SCRIPTURES: Matthew 16: 13-16 contains the story of when our Lord asks Peter the question: Who do you say that I am? Peter's responds that he believes : Jesus is "the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
John 9: 1 -16 tells the story of Jesus healing a blind man and how people responded in different ways to this act of compassion.
SERMON IN A SENTENCE: The essential question of faith for us is the same one that our Lord asks Peter, which is: "Peter, who do you say that I am?" Every one believes in Jesus on some level. He is respected as a teacher, moral example and leader, and a person of great compassion. For a Christian, those titles are true, but the greater title is "Lord and Savior." Who do you say that I am? Our words and deeds will provide our answer!
Our friend Elaine Reinke sent me a recent article from The New YorkTimes that was entitled "Atheists Send a Message, on 800 British Buses." The article describes how a group called "The Atheist Bus Campaign" have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars so that they can place an ad on 800 Buses that reads: "There's Probably No God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
When I read this article, you can imagine how thrilled I was! Now, don't get me wrong, I believe in Freedom of Religion, and if your religion happens to be Atheism you should have the right to express your opinion. But tell me, do you think spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote an idea that helps no one and encourages an Epicurean like message of "Eat, drink and be merry" is really necessary or helpful? I don't, but as I read this article and started to calm down a bit, I realized that it is just another example of the age-old controversy that is described in Matthew's Gospel when Jesus asks Peter: "Who do you say that I am?"
For you see 2,000 years ago and ever since, there have been many different responses to that question and how we respond to it will determine how deeply we experience the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In truth, our response to that question is another Defining Moment in our faith journey as we decide how powerfully we will let our Lord impact our lives! If he is a great guy with some great teachings, he will have an impact upon our lives, but if he is our Lord and Savior that impact will be far greater and more meaningful!
Today, as we reflect upon the question: Who do we say and believe the Lord is, let us look at our reading from John's Gospel that tells a story about a wonderful miracle of compassion and how the response of the characters who are part of this story illustrates the challenge of truly with our words, deeds and prayers living a life that demonstrates our belief that there is definitely a God, and that we believe that in affirming His Son as our Lord and Savior we will truly experience the joy of knowing that his love will surround and sustain us forever!
Let's begin our reflection on this story by considering the response of the religious leaders who hear about the wonderful act of compassion that Jesus performed in healing this blind man. There response is not: "Oh, how wonderful to hear this news! We are so happy for you and your family."
No, their response is to play 20 questions:
And when their questions don't get the response that they are looking for that would raise doubts or criticisms about Jesus they still find a way to find fault with this selfless act of compassion by stating the opinion: "The man who did this could not be from God, for he healed you on the sabbath and so he doesn't obey our sabbath law!"
Talk about majoring on the minors! Here, a man who has been blind and afflicted all of his life is blessed with a miracle of compassion and all these guys can do is complain about what day of the week the miracle occurred on! Jesus just refused to fit their expectations and they couldn't deal with that, and so rather then joining in the celebration they want to toss cold water and criticism about the whole event!
Now of course, that would not be our response but how do we deal with the facts of our faith which are beyond our human comprehension? Let's be honest, we live at a point in time which has been called the age of skepticism where if it can't be proved there are many who will reject an idea. And we are not immune from such doubts, and it is a challenge for us to affirm beliefs that we really can't fully understand!
Paul describes this condition in 1st Corinthians 13: 12, when he says: "What we now see is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. What we now know is only partial; then it will be complete, as complete as God's knowledge of us!"
Rev. Andy Stanley is honest enough to state in the DVD that we will see in today's Adult Ed Forum that he has many doubts. And I, even though I am your Pastor, will say Amen!
There are times of doubts in our lives which come from the fact that we can't fully understand what we call the mysteries of our Christian Faith.
We can't, because now we only know in part, fully understand these truths but we must learn from the negative example of the religious leaders who criticized Jesus for his act of compassion not to allow our doubts and struggles to get in the way of accepting and affirming the power of his Amazing Grace...Yes, we can play 20 questions and focus on details that are beyond our understanding or we can just open our hearts and minds to the undeniable fact that Jesus is our Lord and savior and has promised us that His love is forever and His grace can transform our lives right now.
That's exactly what the Blind man did. He didn't understand any more then the religious leaders did in terms of how Jesus was able to cure him. All he knew was that for a lifetime he had struggled with blindness, and now because this man had come into his life he had been cured! He had been blind, but now he saw, and that truly amazing grace that he couldn't possibly fully understand had the power to transform his life!
He could have spent the rest of his life struggling to find a reason and an explanation for how it had happened but instead, he made the far wiser choice of just thanking God.
And so later, after this Blind Man had been expelled or excommunicated from his faith community because he refused to deny the power of Christ's grace and love, he meets Jesus again. And Jesus asks him: Do you believe? And he responds by saying: "I believe Lord" and he knelt down before Jesus. He believed and trusted in that which he could not fully understand! Isn't that the most accurate description of our faith commitment also?
I'd love to be brilliant enough to explain to you how Jesus performed the miracles that he did or how he rose from the dead, but I am not. But I am intelligent enough to tell you that our faith does not depend on such knowledge. Rather, our faith is about trusting in promises that we can not fully explain but which we can fully believe.
I hold in my hand, a letter from Joseph Pirro. He is one of the soldiers that we have been praying for who is serving in Iraq. This is Joseph's second tour and during his first tour, we were not aware of his service and we were not praying for him at that time. This tour we are, and Joseph believes that our prayers here in Massapequa, along with prayers in many other locations are changing his life experience in Iraq.
Let me share with you how Joseph explained that in his own words:
I just want to tell you how much I appreciate all of your prayers, we all do. It is the prayers of people like yourself and your church that keeps us guys going over here, even when times get hard. Words really can't describe how truly thankful I am. The cards from the children were great. I wish I could write a letter to each one of them to say thank you. Just to let them and you know, all the prayers truly work. My last tour over here in 2006 was a real bad one. The country was upside down and I lost a few of my good friends. But things are much better now. It is still dangerous but it is not like it once was which is a wonderful thing and its because of all of those prayers!
Would you like me to explain how our prayers here at MRC and elsewhere are making a difference in Iraq? I can't do that any more then I can explain the many other unexplainable examples of the power of God's grace experienced in and through our lives that I see every day. But this I can say without doubt: Although the experiences we have are as diverse as we are, the same truth is held in common. We once were blind and without hope. But then, we experienced God's Amazing Grace and we could see, and were filled with a hope that never ends.
Who do we say the Lord is? He is our Lord and Savior and the giver of the gift of hope and love that shall never end!
Pastor Stephen Giordano — January 11, 2009