The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Fr. Robinson)

We’ve become a news-hungry people. When I was growing up, we had, of course, the newspaper and weekly news magazines. There was a morning news show, The Today Show, and the 6 o’clock news, and the late 11 o’clock news.  That was pretty much it, as I remember it.

Then along came special editions like 60 Minutes and more than a decade later, CNN and around the clock news coverage.  Now there are ways to find out what’s happening in the world 24 hours a day, both in our own “neck of the woods,” as well as anywhere around the world.

As soon as the horrific shootings at the Apalachee High School in Georgia took place, everyone in the country knew about it.  Millions watched follow up procedures by the police.  As soon as the arrest of the shooter was made, we knew about it. Likewise, when the father was also charged, we knew about it immediately.

We can watch the market rise and fall right as it happens. You don’t have to go to the stadium anymore to watch how the Fighting Illini are doing in any given game. True fans know how to get it on TV; and, of course, there’s always the radio. We take it for granted, but our knowledge of what’s happening in the world as it happens has never been greater than it is in our day.

Obtaining knowledge of what’s happening outside of our own immediate circles hasn’t always been so easy. In the late 1700s they had newspapers, but no fast way of getting information from one place to another, and so, when John Adams negotiated terms of peace with King George III in England, it took six weeks for the results of that agreement to get back to the States. Once it got back, then the printed word could spread the news relatively quickly to urban areas.

Before movable type was invented news took much longer to spread and, I suspect, the accuracy of what was reported was much harder to control. Word-of-mouth would have been the usual method for passing news, and that was the case for thousands of years in the human family.

Thus, in the days when Jesus walked the earth, there was no vehicle for spreading his teachings beyond those who came to hear him. They couldn’t grab the remote control to see the itinerant rabbi casting out demons and healing the sick.  Wouldn’t a photographer have had a terrific time filming five loaves and two fish feeding 5000 men, plus some women and children, with plenty left over?  

Many of the religious leaders didn’t like his methods. You had to be there or else hear about these things from someone who had been there, but slowly Jesus’ reputation was spreading. People were talking. So Jesus one day asks his disciples what people were saying about him.  John the Baptist had been beheaded by this time, and some people thought John had returned in the person of Jesus. There was also a strong expectation that before the Messiah would come, Elijah would return. Some thought Jesus was Elijah. Or if not Elijah, then maybe Jesus was Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. The news had spread! 

Jesus was certainly a man sent from God, but then Jesus asks his disciples a much more personal question: “OK. People have their ideas about who I am. But what I really want to know is who you think I am. You’re the ones who have seen and heard everything. You’re the ones who have come to learn from me and who will continue my work. Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  

The final question that our Lord asked his disciples is the same question he asks every person. “Who do you say that I am?”  You, or your parents and godparents on your behalf, at your baptism gave the same answer as Peter gave.  “Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior? Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?  Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?”  The answer was, “I do.”  All that is to say that we believe Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed, the Messiah, Savior and Lord.  

In this service alone, already we have referred to Jesus as our Lord at least eight times. It’s a pretty important belief in our Christian faith.

Saying the words and living what we say, though, can be two different things. How many times in the last week have you actually thought about this one we call Christ and Lord? How many times has our Lord played a part in a decision you or I made concerning our relationships at home, or at school, or at work, or at play? Does it really mean something to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?  How important is it to you?  Or perhaps did it once mean something more to you than it does now?  Or maybe it means more to you now than it ever has.

It’s not enough that we once confessed Christ as Lord. That confession needs to be renewed every day. As our circumstances change, we need to reevaluate what it means to call Christ Lord in those circumstances.  What does it mean to call Christ Lord in whatever business you happen to be involved right now? What does it mean to call Christ Lord as a student, or a teacher, or a parent? What does it mean to call Christ Lord when we retire, the kids have left home and we now have grandchildren, we actually have a little time, and a few more resources? When I really want to say, “I’ve been involved in the Church for years while my children were growing up.  It’s time for the younger people to step up and do their part,” is that allowing Christ to be Lord of our lives?  Could it be that he still has something he wants us to do to his glory?

We are in the beginning of a new program year. There are many ways for each person here to be involved.  I believe that to call Jesus Lord includes taking our part in the worship, study, and work of parish life. Singing in the choir, reading the scriptures and prayers at mass, carrying the cross and torches in procession, setting up the sacred vessels for mass and cleaning up afterward, handing out lunches to the needy, ushering— these are just a few of the tangible ways that we can work out our devotion to Jesus Christ as Lord right here at the church. When you become involved in a fuller way in the life of the parish, you’ll find that it helps you in following him as Lord in the daily chores of life.

We live in a news-hungry society.  We’re bombarded with news from all over the world.  But the best news is and will always be the Good News of Jesus Christ. “Who do you say that I am?”

Sermon preached by the Rev’d Fredrick A. Robinson
Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church
Champaign, Illinois 

17th Sunday after Pentecost
15 September 2024