Who Do YOU Say That He Is?

Mark 8:27-33

I absolutely love psychology. I love studying people, the ways that we think and feel and perceive. The reasons we do the things that we do. From the first day of the basic psychology class I took as a senior in high school, I was hooked. In college, at what is now Asbury University in Wilmore, KY, we were required to take an introduction course in one of the social sciences – psychology, sociology, or social work. I took “General Psychology 101” my first semester, and at the end of that semester, I changed my major from “Christian Ministries” to Psychology. God has a strange sense of humor, for sure, because now I work in both fields at the same time.

Well, I was reading recently about a fascinating study on what and how we perceive what we are looking at. In this study, subjects wore something called “stereopticons” that allowed them to see a different image in each eye, but at the same time. And the images were flashed quickly. So could the human brain register seeing two different things? The short answer is no, it cannot. As predators, our eyes are close together, meaning the visual field for each eye overlaps significantly. It reduces our field of vision some – we have to be generally facing something to see it – but it really increases our depth perception. We also have a really hefty corpus callosum, the part of the brain that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, allowing them to work together well.  So when we jump at something – pounce, so to speak – we’re likely to hit what we’re aiming at. Dogs and cats and other land-based predators are much the same.

Prey animals, on the other hand, like horses and cattle and sheep and deer, have eyes set on the sides of their heads and their corpus callosum isn’t as hefty. This allows them a much wider field of vision, albeit with a blind spot directly in front of them, and it allows them to both look at and listen to and fully register two things at the same time, something we as human beings cannot fathom. That’s why, when training horses, it’s wise to train both sides of the horse. The left eye might be used to seeing a saddle go on and a rider climb up, but the right eye will not, unless you intentionally saddle and mount the young horse from both sides. So something that doesn’t bother a horse at all when seen from one eye may frighten it to death when seen with the other.

So what happened when human beings saw two different things at the same eye, one in each eye? The objects they were shown featured something they would be culturally familiar with, and something they wouldn’t. In every case, they reported seeing only the object they were culturally familiar with, regardless of which eye saw it. So when a picture of a baseball player was flashed to one eye and a bull fighter to the other, North Americans saw the baseball player, and Mexicans saw the bullfighter. If they were shown something that wouldn’t make sense to the brain, like a red six of spades, subjects reported experiencing a vague sense of physical discomfort, but the identified it as a six of spades. We tend to see what we are “trained” to see, not what is actually there.[i]

At other times, we see what we want to see or think we’ll see, rather than what is actually there. That’s why writers can’t proofread their own articles. They’ll see what they meant to type, not the mistakes they actually typed. An effective proofreader needs to be completely unfamiliar with the text when they read it. What we see isn’t always what is right there in front of us.

The same thing happens with Jesus. When we look at him, when we come to him, do we see him as he is, or as we want him to be? Turn with me to Mark 8:27-33.

Jesus and his disciples are on the way to Caesarea Philippi, the Roman capital of the region AND the home base of Herod Philip, one of Herod the Great’s sons, who ruled over the region north and east of Israel. And he asks them two very pertinent questions. They are the two most significant questions any of us will ever have to answer, and they are being asked of you today. The first question is, “Who do people say that I am?”

What are the masses saying about me? Who do all of these people who are flocking to hear me teach, to be touched and healed and delivered – who do they say that I am? And the answers vary, from “one of the prophets,” to “maybe even Elijah or John the Baptist resurrected. So, except for the scribes and pharisees, the people have a generally positive view of him. Positive, but domesticated. For many, he was just another in a long line of messengers from God. Significant, for sure. It had been roughly 400 years since they’d had a real prophet, a messenger from God. But he was just another one of them. In other words, he was good, powerful, and he fit into their pre-existing view of the world.

Others took a slightly higher view of Jesus. He might John the Baptist, or even the great prophet Elijah, resurrected or reborn. Not just A prophet, but a GREAT prophet. But still, a prophet. A mouthpiece of God? Sure. Maybe even a super significant one. But nothing more than that. That’s what THEY said about him. What do people today say about him?

