07.06.08
Proper 9
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Few questions in life face us with such stark choices and answers as this one: “Who is Jesus?”

We should not imagine that answers are scarce. In fact, they are so abundant as to be overwhelming. But that should not surprise us. From the very beginning, the gospels show us the variety of people’s answers to this question about the identity of Jesus.

I. Consider the Wrong Answer  (vv. 16-19)

Jesus himself asked questions of his listeners, just as they questioned Him. In today’s text, some of the followers of John the Baptist were trying to get some clear understanding about who Jesus really was. John had been put into prison by Herod, and his followers were getting restless. If John really was a great prophet, as they believed, why was he in prison? With John’s blessings, they went to Jesus and asked, in effect, who he really was. “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

As he often did, Jesus did not answer “yes” or “no.” He reminded them that seeing is believing. He had them go back to John and report on the effects of Jesus’ work: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

This is what the gospel does because this is who Jesus is.

But the people were not satisfied. After John’s followers left, Jesus spoke to the crowd and pointed out that they were never satisfied with reality. The current generation is “like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’”

We are asking, “Who is Jesus?” The wrong answer is, He is whomever we wish him to be. We will make it all about us and squeeze Jesus into our own molds. The greatest tragedy is to try to make the entire universe swirl around us.

II. Consider the Right Answer

Who is Jesus? He is the Son intimately connected to the Father. The prayer of Jesus is, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one know the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Because Jesus is the Son, he invites us to share the energy of a relationship with him.

J. Winston Pearce tells the story of Baron Rothschild, the powerful London merchant and financier of an earlier generation. On day a young lawyer went to see him for advice. This young lawyer was having a tough time getting settled into his profession. Too little work was coming his way.

Rothschild put his arm abound the young man’s shoulders and walked with him the length of the stock exchange and back to his office. Then he shook the young lawyer’s hand and bid him goodbye.

The younger man felt disappointed because Rothschild had not given him a letter of recommendation or anything else. But by the time he returned to his office, calls for his services were coming in. By the end of the day he had received enough business to keep him going for a long time. What had happened? “They had seen him walking with the prince of merchants and bankers. That was enough recommendation. The young man had to be dependable, trustworthy and capable, or Baron Rothschild would not have walked with him.”[1]

Jesus invites us to came and walk with him when we’ve reached the end of our resources. He puts his arm around our shoulders and gives us “rest for our souls.” In doing so, we find out who he really is.

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[1] J. Winston Pearce, To Brighten Each Day (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1983), p. 51.