Today Jesus asks those who follow him a crucial question. He is about to head towards Jerusalem where he knows great conflict will happen. In the context his apostles propose various responses from the people. Some think he is the new John the Baptist. John was a prophet who was well liked and spoke to the people that they should live good lives. It was a message that fit the era and was needed.

Some thought Jesus was Elijah returned. Elijah was a prophet also who spoke for God. He was said to have a great share of God’s spirit so much so that he could perform miracles and heal people. His follower Elisha followed him around for days asking that when the prophet died, he would be the heir of his spirit and able to do great things. So I guess you would say that those who thought Jesus was Elijah were a little better than those who thought he was John the Baptist. For in the John the Baptist model, one had to be good and that was all. But in the Elijah model you had not only to be good but you had to have a share of God’s spirit and able to do unusual things.

The final group thinks Jesus is one of the prophets. Many thought that the prophets were kind of the cheerleaders for God. They called the people to a different sense of their lives. Their power lied in their words that would encourage people to be better. They were kind of like the superior people of our day. They were there to make the place a better place.

Then Jesus moves on to the crucial question. “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered for the apostles and says that He is the Messiah. Our text does not translate the word. Messiah is the Hebrew word for anointed. In Greek he is the Christ or the one who is anointed with Chrism.

For both the understanding was that “anointed” meant with God’s Spirit. They saw the world as a place that refused God’s way and when God sent people to them, he anointed them with his spirit. They would tell the people how to live by God’s ways according to view of how the world should be.

The problems happens almost immediately. Jesus begins telling the apostles of how he is being led to accomplish this in the world. Peter objects to his vision. Now it is not unknown that this is what would happen. We read from the Prophet Isaiah this morning and read one of the texts which points out that the anointed is a suffering servant. But in Peter and in many others minds the Messiah does not do it this way.

Jesus rebukes Peter telling him that he has the mind of the world and not of God. We have made a mess of the translation of this line. The scripture clearly play on the word Messiah. Messiah is the one anointed with God’s spirit, that is God’s vision of the world. In that sense Peter was speaking for a worldly vision of how things could get better.

In the closing text of the gospel Jesus issues a call to all his followers to follow God’s vision. That brings us down to today. What vision of Jesus do we have? And how does how we see him speak to us about what place Jesus has in our life?

Norma Doering offers an interesting metaphor for discussing this idea. She suggests that we think of our life as an auto we are driving around. It goes wherever we drive it. As we are driving around in our lives, we see Jesus on the side of the road smiling at us. He has that enticing smile that is often in pictures, almost like the Mona Lisa smile. You have to wonder what he is up to.

Some of us stop and pick him up. His ways are so endearing. I remember the pictures I saw in my youth. Wherever you were in the room, the eyes of the picture of Jesus seemed to follow you and encouraging you to join him.

Well the next question is once you decided to pick up Jesus, where do you put Him in the car. I think I began by putting him in trunk. You know Jesus is kind of nice to have around when you need Him. Kind of like a spare tire. If the car goes flat it is good to have a spare. So I guess I was saying I will drive the car in my direction and when we hit those inevitable road hazards it good to have Jesus and his ideas as a back up. By the way Jesus always accepts whatever place you give him in your life. As the scriptures always point out, God and Jesus are happy to be in your life and never force you into accepting him.

After a while I got embarrassed about having Jesus in the trunk. Even though He keeps smiling every time I put in the groceries it kind of like that picture with the eyes that follow me around, they keep beckoning me. So I move Jesus up to the back seat. Now I have to listen to his back seat driving directions. He has some say but I am still driving the car and sending it in the directions I wish to go. In fact his backseat advice actually makes things run smoother.

Then there comes a time things have been working better with his directions so I move Him up to the front seat and he can handle the maps. I still want to be in charge of where I go in life. But Jesus has those interest side trips that are rewarding.

If I am a true follower there comes a day when there is enough trust that I just turn my car keys over to Jesus and let him drive where he wants to go and I enjoy the grace. There is always a surety about his driving.

So maybe that is a good way to conceive of the gospel today. Jesus is asking us where we put Him in the car of our life.

You know this question is not new. Think of the lesson we have from James today. James addresses those who are church goers. He shows them that they are not really following the ways of God especially about how they see people. He thinks that it is hard to think of Jesus as brother and God as father and not see all others as your brother and sisters. James believes that you can see in what he does his faith or what he says he believes. It is kind of like integrity. Your insides match you outsides.

Now most of you have noticed I have not address the most impassioned plea of Jesus for us to take up our cross and follow him. I don't know exactly how many times in the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament Jesus asks other people to follow him. But it's well more than 20. The whole question of "Who is willing to follow Jesus Christ?" is pretty much the defining question of Christianity.

Some Christians may ask it personally of you in the form of, "Are you saved?" (which means essentially, "Have you claimed Jesus personally enough to really be a follower?") Other people may simply pose the question about following Jesus in terms like, "You mean you believe all of this stuff about forgiveness, and loving enemies, and this resurrection from the dead?" However it's worded, the whole matter of following Jesus is central to living the Christian faith.

The question becomes, "What does it actually mean to follow Jesus, especially in modern times, or in middle- or upper-middle class North America?" If you're going to take the words of Jesus seriously - those ones about "losing your life for his sake" and "denying yourself" - well, what's your life going to look like? Should you vacation in Cancun? Or would the Adirondacks be better? Which destination would express your faith more fully? Does camping versus staying in a hotel make a difference? Should you pursue a job promotion, or be content with where you are? What about expensive theater tickets? If you buy a pair of those, is that gross self-indulgence? Or if your house is full of all sorts of material possessions, what will happen to your soul the next time you pass over a person in need?

You can ask all these questions and they are good to think about. But there is a greater sense that just asking them forgets the point Jesus is making. Jesus followed the spirit given him by God. If we want to be his followers that is what is ask of us. Let us be guided by the Spirit of God.

Throughout my life I have heard him say many things. Even when I got him out of the trunk and only in the back seat, He said a lot. I don’t know if I had any time for serious discussion of Cancun or the Adirondacks or any other of the great debates in our age.

I think there are many clear messages from God in my life. It often runs along the same way as it does with Peter in the Gospel. I confess to follow Jesus, then I tell him my ideas and somewhere in the process, I come to realize they are my ideas of how he could do things and not necessarily His way.

I have always like the psalms. They are a favorite of many people. I think they often represent the dialogue my mind has about doing what God says in my life.

So to each of you I repeat what Jesus asked in the Gospel, “And who do you say that I am?”