The vast majority of people believe that Jesus was a real person. The historical evidence for his life is so overwhelming at this point that most people acknowledge that he existed. The questions start to come up when they’re asked who exactly he was. In America, only about half of adults believe that Jesus is divine, the Son of God. Most believe that he was an important spiritual figure, like Mohammed, Buddah, or Ghandi, but not the Son of God. Many, if they do attribute real spiritual significance to him, say that Jesus is just one of many ways to a relationship with God. People today don’t really see Jesus all that differently than the people of Jesus’ day – the people he touched and taught and dined with, are they?

People saw what they thought they should see, or what they wanted to see, rather than who he really was and is. There’s a piece of Jewish literature from the time between the Old and New Testaments is called the Psalms of Solomon. It isn’t scripture, it isn’t the Biblical book called Song of Solomon. But it is a great historical look at what people taught and thought at the time. And it says this about the coming Messiah:

“See, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, At the time known only to you, O God, that he may reign over Israel your servant. Gird him with strength, to shatter unrighteous rulers; To purge Jerusalem of the nations that trample her down in destruction; To expel, in wisdom and righteousness, sinners from the inheritance; To smash the sinner’s pride like a potter’s vessel, Breaking in pieces with a rod of iron all their substance; To destroy the lawless nations by the word of his mouth, So that, at his mere threat, nations flee before him; To condemn sinners by the thoughts of their own hearts.” (17:21-25).

What did they expect to see? A king who was descended from David who would overthrow both Herod and Rome, cleanse the land of those who didn’t follow the law of God, and conquer their foes. When the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that he was from God, that’s what they wanted. That’s what the people expected. And while Jesus certainly exhibited miraculous healing power and taught with an authority they’d never heard, he hadn’t exactly made any moves to cleanse Jerusalem and then Israel, depose Herod, raise up the armies of Israel to defeat Rome and then blast Tyre and Sidon and Israel’s other enemies to smithereens. So the jury may still be out on “Messiah,” but he was certainly a great teacher and a messenger from God. A great spiritual figure.

They wanted a messiah who would fit into their agenda and their plan, not a messiah who would transform them AND their agendas and plans. Are we any different today?

Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2, was asked if the claim of Jesus’ divinity is farfetched.

No, it’s not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher. Don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I am God incarnate.” And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take…. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah….

So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who he said he was – the Messiah – or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson…. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had “King of the Jews” on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: Okay, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain!

The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that’s farfetched.[ii]

So Jesus turns to his disciples and asks them the second question – “But who do YOU say that I am?” Are you in the same boat as them, or are you beginning to see me for who I really am? And Peter, with a flash of insight, FINALLY – for a second – gets it right as he blurts out, “You are the Christ.” Matthew records his full answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). He gets Jesus’ identity right, but he still doesn’t understand what it all really means. Like everyone else, he expects a Messiah king who will liberate and cleanse Israel. The thought of a Messiah who suffers, who MUST suffer? Yeah, that isn’t part of the vision ANYONE, Peter and the rest of the disciples included, has. Look at Vv. 30-33.

For the first time, Jesus begins to explain what his being the Messiah really means. It means suffering, and a cross, and death, and yes, resurrection too. So Peter takes him aside and rebukes him. “Hey Jesus, don’t talk like that. That isn’t Messiah talk. That isn’t the message we want to portray. That isn’t what Messiah, what YOU, are going to do. You’re going to lead us to victory. It sounds to me like you’re talking about defeat.”

You see, a rejected Messiah is incompatible with their convictions, and their hopes and dreams. This is where the rubber meets the road for the disciples. This is where many begin to turn back. This is where the Kingdom of God collides full force with the kingdoms of men. He doesn’t correct Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is in fact the long-awaited Messiah. But he, again patiently, begins to reshape Peter and the other disciples’ view of what exactly he would do, AND the life he was inviting them into as citizens of the Kingdom of God.

