Who Is He?

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
May 22, 2005

Who is He?
John 15:12-17
Proverbs 2:1-15

Jesus walked into his office and sat down.
The top of his desk was covered with pink slips
from calls his secretary had taken while he was out.
It never failed: every time he left the office
to take a few minutes for himself,
that’s when everyone would return his calls.
Now he had to call all these people back,
playing telephone tag the rest of the day.

He looked at the first message.
It was from his brother Mort, a successful tax accountant.
Mort’s message was not good news: the tax service had denied his claim
from last year to take a tax write off for dinner for 5,000.
Now he owed back taxes, interest and penalties.
He had asked Mort not to take the deduction,
but Mort had insisted it was a legitimate business expense.
He was glad he hadn’t told Mort about the dinner for 4,000 last week.
He had a message from Peter’s mother in law.
He didn’t want to return that call.
The last time he stopped by her house,
he had helped her recover from a serious illness ,
but all she did afterward was complain about the mud
his disciples and other followers had tracked in her house.

The next message was from his sister.
She wanted Jesus to come for an early dinner on Friday night,
before the start of the Sabbath.
He loved having dinner with his sister, her husband,
and their four young children.
He would just have to be a bit more careful about
what he said in front of the children.
The last time he was there, when his sister
asked her children whether they had washed their hands
before dinner, they all replied in unison.
“Uncle Jesus says having clean hearts matters
more than having clean hands.”
Jesus thought it was cute,
but he could tell his sister was annoyed.

He’d make his calls later.
He had work to do now.
He was planning his next journey.
His disciples would go with him; he had twelve now,
good men, even if they were at times
awfully slow to understand
and awfully weak in faith.

He knew he needed to make a decision about his brother’s suggestion
to incorporate as Jesus Ministries, Inc.
He could hear Mort’s voice,
“You know these lawyers: one of your healings goes bad
and bam, you’ll spend the next five years in court.
You remember what happened when you put those demons
in the pigs. The owner of the pigs wasn’t too happy.”

He was tired and reflected on all he had yet to do.
The day was at an end and yet he felt like
he had accomplished nothing.
He often felt so drained, so tired.
He remembered the story of Sisyphus, from Greek mythology,
the man who was sentenced to spend all eternity
rolling a stone up a hill only to find that each time
he neared the peak,
the stone would go rolling back down the hill
and Sisyphus would have to start all over again.
He closed his eyes and prayed for strength,
prayed for energy,
prayed for guidance.
“Tell me father what is your will
for it is not what I want that matters,
but what you want”.
The prayer left him feeling refreshed,
and he picked up the telephone
and dialed his sisters’s number.


Each year our Confirmation Class spends a lot of time
talking about Jesus Christ.
The students know the basic stories about Jesus
from their years in Sunday School:
his birth in the stable, his baptism in the river,
his crucifixion, his resurrection.
The come to Confirmation with an image of Jesus
as a man with long hair and a beard,
wearing a dust-covered robe and sandals,
skin dry and cracked from the sun and wind.

They have heard the different words we use for him: Messiah,
Christ, Savior, Redeemer, Prince of Peace, Son of God.
But we can all know all those stories and reflect on the pictures
and still ask, who is he?
We read that he was the Son of God, that he is God himself;
but we also read that he was human, the son born of Mary
a man who laughed and cried,
a man who felt hunger, fear, and pain.

For three hundred years following the death of Jesus on the cross,
church leaders argued over just these questions.
They asked how could Jesus be divine, the Son of God,
when they believed in only one God.
And, they wondered, if he was the Son of God,
divine in every way, how could he also be human?
It wasn’t until all the church leaders gathered in the year 325
in a town called Nicaea that everyone finally agreed that
that God was a trinity: Father Son, and Spirit,
God acting in three ways, distinct yet the same,
separate, but the same substance.
And they also agreed that Jesus was fully divine,
the Son of God, and God himself.

But they also agreed that Jesus was fully human,
and that’s what we try to help our Confirmands understand.
Jesus was born just like you and I were,
making that terrifying trip from womb to world,
learning how to walk, how to talk,
He felt every human emotion – every emotion you feel,
every emotion you are likely to feel:
He was angry, sad, happy, anxious, fearful, impatient.
He was hungry and thirsty.
He was hot and tired.
He was lonely and exhausted.
Now Jesus may not have been quite as human
as I portrayed him a few minutes ago,
but yet we know that at various times in his life
he was explosive, exasperated, elated, exhausted.

Ultimately it was this human Jesus who said to his disciples
“You are my friend”.
Ultimately it is this human Jesus who says to each of us,
“You are my friend”.

And as our friend, Jesus will be there with us,
Jesus will be there with you…all the rest of your lives.
Jesus will walk with you everywhere you go
and be with you in everything you do.
You can’t shake him, you can’t get rid of him,
because, as he reminds us,
while you may have just professed your faith in him,
you did so because he first chose you.

Jesus doesn’t expect you to be perfect,
any more than he expected his disciples to be perfect.
What he wants you to do, and what he can help you do
is learn how to be your best,
to learn how to be all the God created you to be,
all that God wants you to be.

When you slip up, Jesus won’t scold or nag,
he won’t fuss or fight.
He will simply be disappointed
but then he will try to help you not to make the same slip again.
Jesus knows life can be hard,
and he knows that there are lots of paths that can attract you,
call your attention from his path.
Like a good friend, he will let you make your choice,
hope you make the right choice,
and if you don’t, he will wait patiently,
even hopefully until you return to walk with him on his path.
You won’t find a better teacher, a better guide,
a better friend.

Life with Jesus will never be without its problems and difficulties,
but life with Jesus will be so much better than life without him.
Jesus chose you,
chose you so that he could be your friend,
chose you so he could walk with you
talk with you, teach you, guide you,
comfort you, encourage you,
push you, challenge you.
Jesus chose you so that you would go out and bear fruit,
good fruit, taking his love out into the world,
working for peace and reconciliation with all men and women
serving those who are poor, or sick, or lonely, or afraid.
Jesus chose you to take his teachings, and his Father’s commands
out into the world.
Jesus chose you to reflect his image,
even as you see his image in others,
friends and strangers alike.
So go into the world, with Jesus as your friend,
your teacher, your guide.
“And may the peace of God, the peace of Christ,
the peace which surpasses all understanding
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
this very special day, and always.”
AMEN.