The Twelve have been walking with Jesus for a while now. They have heard him proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. They have seen him heal diseases, cast out demons, and feed multitudes with five loaves and two fish. Jesus has even granted them authority over diseases and demons. But do the Twelve know who Jesus is? Do they understand his true identity and, consequently, his vocation?
In Luke 9, on the heels of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus inquires. First, he asks the disciples who the crowds say that he is. They had been mingling through the crowds (9.11) passing out and collecting food. People were talking. What were they saying about Jesus? The disciples tell him that they believe that Jesus is one of the prophets risen from the dead. But then Jesus turns to the disciples and asks, “And you, who do you say that I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ of God.” (9.20)
Good answer, Peter! Jesus is the Christ, God’s Messiah, David’s great son who will rule the nations (Ps 2). But do Peter and the others understand the full vocation of the Christ? Do they know that he must suffer at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes—the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish court—be killed, and rise again on the third day? Apparently not. Toward the end of Luke’s Gospel, we learn that the disciples still don’t understand, a truth made clear through the two disciples with whom Jesus converses on the Road to Emmaus (24.13-35).
Peter and the others had Jesus in the right category, giving him the correct title, but they had filled that title with preconceived notions. They know the story: gather your forces together like Joshua, the Judges, and David, go drive out the enemies, and establish your rule. That’s what the Christ does … right?
Of course it is. But that’s not the whole story. The story of a defeated enemy includes a bruised heel (Gen 3.15). It is a story where the old principalities and powers in the land refuse to recognize God’s Anointed and seek to put him to death. This is the story of Saul and David. This is the story of the prophets. This is the story of the Son of Man who ascends to the Ancient of Days and is granted his kingdom after suffering (Dan 7).
We must read the entire story so that we can understand what “Christ” means. We are not free to pick and choose the parts of the story that we want and discard those parts we don’t like. Not to read the whole story is to come away with a distorted definition of “Christ,” which then leads to a distorted definition of what he came to do, which leads to a distorted definition of what it means to be “Christian,” a little Christ.
People are happy to believe in “God” or even “Christ” as long as they are able to control the definitions. A Pew Research poll in 2018 discovered that while 80% of Americans believe in “God,” significantly less—56%– say that they believe in the God described in the Bible. (https://www.pewforum.org/2018/04/25/when-americans-say-they-believe-in-god-what-do-they-mean/ accessed October 22, 2019) I suspect that if we explained to the 56% a little more about the God of Scripture and how he is revealed in Christ Jesus, that number would decrease significantly. A majority of Americans want to retain “In God We Trust” on our currency and want to keep the “one nation under God” clause in the Pledge of Allegiance (which, by the way, I’m not encouraging you to take). But if you were at an event reciting the Pledge with everyone else and said, “one nation under the lordship of Jesus Christ,” identifying “God” with Jesus instead of Allah or some other generic higher power, you would provoke all sorts of anger. We like the word “God,” but we like to stuff it with our own definitions, making God in our image.
Christians aren’t immune. We get ideas in our heads of who God is and the way he ought to act from which we must be disabused by careful reading and teaching of Scripture. We might think that if we are faithful, God will keep us trouble-free. “Proverbs 16.7 says that if a man’s ways please YHWH, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. So, if I am pleasing to God, then everyone will like me. If everyone doesn’t like me, that means God is displeased with me.” Proverbs 16.7 is true, but it isn’t the whole story. To read it as such is to get a distorted view of God and how our lives are lived before him.
We must be true to the Christ revealed in Scripture. Anything less is idolatry. Where his story surprises us, we must get over our shock and follow him. Where his character shocks us, we must have our minds conformed to what he has revealed. Where his actions startle us, we must be unafraid and unashamed to say, “This is our God.”
