THE BIG QUESTION
Matthew 16:13-20
Have you ever watched “Jeopardy”? It is still in re-runs. For a long time their contestants have
blown me away. It isn’t just that they have gathered and retained all this information, but the
speed of their recall is amazing! Plus, they have to remember to phrase their answers in the form
of a question. Now, I’m not sure why they do that. But I do know that finding the right question
is important in life, too. Questions can be infinitely more important than answers. Rudyard
Kipling once wrote: “I keep six honest serving-men / (They taught me all I knew); / Their names
are What and Why and When / And How and Where and Who.” (Just-So Stories, 1902)
One question we hear today is: Whom can we trust? Credibility was once an individual thing.
You found you could trust one person but not another. Now, horror of horrors, the problem has
invaded the institutions of our society. Our political institutions have made the word “politician”
almost synonymous with “prostitute.” Our business institutions have forsaken quality for
quantity, service for profit, so that we no longer expect anything to be worth what it costs. Today
people trust preachers only slightly more than they trust salespeople. Our religious institutions
are as busy serving Mammon as the secular world is, and just as lustful for power. The
prolifirating institutions of the mass media exploit issues and individuals in ways that benefit
their own vested interests. Such is the crisis of trust today that you can build your own small
empire by appealing to people’s suspicions and paranoia. This is exactly what many politicians,
preachers, and empire-builders are doing, feeding on people’s growing anxiety and then inviting
their trust. Today people respond out of fear more quickly than they respond out of guilt. This is
not good news, but it’s something the church should be aware of.
There is a question in our text today that is more appropriate to today. It is a perennial question
about Jesus. And for the church, for people called Christians, it is the big question. Jesus himself
asked the question. In the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his followers, “Who are people
saying I am?” The answers they gave would have required a reincarnation. These Jews were
speculating that different ones of their Old Testament heroes had returned to earth as Jesus. Jesus
did not respond to these answers, but asked, “Who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter
replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s answer could not have been
more electrifying. Imagine the average Jew’s response when Peter said: “You are the One the
world has waited for, the Promised One from of old. You are the Christ, the Messiah of God.”
Peter’s answer represented the rock on which Christ would build his church. The question is not
rhetorical. It needs answering. “Who do you say I am?”
The answers flood in. Ernest Renan, the French writer, said Jesus was a sentimental idealist.
German philosopher David Strauss saw Jesus as at least a fanatic, maybe a psychopath. William
Hirsch said Jesus conformed to the picture of clinical paranoia. American salesman Bruce Barton
said Jesus was the greatest salesman who ever lived. Swinburne saw Jesus as “the Pale Galilean”
who caused the world to grow gray from his breath. T. S. Eliot wrote of “Christ the Tiger.” John
A. T. Robinson said Jesus was “the human face of God.” Bonhoeffer said he was “the man for
C. David Matthews/Royal Lane Baptist Church, 6707 Royal Lane, Dallas, TX 75230/214-361-2809/royallane.org/8.24.14
others.” Moltmann said he was “the crucified God.” So many answers. By the way, Roland
Bainton, the great church historian from Yale, felt that the vast diversity of opinions should not
lead to scepticism about Jesus, but quite the opposite. Each of the many answers contains some
fragment or aspect of the full reality of Christ. What a marvelous insight! But we say, you and I,
“Well, I agree with Simon Peter. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” If it’s the final
exam in Sunday School, we all get an A.
But that really isn’t the big question. The big question is just for you. Who is Jesus for you? Who
do you say he is? Who does your life say he is? In that question may be your answer to the riddle
of life’s meaning. You see, it is easy for us to believe Peter’s response without ever actually
dealing with the question ourselves. Consider an analogy. Is it possible for someone to believe in
the covenant of marriage without ever actually getting involved in the making and keeping of
that covenant? Of course, it is. I could sit as a single person, never married and never to be
married, near the front of the church for your wedding and approve wholeheartedly of everything
I saw, heard, and experienced. Some things are true, whatever we think or do, but they only
become true for you when you claim them and act on them. I believe Jesus Christ is Lord of all
things whatever we think about it or whatever we do about it. But his Lordship matters for you
and me, makes a difference in our lives, only if we let him become our Lord. Martin Luther said:
“I care not that he be Lord, except he be Lord for thee.” You see, it is not enough to respond to
the big question with the right words, some theological formula. “You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God.” It is not enough to say it. Christ has to be Lord. When he is Lord, then the
promises begin to be fulfilled - - the promise of a purpose, a clear identity, and a blessed destiny.
I have been grieving with the many fans of Robin Williams. Whatever else he was or wasn’t, he
was a remarkably gifted actor and entertainer. In one of his films, “Dead Poets Society,” a
teacher, Mr. Keating, played by Williams, is introducing himself to his new class. He says, “You
can call me Mr. Keating,” then he adds with a smile, “or, if you prefer, ‘Captain, my Captain.’”
It’s a literary reference. A century-and-a-half ago Walt Whitman wrote these words about
promise and destination, fulfillment and getting home: “O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip
is done, / The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, / The port is near, the
bells I hear, the people all exulting.”
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” They told him. Then Jesus asked, “Who
am I to you? Who am I really to you?” And Simon Peter answered, “Captain! My Captain!” The
same Jesus asks the same question of each of us, the big question: “Who am I to you?” Except he
be Christ to you, your Lord, your Captain, it doesn’t matter much. Think about it. Amen.
C. David Matthews/Royal Lane Baptist Church, 6707 Royal Lane, Dallas, TX 75230/214-361-2809/royallane.org/8.24.14