Dec 13, 1998, Question asked and asnwered, matt 11.2-11

SPECIAL DAYS: Third Sunday of Advent

December 13, 1998 - LESSON: Matthew 11:2-11, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: Question Asked and Answered

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Who do you think you are you, anyway?
1. Have you ever heard someone say this?
2. Have you ever said it about a person?
3. Why?
4. Usually a response to an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
5. It may be true.
It is important to consider how we define ourselves and other people.
1. Lesson 4 of our Sunday morning Bible study of the Letter to the Hebrews contains a section called "Open It"; questions to get you started.
2. There are three questions:
  1. Who are (or were) some of the heroes of your generation?
  2. Who would you describe as a dedicated employee at your place of work?
  3. What assorted titles or designations describe who you are? (For example: postal clerk, husband, dad, baby brother, Sunday School teacher, president of the Rotary Club, and coach of the little league football Eagles.)
    1. What designation describes who you are.
    2. Does it really?
    3. It tells what you do.
    4. But does it describe you?
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3. In other words, "Who do you think are you, anyway?"
  1. Do other people define you as a person?
    1. How do you know they are correct.
    2. At the Henry Street Hebrew School, Mr. Goldblatt, the new teacher, finished the day's lesson. It was now time for the usual question period.
      1. "Mr. Goldblatt," announced little Joey. "There's something I can't figure out."
      2. "What's that, Joey?" asked Goldblatt.
      3. "Well, according to the Bible, the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?"
      4. "Right."
      5. "An' the children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?"
      6. "Er - right."
      7. "An' the children of Israel built the temple, right?"
      8. "You've learned your lesson well, Joey."
      9. "An' the children of Israel fought the Egyptians, and the children of Israel fought the Romans, and the children of Israel wuz always doin' somethin' important, right?"
      10. "All that is right, too," agreed Goldblatt. "So what's your question?"
      11. "What I wanna know is this," demanded Joey. "What wuz all the grownups doing?"
    3. From a child point of view, the grown-ups were absent.
    4. Often from the other's point of view much of who we are and what we really do is absent.
  2. It is important for each of us to define ourselves.
    1. To truly know who "I am."
    2. And also to know "Why I am."
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What difference does it make, if any?
1. It makes a lot of difference
2. You can let other people define you.
3. You can define yourself.
4. It is more than image.
5. It is the exercise of power.
The question of this third Sunday of Advent invites us to ask this question of Jesus.
1. I received a promotional letter, junk mail, promoting a video series.
  1. On the envelope were these questions:
    1. Was he just another radical, intent on making a name for himself.
    2. What did Palestinian Jews think of him? Did they understand him?
    3. Why do you and I need to reexamine what we think we know about him?
    4. Who really was and is this man?
    5. Free video bonus offer inside.
  2. What was being offered is a "Complete video curriculum from the Christian History Institute, Worcester, PA."
What if we ask ourselves this question: "Who really was and is this man?"
1. How are you going to answer this question.
2. You may feel that you know; if you do, then this is a review of what you believe you know.
Jesus is vitally concerned with this question.
1. It is reflected in a question that he put to his disciples.
2. In Matthew 16:13-17, Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,
  1. He asked his disciples,
    1. "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
  2. They replied:
    1. "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
  3. Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
    1. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
  4. Jesus responded:
    1. "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
    2. What you say is true and is based on the revelation that you have received and accepted.
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3. In Matthew 11:2-6, when John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word to Jesus by his disciples.
  1. He asked him two questions:
    1. "Are you the one who is to come
    2. or are we to wait for another?"
  2. In answering these questions Jesus also provides us with a way in which we can also communicate who we are.
    1. As John clearly points out in 1 John 3:18
      1. Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
      2. Our declarations about ourselves may make an immediate impression.
      3. But they will soon be found out if they are not backed by actions.
  3. So Jesus answers:
    1. "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
    2. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
  4. Are these the marks of the Messiah.
4. John is reassured and his doubt is allayed by this information.
Here we are in Advent.
1. The question is again being asked.
2. Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?
3. How we answer this question has long-range implication for us.
4. 1998 was the silver anniversary of the film version of Jesus Christ, Superstar⁽¹⁾.
  1. Here are the opening lyrics, sung by Judas:
  2. You have begun to matter more than the things you say?
  3. Hans Kung, in his book, "On Being a Christian,"⁽²⁾ writes:
    1. The word "Christ" today is more of a soporific than a slogan. So much--too much--is Christian: churches, schools, political parties, cultural associations, and of course Europe, the West, the Middle Ages, to say nothing of the "Most Christian King"--a title conferred by Rome.... Inflation of the concept of "Christian" leads--like all inflation--to devaluation. It is a fact too rarely remembered today that this word--which arose in Antioch, according to the Acts of the Apostles--was first used within the context of world history more as a term of abuse than as an honorable title.
  4. Then he goes on to say:
    1. The question is inescapable: What is there special about Christianity?⁽³⁾...The answer ...here, too, must be: According to the earliest testimony and that of tradition as a whole, the special feature of Christianity is again this Jesus himself, who is constantly freshly known and acknowledged as Christ...The special feature, the most fundamental characteristic of Christianity is that it considers this Jesus as ultimately decisive, definitive, archetypal, for man's relations with God, with his fellow man, with society: in the curtailed biblical formula, as "Jesus Christ."
  5. It is vital to answer the question, "Who do you say that I am?"
  6. This is so that Jesus remains the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord, and not an object.
The best way to answer this question is to reflect on the response of Jesus to the question of John through his disciples.
1. What do you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
2. Jesus was asked a question and he answered it.
3. The Word is still to be heard
4. Who do you think that Jesus is?
5. We have our answer, what will we do with it is the toughest question.

1. Lyrics by Tim Rice; music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

2. Hans Kung, On Being a Christian (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976), 119.

3. Hans Kung, On Being a Christian (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976), 123.

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