"Are you the Christ?"
Easter 4
Fr. Tim Nunez
“Are you the Christ?”
In October of 2018 I was working for the bishop and I had a meeting with the search committee at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Eustis. On my way home, I decided to grab a quick dinner at the Panera Bread restaurant in Apopka. I’d never been in there before nor have I been there since. I walk in, order my food, take my drink to my table and this elderly man comes up and asks me, “Are you my rector?” No one has ever asked me that before and no one has ever since.
It was a pregnant question. At the time, I wasn’t anyone’s rector. I was the bishop’s Canon to the Ordinary. I served the whole diocese and it wasn’t unusual for people to see me in a restaurant and speak to me. I had just accepted the call to come to Lake Wales, but this was Apopka. When was the last time you went to Apopka? So I answered, “Maybe. Where do you go to church?”
When he said here, I said yes, he was right and wound up sitting with him and his daughter. It was nice. The timing and location of that question made it memorable.
Many of you remember Peter Kline. He was a kind gentleman who grew up here at Good Shepherd then returned here late in life. Peter died last year and I told this story at his funeral, I’ve told it many times, so you may have heard it. But it is a good story worth retelling and will help us get into today’s Gospel.
The timing and location of this question, “Are you the Christ?” make it memorable. The question is being asked, John tells us, by “the Jews.” Please note that is shorthand for the Jewish authorities – the priests, Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, lawyers, etc. Everyone in the story at this point is Jewish.
They have gathered at the Temple to celebrate the Festival of the Dedication, or as we know it today, Hanukkah. It recalls a very important event in Israel’s history, which needs a bit of world history to understand. You may recall that Alexander the Great conquered everything from Greece east across Turkey and Persia to the frontier of India and wrapping around the eastern Mediterranean, including Israel, to Egypt. Alexander died in 323 BC, or about 350 years before this conversation, and his empire split up. But those remnants of it endured a long time, which is why the whole Mediterranean world spoke Greek.
About 200 years before this conversation, a group of Jews led by Judah Maccabee rebelled against their Greek ruler after he put a statue of Zeus in the Temple. They stormed the Temple, threw out the Greeks and the statue and holed up in there under siege for eight days. There was a candle that had only enough oil for a single night, but it lasted for eight days. By then, the rebellion grew into a full scale revolution and they won. Judah erected a new altar and rededicated the Temple. They established an independent Israel for over 100 years, until the Romans and Herod the Great overthrew them.
It’s also important to note that Hanukkah – the festival of the Dedication – occurs around the Winter Solstice, in December, when the days are shortest; the victory of light over the darkness. Now here, with that festival at hand, on the eastern porch of the Temple, the Jewish leaders want to know, “Are you the Christ?” They mean in the style of Judah Maccabee. They expect things to be done the same way. Jump in there, win a battle, spark a revolution and straighten things out. That is all they know. But it isn’t all they should know, these are educated leaders, after all. But their job description for the Messiah, the Christ, is quite different from his actual one.
Jesus is the Christ, so he cannot say no. But Jesus has told them in his clear teaching on scripture. He has shown them – in great works of power and wonder. Archbishop William Temple notes their job description as leader and provider in the mold of Judah holds the very same temptations Satan tempted him with in the wilderness – to show his power in the obvious ways, jump to that pinnacle, prove his holiness.
They don’t get it because they don’t want to get it. They want him to be what they want him to be, which makes it very hard to receive him as he is. In some ways it is still hard. A lot of people would be very happy for Jesus to be who they want him to be, to sort out the political struggles of our time, maybe try to go back to a heroic memory. If only we could make people behave, get them to do the right things. We tend to measure most everything in economic terms, as if money would solve the problem if we just balanced it right.
But that’s not Jesus’ agenda. Yes, he means to save the world, but it isn’t to come through a military battle. He will to do it through transforming our hearts and minds to be like his. And the key to that is listening for his voice. If we put his voice first, then the politics, economics, education, science and behavior all fall into place and take on real life in Him. And, as Jesus said, “No one will snatch them out of my hand.” No evil can break that bond between Jesus and people who follow his voice.
Let’s go back to Apopka. When Peter Kline asked me, “Are you my rector?” my mind flashed back to a children’s book called, “Are you my mother?” In it, a baby bird hatches out of its egg and goes all around asking various animals and plants and even a dragline, “Are you my mother?”
I’ve been watching a particular baby rather intently the last few months. Meg and I get videos of Mabel ever day or two. Mabel will never ask Rachel, “Are you my mother?” One of the great joys we see is how Mabel responds to her mother’s voice, as well as her father’s voice. I think she made that aural connection before her visual recognition.
Imagine how intent her parents are on protecting Mabel. That’s love at work! Now imagine that love is a reflection of Jesus’ love for Mabel, and for you. Jesus and the Father are one. Put him first and there is nothing that can snatch you out of his hands.
AMEN!