The Lutheran Hour
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"Who is Jesus?"
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Text: Matthew 16:13b-16
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! To a world that continues to discuss, debate, and dispute the Savior, the angel’s announcement from the open tomb tells us God’s glorious and gracious message: Jesus has conquered sin, death, and devil. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
It has been a good many years since I heard a pastor profoundly say, “Talking about people is a great sport. You can make up your own rules; you can play the game; and you can be the umpire, too.” People like talking about other people. Sometimes they are flattering, occasionally they’re honest, but most often they seem to take delight in pointing out the failures and foibles, the sins and shortcomings of others.
President Ulysses S. Grant once was on his way to attend a dinner reception being offered in his honor. As he went, it began to rain, and Grant opened his umbrella. When he came across a stranger who seemed to be going the same way he was, he offered to share his umbrella with the man. As they walked, they talked about this and that, and eventually they discovered they were both going to the same banquet. It was then that the stranger confessed that he was only going to the dinner out of “curiosity.” Lowering his voice, the man said, “Between us, I’ve always thought that President Grant was a much overrated man.” To which the unrecognized president replied, “That is my view also.” We enjoy talking about others.
When Sir Winston Churchill was reaching the end of his long public career, he attended an official state function. A few rows behind him two people started whispering to each other. The first said, “There’s Churchill. I’ve been told he’s failing badly.” In sad tones, the second person agreed: “I’ve heard the same thing, too. And they say he’s becoming quite senile.” Churchill leaned over to the two whisperers and said, “You know, ladies, I’ve heard those things about Churchill too, and I’ve also heard he’s going quite deaf.” We like talking about people, don’t we? And we don’t like to get caught.
Name a recent president, and most people have an opinion about him. We have opinions on the garbage collector, the children’s teachers, the preacher in the pulpit, the auto mechanic, the next-door neighbor, and the checkout person at the grocery store. We have our opinions and we’re not afraid to say what we think. Unless, of course, we believe the individual we’re talking about might overhear us, or an unfriendly ear is listening and is going to tell on us. After all, we don’t want anybody to talk badly about us. Almost 500 years ago Martin Luther said, “It is a common evil plague that everyone prefers hearing evil to hearing good of his neighbor; and … we cannot suffer that any one should say anything bad about us … everyone would much rather that all the world should speak of him in terms of gold. Yet we cannot bear that … spoken about others.”
Now, if we’re prepared to have an opinion and talk about all the regular, normal people around us, it would be surprising if we didn’t have an opinion, and weren’t prepared to talk about Jesus Christ. How could we ignore the most important individual in all of history? The life of Christ, His birth, His suffering, His death, His resurrection is the turning point of history. Jesus stands alone. Jesus is absolutely unique. Shakespeare may be brilliant in his writings, but there are others like Homer who would not be embarrassed to stand by his side. Alexander the Great was a genius in battle, but Caesar, Napoleon, Rommel, and Patton could command as well. Inventors, there are a pack of great ones. Statesmen, almost every nation has someone it’s proud to call, “father.” Humanitarians, teachers, philosophers have done great things, but every generation produces a few such special souls.
But Jesus Christ is special. He’s one-of-a-kind. More than any one else, Jesus is the exceptional, extraordinary Person who has changed the way the world thinks, the way humanity lives, and He alone is the way to forgiveness and eternal life. It is not by accident that our calendars are set according to the approximate year of His birth. Oh, I know that modern scholars, wishing to minimize His impact, trying to be inoffensive to other religions have taken BC, “Before Christ” and turned it into BCE, “Before the Current Era.” Some have scrapped AD the Latin for “Anno Domini, the year of our Lord,” and tried to turn it into CE, or “Current Era.” It’s an interesting, albeit amusing, idea. To them I say change the words, come up with countless abbreviations, you cannot ignore the fact that the life of Jesus has changed everything. You cannot deny that Jesus is the One who has made the current era current.
Yes, everyone in our age has an opinion about Jesus. It was no different when Jesus walked among us. The opinions of His contemporaries cover the entire spectrum of love and hate, honor and humiliation. Listen to some of the names Jesus was called during His short, three-year period of ministry. He was labeled the “Lamb of God,” the “carpenter’s Son. ” He was called a teacher, a devil, a deceiver, a sinner, the Savior. He was considered to be a wine drinker, possessed by the devil, a blasphemer, an insurrectionist, and the Christ the Son of the living God.
That last, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” was what one of Jesus’ disciples, Simon Peter, said to Him the day Jesus asked, “Who do people say I am?” Jesus had taken His closest followers to the city of Caesarea Philippi—the headquarters of the Roman procurators who ruled, and the troops who enforced that rule—in Judea. Caesarea Philippi was not a comfortable location for God-fearing men who considered themselves to be direct descendants of father Abraham. Everything they had been taught to avoid, everything they were supposed to abhor, had a good representation in Caesarea Philippi. This was a party town, a heathen town, a place that boasted fourteen temples to Baal, one for Caesar, and a cave which the locals proudly pointed out to tourists as being the birthplace of the Greek god of nature: Pan.
It is here, surrounded by the visible forces of Satan that Jesus asks, “What do people say about Me? Who do they say I am?” You can almost hear the disciples, who like school children that for once are sure they know the right answer, eagerly reply: “Some say You’re Elijah!” Another disciple declares, “I’ve heard some say You’re Jeremiah!” and a third throws in, “Or one of God’s prophets.” They were on a roll, and they probably could have come up with most of the list that I shared with you a moment ago. They weren’t telling Jesus anything new. He had heard most of those names, and some of the less complimentary ones, already. Having heard their responses, Jesus gets personal. He asks, “And, fellas, who do you think I am?”