And so as Peter rebukes Jesus, Jesus forcefully rebukes Peter in return, while looking at the other disciples too. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” We often think that Satan only tempted Jesus in the wilderness and again in the Garden of Gethsemane, both times when he was physically and spiritually drained. No, Satan tempted him often, but more subtly, the way he tempts us. With fame and fortune and power and comfort and security. At least as this world views those things. Satan hit him in the scribes and pharisees blind enmity and in his own disciples blind enthusiasm. But he would not be distracted and led off course. From here in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus would begin his long and arduous trek to Jerusalem – to the upper room, to the Garden of Gethsemane, to the sham of a trial and his torture, and ultimately, to his cross.

That journey begins in Caesarea Philippi, as does Peter’s proclamation of the truth of who Jesus is, “The Christ, the Son of the living God.” Caesarea Philippi. Jerusalem may have been the JEWISH capital and the center of Jewish faith, and ultimately, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, but Caesarea Philippi was the ROMAN seat of power in the region. The region of Iturea, renowned for its beauty and fertility. When Caesar Augustus gave this region to Herod Philip’s father, Herod the Great, Herod built a temple there in honor of Caesar, near a grotto consecrated to the Greek nature god Pan. It was a city dedicated to the worship of Caesar as a god and of the Greek god Pan. Caesarea. If you take the two letters “-ea” off the end, the root of the word Caesarea is Caesar. And it was the home and capital of Herod the Great’s son, Herod Philip. Caesarea (Caesar) Philippi (Philip). It was a bastion not just celebrating but WORSHIPPING Roman power and wealth and influence.

It was there, in Caesarea Philippi, at the base of Mt. Hermon, that Peter rightly declared that Jesus was the Messiah, and it was there that Jesus began his journey toward Jerusalem and his cross, challenging his disciples views of what exactly he was going to do when he got to Jerusalem and just how very different the Kingdom of God was when compared to the kingdoms of this world. It is here that Jesus turns his back on Caesarea Philippi and all that it represents and turns his face toward Jerusalem and all that awaits him there, revealing to us just how different the Kingdom of God is to every kingdom of this world that has ever existed and ever will exist. And if you follow Jesus, you are a citizen of that kingdom. His kingdom.

Pastor and author Max Lucado describes some of the weak views people have about Christ, even within the church:

For some, Jesus is a good luck charm. The “Rabbit’s Foot Redeemer.” Pocket-sized. Handy. Easily packaged. Easily understood. Easily diagrammed. You can put his picture on your wall or you can stick it in your wallet as insurance. You can frame him. Dangle him from your rear view mirror or glue him to your dashboard.

His specialty? Getting you out of a jam. Need a parking place? Rub the redeemer. Need help on a quiz? Pull out the rabbit’s foot. No need to have a relationship with him. No need to love him. Just keep him in your pocket next to your four-leaf clover.

For many he’s an “Aladdin’s Lamp Redeemer.” New jobs. Pink Cadillacs. New and improved spouses. Your wish is his command. And what’s more, he conveniently reenters the lamp when you don’t want him around.

For others, Jesus is a “Monty Hall Redeemer.” “All right, Jesus, let’s make a deal. For 52 Sundays a year, I’ll put on a costume – coat and tie, hat and hose – and I’ll endure any sermon you throw at me. In exchange, you give me the grace behind pearly gate number three.”

The Rabbit’s Food Redeemer. The Aladdin’s Lamp Redeemer. The Monty Hall Redeemer. Few demands, no challenges. No need for sacrifice. No need for commitment.

Sightless and heartless redeemers. Redeemers without power. That’s not the Redeemer of the New Testament.[iii]

So, who do YOU say that he is? Is he just your rabbit’s foot redeemer, or your Aladdin’s lamp redeemer, or your Monty Hall redeemer? Or is he the Christ, the Son of the Living God? What say you? Let’s pray.

[i] David Garland, Mark. The NIV Application Commentary, pg. 331.

[ii] Michka Assayas, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books, 2005)

[iii] Max Lucado, Six Hours One Friday (W. Publishing, 2004), pp. 89-90