Disciples Got Talent, Part 2

Mark 8: 27-33

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’


One of the things that I am really enjoying about this summer at St Paul is the combined Adult Sunday school class that Mark Crenshaw and I are leading together. “Our Faithful Neighbors” has been, so far, a wonderful exercise in thinking and talking about what other faiths believe and how that impacts us as Christians. Having been a student of the religions of the world for many years, I am enjoying the conversation about what we know, what we don’t know, and what we’d like to learn about our brothers and sisters of other faiths as well as other sects within Christianity. Much of what we are discussing and doing together is about forming our perspective and reflecting on our own faith in new and deeply formative ways. It really is fascinating to hear the stories of others, both in the class and from other faiths, and it really is helpful to hear about how other faithful people and groups see the world and respond to life.

Jesus chose 12 disciples. From their eyes came 12 different perspectives on him and his life and ministry. So this question about who people say that he is and who they say that he is is a very important one. I just think it is too bad that we don’t have a response from every one of them. Wouldn’t it have been fun to have a response of some sort from all of them? I think that hearing their answers to this question might have given us a little more insight into who they were.

One of the most popular answers to the sermon topic survey was the desire to know more about the disciples. Here are some things we know according the legend and the gospels themselves:

• Andrew was Peter’s brother. In John, Andrew brings Peter to Jesus, declaring him the Messiah. He also brought the boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus for the feeing of the 5,000.
• Philip was always bringing people to Jesus: he recruited Nathaniel. He was, however, skeptical that they would be able to feed 5,000 people. He is the one who asks Jesus to show them the Father, and Jesus responds by asking him how he could have been with Jesus all this time and not realize that he is one with the Father? He was from the same town as Peter and Andrew.
• Nathaniel/Bartholomew was skeptical that anything “good” could come out of Nazareth but was converted when Jesus told him he knew him before they ever met. He was one of the ones gathered at the seashore when Jesus appeared to them a third time after his resurrection and ate breakfast with them.
• John was believed to be the beloved disciple. He was probably the one who followed the crown taking Jesus to the high priest when he was arrested in the garden, and since the high priest knew him, he was allowed to go into the courtyard with Jesus while Peter had to wait at the gate. This is likely the only disciple mentioned as present at the cross, the one to whom Jesus “gave” his mother. He is probably the one summoned to the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, the one who went in and saw that the body was gone and then believed. He sat next to Jesus at the last supper and asked who it was that would betray Jesus. Early in the book of Acts, he was brought with Peter before the Temple authorities because of their preaching. He gets to go to experience the transfiguration with Peter and James. He also goes with them to the garden to pray with Jesus but falls asleep while waiting for Jesus. His mother asks for seats for him and his brother James next to Jesus in heaven.
• Thomas is often called a doubter because he couldn’t believe the account of the risen Christ when the other disciples told him they’d seen him after the crucifixion until he had seen Jesus for himself. He said that they should all go with Jesus to the tomb of Lazarus so that they could “die with him.” He was also one of the ones who saw Jesus and ate breakfast with him by the shore on his third appearance to the disciples after the crucifixion. He also asks Jesus how they will know where Jesus is going and how they will know how to get there when Jesus talks of going to the Father in John 14.
• Judas Iscariot ...the treasurer of the group, sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and then was sorry for what he had done and gave the money back; then he took his own life.
• Matthew/Levi was a Tax Collector. He gave a great banquet for Jesus in his home. Others asked why Jesus would call a tax collector (probably a thief) to be his disciples. This is when Jesus announces that he has not come for the righteous but for the sinner.
• James, the brother of John, was one of the Sons of Thunder, as called by Jesus. It was his mother who asked for places for him and John next to Jesus in heaven. Jesus asks them if they can “drink the cup he is to drink,” and they say yes. He also attended Jesus at the transfiguration, in the garden where he and the other slept while Jesus prayed in agony, and at the seashore where the risen Jesus appeared and shared breakfast with them.
• James, son of Alphaeus
• Thaddeus/Judas, son of James
• Simon the Cananaean/the Zealot
• Peter was first called Simon. His name is changed in our lesson for today, when he responds that Jesus is the Messiah. Then he challenges Jesus’ prediction that he will have to die, and Jesus rebukes Peter. He is also called the Rock upon which Jesus will build the church and the one to receive the keys to the kingdom of God. He also calls Jesus the Holy One of God when Jesus gives a difficult teaching about riches and getting into heaven and many other disciples leave. He was called while at work as a fisherman. Peter’s mother-in-law was healed from a fever early on in his ministry, so we know he was married. He asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone in the church who wrongs him. He asks Jesus what will happen to the disciples who have left everything behind to follow him. Jesus commands Peter to get out of the boat and walk to him on the water, and he does at first but then begins to sink. He is in the small groups that go with Jesus to the transfiguration, go with Jesus to pray in the garden, go to the temple court with Jesus after he is arrested, and this is where he denies Jesus 3 times. At the last supper, when Jesus begins to wash their feet, it is Peter who protests but eventually asks for all of him to we washed by Jesus. In the garden when the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, Peter pulls out his sword and tries to defend Jesus. Peter is summoned to come and see the empty tomb. At Jesus’ appearance at the seashore where they share breakfast with him post-resurrection, Peter is asked 3 times if he loves Jesus and then told to care for his followers. He is a great preacher in the book of Acts and is brought before Temple authorities because of his preaching after the ascension of Jesus.

