The Big Question
1 Samuel 17:32-49/ Mark 4:35-41

June 25, 2006


We have listened to the reading of two incredible stories from the Scriptures: the story of David's confrontation with the Philistine champion, Goliath, and Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. After each of these events the same question is asked. When King Saul receives the news of David’s victory over Goliath, he asks, “Whose son is this young man?” (1 Samuel17:55). And when the Sea has calmed, and the panic has passed, the disciples ask, “Who is this....?”

For Christians, “Who is Jesus?” is the big question. The answer to that question defines who we are as Christians. The answer to that question is the foundation of our faith. If you accept that proposition you will need substantial grounds to support what you believe about Jesus.

We currently witness a huge public interest in the question of who Jesus is. Consider, for example, the unanticipated response to Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. Now on the big screen you can view the movie version of The DaVinci Code. Those two films offer vastly different answers, but their popularity indicates the widespread interest in the question.

The novel, The Da Vinci Code is a “page turner.” As a story it is a fast moving thriller loaded with suspense. However, as Dan Brown has acknowledged, it is a work of fiction. The gist of the story goes like this (I don’t think I’m giving anything away that hasn’t already been given saturation coverage by the media): Leonardo became privy to a conspiracy that had taken place 1200 years earlier in the fourth century. The Emperor Constantine and the leaders of the Church conspired, at the Council of Nicea, to make Jesus into a God, and cover up the fact that Jesus did not die on a cross, and that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife, and had children and some of their descendants became Kings of France. It was also covered up that Mary Magdalene was more divine than Jesus.

Da Vinci figured this all out and put clues in his paintings which would direct any discerning person to the truth. Other than a curator at the Louvre who seems to have been on the right track, but turned up dead, no one was clever enough to crack the code until a “symbologist” from Harvard arrives on the scene. Up until this time the Vatican had been successful in keeping the Atruth@ about Jesus and Mary Magdalene hidden.

Before taking all this as “gospel truth” there are some facts that merit consideration. There was a Council of Church leaders convened at Nicaea in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine. All the parties were in agreement that Jesus was divine. There was no disagreement on that belief. The issue to be resolved was how to explain his divinity without compromising his humanity. The solution arrived at was the doctrine of the Trinity. All of the early heresies that plagued the Church denied his humanity!

A second fact to bear in mind is that there is not much information about Mary Magdalene in the New Testament Gospels. There is only one instance where she is a principle figure and that is the account of her encounter with the risen Christ outside the tomb in the Fourth Gospel. Other than that, her name appears only in lists of women followers of Jesus. There is no mention of her profession or if she had one, and no mention is made of a special relationship with Jesus. It does not say that she was not married to Jesus, and on this silence Dan Brown rests his case.

Finally, Harvard has no “symbologists” on its faculty. And you may be challenged to find any accredited university that does!

Soon, however, Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code will fade into obscurity, because masses of people will be reading Anne Rice, the next billionaire author. Anne Rice has recently had a “Damascus Road” experience, and has returned to the Church. She is giving the vampires a rest, and is now writing novels about Jesus. Her first offering is about Jesus as a child in Egypt. Sources she relies heavily upon are the “Infancy Gospels” which are a part of a vast classification of writings known as New Testament Apocrypha, dating from the second to third centuries. These generally depict Jesus as a god-child with amazing powers. One story, for example, tells how Jesus, when some children do not want to play with him, turns them into goats. Their mothers, needless to say, were not amused.

The Christian Community rejected these stories. Incidentally, they have not been hidden in a secret Vatican vault. They are available, in English translation, for anyone who is curious, from Chapters or Amazon.

It may seem a radical suggestion, but I would propose that the place to start in working out an answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” is with the Scriptures and the faith and witness of Christians.

Each of the four Gospels was written to answer the question. This year we are reading from Mark. None of the Gospel writers were “embedded journalists.” Even if they were we would still have four different perspectives of who this person is. Mark was written no earlier than 70 AD, about the same time when Jewish nationalists were resisting the armies of Rome at Masada. (Mark’s answer to the question also answers why Jesus’ followers were not part of that particular coalition.) All over the Roman Empire there were groups of followers of this man from Nazareth, gathering together as house churches. With the passing years the original “eyewitnesses” were becoming fewer and fewer. New generations needed to know who this person is who they are following as Lord.

Mark tells the story of Jesus as a mystery. He starts out with fast moving scenes of amazing words and deeds. His associates are becoming more and more curious, and with the stilling of the storm, and recovered from their panic, they finally ask, “WHO IS THIS?”

The writer proceeds to answer that question. I would like now to lift up some key scenes of the mystery being revealed.

The revelation at CAESARERA PHILIPPI takes place half way through the story. Jesus is at the height of his popularity. He asks his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” They respond by telling him some of the rumours that have been circulating, that Jesus is John the Baptist, back from the dead, or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus asks the disciples what they think. Peter answers, “You are the Messiah!”

It was the belief and hope of Jesus’ countrymen that the Messiah (God’s anointed) would come. They were looking for a Messiah who would be the new David who would deliver them from the Roman Goliath, their current oppressor.

Peter figured it out. Jesus orders them not to tell anyone. Who Jesus is is a secret between Jesus and his disciples.

It is on PALM SUNDAY that the secret is announced to the public. At the beginning of Passover Week Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding a donkey. There was a prophetic vision in the writings of Zechariah that this is how the Messiah would come. People spread out garments, they waved branches and shouted “Hosanna.”

Masses missed the significance of the Messiah coming this way. They would learn later in the week that his role of Messiah would be that of a “suffering servant,” as described by another prophetic writer:

"...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed..." (Isaiah 53:5)

There were two processions into Jerusalem that day. The scene is well depicted in the movie Ben Hur. The Roman Governor, Pilate, with a column of soldiers entering one gateBrepresenting the “Domination System” of the dayBpeace through authority and power; and Jesus, riding a colt, announcing a kingdom based on non-violent resistance to evil and the worth of all people as God’s children, entering through another gate..

It is AT THE TOMB that we learn what the answer to the Big Question means to us. The final scene of Mark’s Gospel takes place at the tomb on Easter Sunday morning. The women have come (Mary Magdalene is one of them) to anoint the body. They find the tomb open and empty. A young man in white greets them with the words, “He is not here. He has been raised.” The final words to the women are the instructions to tell the disciples that Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee. They are filled with fear. The story concludes with them not telling anyone anything. Our immediate reaction is that this is not a very satisfying ending. It is almost as if the scribe ran out of scroll before the story was finished. And a couple endings were added to some early versions of Mark's Gospel to make it a proper and complete story.

I believe, however that the “unfinished” ending is what the writer intended. Why were the disciples to be instructed to go to Galilee? On the way from the Upper Room to Gethsemane, Jesus spoke with the disciples about his death and their desertion, and that “after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” (Mk 14:28)

So the message for the disciples after the resurrection is that Jesus is in Galilee. And that is where he expects his disciples to be.

Why Galilee? This is where they had come from. Galilee was their home. This is where they worked. This is where they had answered Jesus’ call and followed him. This is where they had shared in his ministry to the hungry, the homeless and the hurting. And the ministry of Jesus will continue in Galilee.

The word to us at the Tomb is that “He’s not here.” If you want to see him, go back home, where you came from. He’s gone there ahead of you.

Wherever in your world bread is shared. Wherever the hungry are fed, the homeless sheltered, the broken healed. Wherever the refugee is welcomed. Where there is reconciliation with one’s neighbour and with God. Wherever his disciples love and serve others. Wherever his disciples seek justice resist evil

That’s where you find out what you need to know about who this person is.

Preached by Howard Hanson
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan