Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Is church a place for questions or answers?  I think many people come to church not to ask questions, but to find answers.  And I confess sometimes I can begin to think my role as pastor is to always provide people with the answers.  But there are some life questions that simply do not lend themselves to easy answers.  And if you think about it, were not your best teachers in school the ones who stimulated further exploration, further questions rather than simple answers?

I believe Jesus was such a teacher.  I have been struck over the past few weeks the number of questions we have heard Jesus ask in the Gospel of Mark.  Way back in chapter 2 of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus asked the question, “the wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they?”  When caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked his disciples, “Why are you afraid?  Have you still not faith?”  To the Gerasene demoniac Jesus asked, “What is your name?”  When Jesus fed the 5,000, he asked his disciples, “How much bread do you have?”  And last week, Jesus asked his disciples a series of questions.  “Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not perceive or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes, and fail to see?  Ears and fail to hear?  And do you not remember?  Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

In our scripture for this Sunday, from Mark 8:27-38, we encounter Jesus asking more questions.  First, who do people say that I am?  And then, “But who do you say that I am?”  In response, Peter said, “You are the Messiah.”  Finally, the disciples understand who Jesus is.  Jesus is God’s anointed one.

Jesus then begins to teach them what it means for him to be God’s Messiah, God’s anointed one.  And as we read on in the text, we encounter the disciples not understanding Jesus’ teaching again.  So, Jesus continues to teach them and in that teaching he asks another question, “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”

Michael W. Smith has a song that say, “Jesus is the answer for the world today, above him there’s not other Jesus is the way.”  I too believe Jesus is the answer.  However, I find Jesus himself does not always provide answers, rather Jesus asks questions and the question for this Sunday is the first, or primary question Jesus invites each person to answer, “Who do you say that I am?”

See you on Zoom on Sunday,

Pastor David