Let us pray. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Holy One, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen.
As a citizen of the United States, I am often reminded of the collective memory of the events of September 11, 2001. This year marked 23 years since those events changed the course of US history. It was my first year of seminary and our theological education was shaped by both the events and the emerging sentiments regarding safety, air travel and nationalism and patriotism. I remember pushing a shopping cart through a store with my three-year-old daughter kicking her little legs against the basket as we shopped for necessities for our new home. We could not imagine what was happening just 52.5 miles north of us. I can still remember the images on the news as we watched the plane crashing into the World Trade Center building repeatedly as if seeing it once was not enough to convince us of what had happened.
After the attacks, there were all manner of efforts to heighten security in a number of spaces. The one that may have had the biggest impact was the implementation of the Real ID. If you are hearing this as a US citizen who likes to travel by plane, you may be able to relate to this connection. Congress passed the Real ID Act, establishing stricter requirements for driver's licenses and ID cards issued by US states and territories. This was an attempt to close the gaps that resulted from each state having a different set of requirements. By 2020, all states were certified as compliant with the Real ID requirements.
While a Real ID may indicate that the holder/bearer has met certain standards of verifying their identity - it does not actually reveal much more about the holder. For example, though my identification does confirm for the purpose of traveling that I am who my ticket says I am. It does not tell the gate agent anything about the life that I live. It confirms that I am who I say I am but does not clear up any misconceptions about how that identity is interpreted. It merely suggests to the airline staff that the person holding the document and the ticket are one and the same. But what happens when that is not enough? What happens when a journey requires knowing more than just the person is who they say they are?
Perhaps this was the question that Mark wanted the reader and hearer to grapple with as they encountered this text. Perhaps, in this text, we are confronted with the difference between who we think Jesus is or expect Him to be and who he actually is. Jesus poses the question: who do people say that I am? This is a way of collecting anecdotal data about His identity. Does the person match the description? Is that enough? Are the people speaking from experience or from rumors that they have heard? I think that Mark's Jesus offers us an opportunity to consider the implications of his Real ID and our journey with him.
The first implication of learning who Jesus really is brings the painful realization that we might have been wrong about him all along. Jesus asks who the people say he is and the answers vary. The answers ranged from John the Baptist to Elijah and finally, Peter announces that he is the Messiah. Jesus shushes Peter and then the text goes on to indicate that Jesus began to teach them. While it seems that Peter's answer was correct, the answer would only receive partial credit. Peter had correctly identified the title but quite possibly misunderstood the nature of the role. Peter's understanding of the Messiah might have conjured images of military victory and grand displays of power. This was how power had been demonstrated in his culture, so this understanding is reasonable: yet still inaccurate.
While it may be reasonable, it was not how Jesus fulfilled the role. Jesus does not go to war with the powers that be in traditional ways. Instead, he touches. He heals. He feeds. He teaches. He demonstrates compassion.
These are not actions or tools of traditional warfare. These are the actions and tools that will result in the suffering and rejection of the one called the Son of Man.
These are the actions and tools that are used not only to dismantle the existing systems but to also build the new reality that is promised and is possible. When Jesus begins this teaching, Peter rebukes him as if Jesus is wrong for his understanding of Himself and His mission. Oh Peter, I know it's hard to imagine but we may have to consider the possibility that what we expected and what we thought were incompatible with what is. Perhaps we were wrong. Perhaps there is another way to understand the Real identity of this one we call Messiah. Perhaps he is offering it to us as he teaches us and as he lives a life of service.
A second implication of learning who Jesus is comes with the understanding that the full identity of Jesus is rooted in some place that we cannot perceive. We have been shaped by our environments and we use patterns and experiences to make sense of our world and our place in this world. Following this line of thinking, then it makes sense that Peter and others might conclude that the only way to show up as the Messiah who saves is to do so on preexisting terms. Every other leader who wanted to be in power did so by seizing that power. Often, that power is seized by grand military force and violence. If this is the way of the world, then of course Jesus would have to play by those rules if he wanted to achieve his goals.
This is the space of cognitive dissonance that Peter and the readers and hearers may experience. At His baptism, the Spirit verified His identity. Here, he is unpacking what it means to live into that identity. He has heard Peter say that he is the Messiah but now, he must explain what that really means. He must take their incorrect assumptions and replace them with His definition of what it means to be the Messiah.
He replaces might with right. He replaces harm with healing. He replaces grandeur with grace.
He reminds them that they are unable to understand because their minds are set on human things instead of on divine things. Only the one who is divine can understand and explain what it means to comprehend the role of the Messiah. The one who has seen the world at its beginning and who can see what it will look like when it is redeemed and reconciled to God is the one who understands this role in its fullest context. This reminds me of when we forget our passwords to our accounts and we are given a security question that is so personal that only the real account holder would know the answer. Here, we see that Jesus has all of the information needed to answer the security questions to further prove that he is indeed who he claims to be.
A third implication of learning the real identity of Jesus is that we are left to choose or reject this journey that he offers. The trouble with understanding who Jesus is lies not with the defining lines of his role as Messiah but with what it means for us. When we learn that the work of the Messiah includes our cooperation, then the role expands and our understanding of ourselves expands as well. The text speaks of denying self, losing life and forfeiting the whole world. This criteria for discipleship seems harsh at first. By human standards, this criteria may seem difficult to endure and even unfair. We live in a society that lures us in with the promise of more being better and ease being a reward for hard work. The one who has the most things is the winner in the end. Here, this Messiah identifies himself and his followers as those who would reject the attractions of this world and instead consider what it would look like to live into the phrase, "Thy Kingdom come". These are the ones who would put the needs of others ahead of their own desires. These are the ones who are not seduced by the rewards that empire offers but rather find reward in serving others and building a beloved community where there is enough for all and some to spare.
The reign of God is not like the reign of a human ruler. The reign of God is marked by grace, forgiveness, generosity and sufficiency. The reign of humans is marked by competition, fear, pain and scarcity. No wonder the identity of Jesus was questioned so often. This upending of the way things have always been will be devastating to the status quo but liberating to those who have suffered. This upending of the way things have always been will reveal that we have been living under systems designed to drain our very lives of their joy but this very real messiah is giving us an opportunity to participate in and build something so much better.
The good news is that the road is open to all of us. The good news is that we are all invited to journey together with each of us bringing our own unique gifts to the journey. Just like Jesus did, when we settle into our real identity as followers of Christ, we make room for others to do the same. When we continue to settle into our own real identity as followers of Christ, we co-labor to create broader spaces where a multitude of gifts are welcome and the beloved community grows and flourishes. When we continue to settle into our real identity as followers of Christ, we release the fake IDs and imposter syndrome that keeps us from being our fearlessly and wonderfully made selves. Ah, when we settle into our real identity as followers of Christ, we will leave this world better than we found it and those who follow us just might say, Thanks Be To God!