is to be screened about Jesus. Reports state that it claims that some caskets discovered in a tomb in Jerusalem once contained the bones of Jesus and some of his family. The caskets are marked with names including “Jesus, son of Joseph, Mary and Judah”, and although all these names were common in First Century Palestine, the director of the programme, who won an Oscar for his film “Titanic”, apparently believes that this proves that Jesus actually existed. If it were true, it also means that Jesus died and his body decomposed like that of any other human being.
Well, Jesus is still making news – even today, and that should not surprise us. The person of Jesus is central to the beliefs and practice of a faith which has shaped much of the culture and history of the western world and beyond. Other religions have their teachers and prophets, but no other world religion makes its founder divine – God’s Son. The gospels are unashamed about this. Written after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension their aim is to show Jesus’ uniqueness and to promote belief in him. If you compare the gospels with the letters and other writings in the New Testament that follow them, you will see a noticeable difference. In the gospels Jesus is portrayed as a teacher who always focuses on God and points his hearers towards Him, even on one occasion correcting someone who called him “good teacher” by saying “Why do you call me good? No one is good, but God.” But in the other New Testament writings we see how the early Church, slowly working out the significance of what they believed God had done through Jesus, came to worship Jesus, too. So Jesus has become a central, pivotal figure not only in Christianity, but in the values and development of human society. Over the past 2000 years scholars, rulers, politicians, priests and diverse people from all over the world have wrestled with the implications of the gospel stories and, like us today, have pondered the question “Jesus – who was he?”
Some years ago I was in a famous church. It was crowded with tourists and guides and cameras were flashing, but it still had a powerful atmosphere. I knelt with others at the holiest spot and spent some minutes in prayer. When I stood up I left the church and went into the courtyard outside where an argument was beginning between two people of different races. Police and soldiers with rifles and batons started to walk quickly towards the angry group that was forming. Coward that I am, I did not stay to watch, but walked away through the narrow streets to where life seemed calmer. The place was Jerusalem and the church was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. Sadly, Jerusalem is as much a crucible and a tinderbox as it was 2000 years ago when Jesus was there.
And here is the first thing about Jesus: he actually existed – he is an historical person. The holy sites all over Israel where Jesus preached or performed miracles root Jesus in history. He is not an imaginary person. Most of the information we have about him may come from the gospels and letters in the New Testament (literature composed by those whose lives Jesus had touched), but there are also independent mentions of Jesus and his death in secular writings of the time. Jesus was a real human being and he knew the tensions, joys and failures of human life. So why do we remember him?
It would be an interesting exercise to count the number of times Jesus or his titles or what he has done for us are mentioned in our worship today. It all arises out of the life-changing impact he had on the people of his generation. You will remember that in 1st century Palestine there was a strong expectation and hope among many Jews that God was going to send the long-promised Messiah to liberate his people and fulfil the promises made through the prophets. It is into this setting that a man begins to get popular as a teacher and miracle worker. There was nothing special about his origins – people believed he was the son of a carpenter; and there was nothing special about his name – Jesus is merely the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua” meaning “God saves” – a common Jewish name. Seven High Priests bore that name as did Jews killed by the Romans as revolutionaries or criminals. Yet this Jesus of Nazareth is remembered.
Is it because he was a prophet – one in the long line of holy, powerful preachers in Jewish history? Islam honours him as a prophet and so do some Jews, but it is more than that. We do not worship prophets.
Is it because he was a great political reformer or revolutionary? After all, he was executed as a rival king to Caesar and had “King of the Jews” written above his head on the cross to show passers-by his crime. But Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” so it is not that.
Is it because he was a good teacher, skilled at debate in getting religious truths across in a powerful and simple way? I sometimes use a colloquial version of the New Testament and in the gospels where, after hearing Jesus preach, some scribes say, “Who is this man? He teaches with authority,” the colloquial version says, “Who is this man Jesus? He seems to know what he is talking about!” What a tribute to a religious teacher! Yes, Jesus obviously was a good teacher and his words about God and human relationships and behaviour have value even to those who do not believe in him. But it is more than that.
Is it then because his followers (those people who left their jobs and families to follow him) believed that he had miraculous powers? After all, they witnessed him cure countless people of all sorts of diseases and ailments; they believed that had control over the elements and could calm storms and walk on water; and they even believed he raised dead people back to life, even when their corpses were beginning to smell. All of these incidents certainly encouraged the disciples to expect great things of Jesus: they believed his power came from God, even if his enemies believed it came from the Devil. But, then, they saw their hero arrested, humiliated, beaten up, tortured and killed. So it has to be more than the miracles that turned an executed preacher into someone billions of people 2000 years after these events still call “Lord”, “Saviour”, “Christ”, “Master”, “Son of God.”
Some years ago I took part in an open air service in a garden that had been used as a cemetery. We were there to remember someone’s death. We processed through the garden singing an hymn and then stopped by the door of the tomb. The door of the tomb was open and above it was a sign – “He is not here, he is risen.” The place again was Jerusalem and the sign records the words spoken by the angel to the women who went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body after his crucifixion, and found it empty. “He is not here, he is risen.”
For the disciples, the thing that confirmed Jesus’ uniqueness was the fact that although they had seen him killed, they believed that he was alive. It affirmed all he had said and done. It was the greatest miracle of all – the resurrection – that turned the motley collection of First Century human beings in Palestine into worshippers: people who believed that this Jesus, by his life, death and resurrection, had done something of lasting, cosmic significance: given the world a new beginning, given us the gift of eternal life, and released God’s power and love into a fallen creation.
And so, unsurprisingly, the fellowship we call the “church” began. Sorrow had given way to joy and hope, fear was replaced with courage, and human beings throughout the world were given a new purpose for living.
So for me, the title of this sermon should probably not be “Jesus, who was he?” but “Jesus, who is he?” For after his resurrection Jesus did not just spend some time with his disciples and then leave them when he ascended into heaven. He promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit and said he would be with us – even to the end of time. Just as after his resurrection he walked and talked with Mary, Peter, Thomas and the other disciples, so he can be with you and me, too. Remember, without the resurrection it is unlikely that we would ever have heard of Jesus of Nazareth, and certainly there would not have been the Church. And the astounding miracle is that this Jesus is here with us now, except that so often we take him for granted or fail to recognise him.
In a few minutes after we share the Peace and sing the Offertory hymn, the President at the Eucharist will say, “The Lord is here.”
Think about the enormity of that claim: the risen and ascended Saviour of the world, born into human society over 2000 years ago, is here with us in Poplar.
And when you reply, “His Spirit is with us” will you really believe it?
© Alan Wynne
