We Believe: In Jesus Christ

The people of Israel had been waiting, expectantly. Over 400 hundred years had passed since the last of the prophets spoke God’s words of warning and hope. A messiah had been promised. Messiah means, in Hebrew, “anointed One.” Those who were anointed with oil were recognized as chosen by God to be priests or kings, to lead God’s people. According to Isaiah, the coming anointed One would be anointed with the Spirit of God to proclaim good news to the poor; sent to bind up the brokenhearted, and he would be born to a young girl as a sign. He would come from Bethlehem according to Micah. Zechariah declared, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The people sang these words in the 22nd psalm, “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let the Lord deliver him, since he delights in him.” A pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. But you, LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him—may your hearts live forever!” As he hung on the cross, Jesus brought this song to mind for all who were gathered around as he spoke, or perhaps sang, its first words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Before he entered Jerusalem for that last Passover, though, Jesus took his disciples to a town of mostly Gentiles, in the far north of Israel, outside the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, away from the watchful eye of Jewish leaders. The town had been named Panias because it was the legendary birthplace of the Greek god of nature Pan; it was home to 14 temples for the worship of the Syrian god Ba’al; and more recently, Herod the Great had built a white marble temple dedicated to the worship of Caesar and the town’s name had been changed by Herod’s son, Philip, to Caesarea (Caesar’s town) Philippi.

Here, surrounded by shines and temples built by people who were searching for a god who would provide, a god who would protect, a god who cared, Jesus brought his disciples and asked, “Who do people say I am?”
John the Baptist, returned to life, or Elijah or Jeremiah; people say you are a prophet. N.T. Wright points out that the disciples’ report “tells us a good deal about the way Jesus was perceived by the people at large. Not ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’; not the cozy comforting friend of little children; rather, like one of the wild prophets…who had stood up and spoken God’s word fearlessly against wicked and rebellious kings.” The people believe Jesus is “acting as a prophet: not simply ‘one who foretells the future’, but one who [is] God’s mouthpiece against injustice and wickedness in high places.”

“What about you?” asks Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answers, and when Jesus hears his answer he exclaims, “God’s blessing is on you!” You never would have figured it out on your own. God revealed this to you! Now, it is yours to know for now, and no one else’s. For Simon Peter’s answer was, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”

Perhaps Jesus commanded them to keep silent to allow him to fulfill the prophecy of his entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, or maybe Jesus knew they didn’t really understand what it meant for him to be Messiah. They were waiting for a triumphant military leader to overthrow their Roman oppressors; he had come to overthrow all oppression. Their hopes were earthly; his reign is not. When Peter said Son of God, was not recognizing Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, he was using a Biblical phrase that meant a person adopted by God as a special representative.

They would only begin to understand after his resurrection that this man they knew, Jesus of Nazareth, was more than a special representative of God. Around 62, about 30 years after Jesus’ death, Paul penned these words to the church at Philippi, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) “Jesus Christ is Lord.” It was the first creed of the church.

It wasn’t long before the church began to have to explain how it was that if Jesus is Lord, Christians were monotheistic, worshiping one God. In 180 we have the Apostles’ Creed being scripted in Rome, and then in 213 we have Tertullian first using the word trinity to describe how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are interrelated. In another 100 years, the Nicene Creed will be an attempt to understand the nature of Christ, describing him as begotten, not made, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.

Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine. The reality is that it is a mystery beyond our comprehension and therefore, certainly, beyond our description – any attempt is poetry and woefully inept.

When I was growing up in church, I thought Jesus’s name was Jesus Christ. Not really in the sense that Christ was his last name, but I always said them together unless I was talking about a story about Jesus’s life from the Gospels. Christ is the Greek word for Messiah. So, when we say “I believe in Jesus Christ” we are saying I believe Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. “The only Son of God who is Father Almighty, and made heaven and earth” Jesus Christ is unique; there is not another to relates to God, with God, like he does, and he is “our Lord,” our master, our authority.

The leaders of the church writing the Apostles’ Creed are concerned to confirm that the circumstances around his birth were unusual. They know the story of Mary’s annunciation in Luke and Joseph’s dream in Matthew. They know the prophecy of Isaiah that a young maiden will conceive. This is a pregnancy like no other, but what is important to emphasize is that it is from God, unlike any other pregnancy, and that Jesus is born, like any other person is born, with a mother who carries him and gives birth to him.

And then we jump – not because Jesus’s life is not important. It is. Jesus’s teachings reveal to us who God is and how God is and who God wants us to be as individuals and as a community and how to approach God. Jesus’s life is our example for living. We jump because Jesus’s life, while extraordinary, without his death and resurrection, would simply be a life of wise teaching.

We jump to his suffering under Pontius Pilate. As he approaches death, Jesus suffers, like any other human being would suffer. He was crucified, dead, and buried.

“He descended into hell.” This phrase was added in the 5th Century. The word we translate as “hell” in Hebrew and in Greek both mean “land of the dead.” So, what we are saying is Jesus was really and truly dead, along with all who had previously died. Calvin’s view was that “hell” was not to be taken as a literal place but as separation from God, which is ultimate suffering.

He did not remain there, though. “On the third day, he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” The right hand is the place of judgment. The final affirmation we make about Jesus is that his teaching in Matthew 25 is being fulfilled and the sheep and the goats are being separated, “from thence he shall come to judge the quick (the living) and the dead.”

The final exam in my theology course in seminary was one question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” We knew from the first day of class what the exam would be. None of us, even by the end of the course, were ready to complete our papers. In fact, we will never fully be able to answer that question; as people of faith we will spend our lives striving toward it.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, like when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, we will fully know, just as we have been fully known by God.”

For now, we affirm that we believe in Jesus Christ, who is uniquely related to God, who was humbly born human, who suffered and died and bore our sins, who rose again and ascended to God, who sits in judgment separating those who recognize him in the least, and those who don’t.

Like Peter, we proclaim without fully understanding what it means, “Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” Therefore, our creed, the belief that guides our actions, is “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Amen.