They all go through periods of unbelief and misunderstanding. While they believe what Jesus tells them about his going to be with God and they come to the conclusion that he is truly of God and the son of God, they also at times are confused by his parables about the way God intends for the world to be. They wonder who can be saved when he tells them how difficult it is for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven. They are all on the boat together when a storm comes up and they fear that they will die as the boat is tossed on the water. Jesus questions their lack of faith when they call on him to save them, and they wonder who he could really be when he is able to calm the water. They ask him questions, like who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and when will he return and restore the kingdom of God. Jesus tells them that they will all be persecuted, too, as he will be. They do things that ignore Sabbath policy, like plucking the heads off grains of wheat as they pass the field during the travels and do not wash their hands before a meal. Yet, they complain when the woman uses expensive ointment on Jesus in preparation for his burial, saying it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. At the last supper they promise never to desert him when he says they will, but only 1 is recorded to have shown up at the cross, and they hide when he has been crucified for fear of the same fate coming to them. Matthew even tells us that after his resurrection the disciple meet Jesus where he had told them he’d be, and they worship him, but some doubted.
Who were these men, this band of 12 people who were hand-picked to be Jesus’ closest companions?
What I wonder is how much more we might have known about them had we heard the answer they each had for the question Jesus asks in today’s reading: who do you say that I am?

Perhaps Phillip would have said that Jesus was one who should be known as the Son of God since he brought people to Jesus. And maybe Andrew would have said that Jesus is the Son of God because he is able to do things only God can do, like multiply loaves and fish into a feast for 5,000. Nathaniel or Bartholomew might have called Jesus Messiah because he knew him the way only God could know him—completely and before they had ever come face-to-face. John might have called Jesus Messiah because he demonstrates the love of God in a perfect way. And Thomas might have said that he’d need some kind of proof before he could answer the question. Judas and Matthew might have framed the question in terms of what they stood to gain by answering—Judas might finally have the answers he, himself, needed so desperately, and Matthew might have wondered what wealth and power being with the Messiah might bring. James, son of Zebedee, might have just offered whatever his brother had to say, and we just really can’t have a clue as to what the other James, Thaddeus, or Simon the Zealot might have said.

But we know what Peter said: “You are the Messiah,” and then he denied him.

The question, my friends, is not who do they say that he is. It is this: who do you say that Jesus is?

Because of Jesus, we know by tradition that these men who were his chosen band of brothers all went to untimely and brutal deaths. Because they were ultimately committed to the ministry and message of Jesus, they all died at the hands of someone who wanted to put down the movement. That says that they believed what he said, what he did, who he was, and who they were because of him. They believed; their lives spoke the truth about Jesus; they were his witnesses just as he asked them to be.

What we know about these disciples, besides the sparse details we can gather by reading the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, was that they believed in Jesus and they loved Jesus and they gave their lives so that his message of love, forgiveness, and the coming of God into the world would not die. The disciples of Jesus are our brothers, our companions in faith. They are us.

And so today, they pass the torch, and we must stand ready to receive it. It is a simple entrance exam into this band of followers who continue to preach the good news of love, the forgiveness of sin, and the healing of brokenness that comes to us through Jesus as a gift from God. It is only one question, and your life will speak your answer. Are you ready to receive this call, this invitation to a transformed life?

Who do you say that he is?