Luke 9:18–24

5th Sunday after Pentecost

¹⁸Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"

¹⁹They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." ²⁰"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

²¹Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.

²²And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

²³Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

²⁴For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

Jesus asks a question: Who do the people say I am? Now to understand this question and its answer we have to step back and look at the Gospel of St. Luke as a whole. Up to this point in Luke’s account of Christ, we have heard Jesus teach and preach and have seen him perform many miracles. We have heard his teachings which remind us of what Moses said: “God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee like unto me. Listen to him.” Luke’s narrative so far has shown that Jesus is the prophet, like Moses who would rise up from the midst of Israel.

We have also witnessed many miracles done by Jesus. Luke has told us how he fed the hungry, healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead son of a widow. All of these miracles parallel miracles done by Elijah and Elisha. Luke’s point is to show that Jesus is the Prophet sent by God; a prophet greater that Elijah and greater than even Moses himself.

So it was quite natural that the answer to Jesus’ question; “who do the people say I am” was “a prophet.” Perhaps he was John the Baptist raised from the dead, or even Elijah himself who had come back or maybe some other great prophet. For indeed Jesus is a prophet. He held the office of prophet because through him God reveals himself to us. The office of prophet is one of Christ’s offices, as Luke teaches us up to this point.

But right here the theme changes. Actually Jesus changed the theme. He asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” They answered, “You are the Christ of God.” Notice, the theme just changed. Now instead of saying “prophet” they said “Christ.” The focus turns to the Suffering Servant. Isaiah tells us he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.

Jesus said essentially the same thing when he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed.”

From here on, the theme of Luke’s narrative was Christ’s priestly office. The office of priest is to offer sacrifices and be an intermediary between man and God. From now on we see that Jesus is our High Priest who by his own blood earned our redemption.

But why do we need a high priest? But why do we need a sacrifice? Because we are earthly; born into sin. St. Paul says; “put away sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry. For on account of these the wrath of God is coming.” The wrath of God is coming on account of the sin in which we walk. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk come forth from our mouths. Sexual immorality of all kinds, alcohol and drug abuse, disobedience, disrespect, greed, self righteousness and selfishness are all the fruit of our sinful hearts. Because of this the wrath of God is coming and is deserved. “For we were dead in our trespasses and sins and were by nature children of wrath.”

But God was rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, he made us alive together with Christ. He sent his only begotten Son to die that we might not perish but be saved.

For this reason Jesus came to be our high priest who offers the sacrifice for our sins. But he is more then just the priest, he is also the sacrifice. He is the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” He is the sacrifice that takes away our sin. By the blood he poured out our sins are forgiven and eternal life was purchased for us. Our sins and rebellion are forgiven. Our immorality and passion and evil desires and abuse and greed and selfishness are all forgiven and washed away. In baptism we die to sin and are released from its grip on our life.

Jesus said that he would suffer and be rejected by the priests and scribes and be killed. Surely he was a man of suffering, despised and rejected and acquainted with grief. Christ was our Passover Lamb. He took up his cross and offered himself as the sacrifice for our sin. And he sanctified us with his own blood.

Then in our baptism, as our Epistle reading teaches us, we became the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of us who are baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. Clothed with his righteousness and perfection, Jesus presents us as holy and without spot to his Father. We, through faith in Christ Jesus are clothed with Christ; we are bonded to him and become the sons of God and he becomes our Father. In him we live and move and have our being.

In our baptism we are joined to Christ in his death and his resurrection.

To be joined to him in his death means that in baptism we died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. He embraces our lives and his life becomes our life. We are absorbed into his life and share in his death and resurrection. “I am crucified with Christ,” says St. Paul, “nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of god who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” In baptism we are joined to Christ on the cross. We are crucified with Christ. Our life becomes wrapped into the life of Christ and we share his cross. Our cross is to put away the works of darkness. To repent and turn away from our sinful ways.

Our cross is to put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Our cross is to put on Christ as God’s chosen ones. To put off the works of the flesh and put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Our cross is to bear with one another and if anyone has a complaint against us to forgive him as the Lord has forgiven us. Our cross is to put on love, the love which binds everything together in perfect harmony and to let the peace of Christ dwell in us. As Martin Luther says, our cross is to live in vocation, serving one another in love; love that gives itself for his neighbor as Christ gave himself for us.

To take up the cross means we become priests as Jesus was our priest. As priests we offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving. As a royal nation of holy priests our lips continually praise God and give thanks to his name. We take up our cross to share our gifts with others and support the proclamation of the gospel with our time, talents and treasures. We bear our cross when we forgive the sins of those around us and lift them up in prayer to our heavenly Father.

When Jesus said, “he who loses his life shall save it,” he was saying that whoever takes up his cross and dies to himself on his cross, shall be raised to newness of life in the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

To be joined to Christ in his resurrection means that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. Our old lives of sin are transformed into lives of holiness; lives that reflect Christ. The Holy Spirit transforms our lives and releases us from the grip of sin. Things like immorality, greed, abuse, lust, and selfishness lose their hold on us. Joined to Christ in his resurrection we are renewed in the image of Christ and Christ is the image of God.

Joined to Christ in his resurrection is to have life eternal. It is the hope and joy of every baptized believer in Christ to know that we shall not die, and even though we die, we shall be raised to live forever.

To be joined to Christ in his resurrection means that we share in his exaltation and glory. As St. Paul states: “We have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God, so when Christ who is our life appears, then we will appear with him in glory.

When Christ embraces our life into his, he shares with us the blessings he earned; he shares with us his righteousness, he shares with us his glory, his eternal life; his peace and his joy. He shares with us his victory over sin and death. He shares with us his inheritance; the kingdom of God is ours. All that he has and all that he is becomes ours.

So when Jesus said: “Take your cross and follow me,” he is saying what the writer of Hebrews said:

“Jesus sanctified the people with his own blood by suffering outside the gate. Let us go unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach . Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of your lips: confessing his name. Do not forget to do good and to share your gifts with others for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them who have rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch over your souls”

Such are we who are clothed with Christ through faith in our baptism.

Now, “May the God of peace who raised Jesus from the dead, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.”

Amen.