That question was a little tougher, and although Scripture doesn’t say so, I think it got quiet for a second. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the disciples show that they thought Jesus was going to restore the kingdom of Israel to its position of greatness among the nations of the world. Certainly they knew Jesus was a great Teacher, and on countless occasions He had shown Himself to be a worker of miracles. But this question, “Who do you think I am?” puts them on the spot. You can almost see their foreheads furrow as they search for the right words. Then Peter, the disciple who often rushes in where angels fear to tread, rightly responds with the Spirit-given reply: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I think Jesus would have had to smile at that answer. Although Peter did not, as of yet, understand the full impact of his words, he had gotten it right.
Soon he and the others would see exactly what it meant for Jesus to be God’s Son, the promised Redeemer. They would see Jesus live out His days fulfilling the Laws that they and the rest of humanity had broken. They would see Jesus, God’s Son, substitute His perfection for our failings, flaws, and faults. They would see their innocent Lord arrested so that those who follow Him might be free for eternity. As the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus would be chained so we might be released from the shackles of sin. He would be found guilty, so on Judgment Day all who believe on Him as Savior might be declared innocent. He would die so we might live. He would rise to show to all the world that death had been defeated. Years later, Paul would tell what Jesus had done for us when he wrote: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
Today Jesus asks you, “Who do you think I am?” We like to talk about people, don’t we? You know we do. Well then, what do you think about Jesus. There are, I believe, only three ways you can answer: two are ancient, the third is more modern. The two ancient ways are simple: either, by the power of the Holy Spirit you are led to faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you reject Him. That’s easy to understand. In Jesus’ day, many of the priests, who had a vested interest in the status quo, rejected Him. Many of the political activists, looking for a political deliverer, also wanted nothing to do with Him. The Roman government, which, by then, had proclaimed its emperors to be living gods, wanted no competition from the Prince of Peace. Other religions, such as those who worshipped Diana in Ephesus, found their income and authority being reduced by the Savior. All of these opposed Jesus and His work of buying people back from sin, death, and devil.
On the other hand, there were those who having searched for the solution to life’s questions and problems, found their answers in the risen Savior. Jesus said that would happen. He had said that He had come to seek and save the lost; to be the Light for those who were wandering blindly in the darkness; to be a physician for those who were ill in their souls. Back then, even as today, faith in Jesus says to all who believe that death does not have the last word. Faith in Jesus says there is forgiveness from sin, and with that forgiveness, a new eternal life of joy with Jesus in heaven. If forgiveness and eternity were all Jesus gave to sinful souls, it would be enough. No one could expect any more.
But there is more. Years ago a grandpa was taking a walk with his grandson. They had no special destination; they just walked and talked. With a smile, grandpa asked, “How far are we from home?” The boy answered, “Grandpa, I don’t know.” Then gramps asked, “Do you know where you are?” The boy answered, “No.” To which grandpa observed, “Sounds to me like you’re lost.” The boy disagreed. He looked up and said, “Nope, Grandpa, I can’t be lost. I’m with you.” And so it is. We can’t be lost when we’re with Jesus, our Savior. Jesus is not just a Savior who leads us, by-and-by, to the sweet by-and-by. He is God’s Son who has promised to be with His people. In times of sadness, He brings hope. When friends have betrayed us, He has promised to faithfully stand by our side. When no one else will give us the time of day, Jesus has promised, without fail and without excuse, to hear our prayers, our pleadings, our petitions, and receive our praise.
Today, this day, what is the emptiness within you? What is the loss you are experiencing—the worry that never seems to work itself out? Jesus can help. He can solve your problem, or bring you through your problem, or help you carry your problem. In Him, and from Him is a power and a peace that nothing, and I say that all-inclusive word again, nothing, that this world can provide. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Little wonder that those who have seen His suffering and death upon the cross, who have peered into His empty tomb were ready to talk about Him. Not surprising that the story of the Savior swept across this world like wild fire. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is God’s Good News of great joy.
But I said there is a third way, another way people see and talk about Jesus. It is the modern way, and it begins with one simple thought: people aren’t sinners. That’s it. People aren’t sinners. A lot of folks have swallowed that idea, hook, line, and sinker. It didn’t make any difference that the TV news said there were still wars, rapes, murders, thefts, road rage, and drive-by shootings. It didn’t matter that the papers still talked about divorces and drugs, gluttony and greed. It didn’t matter that these people found themselves just as despondent, depressed, discouraged, and doubtful as they had ever been. They weren’t sinners. They wandered around, still lonely and lost, anxious and afraid, but that had nothing to do with sin. And it didn’t take an Einstein to figure out: if you don’t have sin, you don’t need a Savior. As a result, our generation has decided that Jesus is just great—but He’s not a Savior. They think Jesus is a good guy—but He’s not the Christ, the Son of the living God. They think Jesus is a fine fellow, a profound philosopher, a trustworthy teacher, a social activist, an opiate for the uneducated masses—but He’s not their Savior. I’m here to tell you, if you believe that, it’s bunk. Jesus is either who He says He is, or He’s not. You can’t pick and choose. You can’t re-create Him in your image.
The year was 1881, and the place was the fishing village of Eyemouth, England. For over a week foul weather had kept the men in port. Then, at last beautiful weather came: blue sky, gentle winds. The men knew the storm was over, and they started out toward the fishing grounds. Forty-one boats, each manned by five or six sailors, sailed out of port that day, ignoring the harbormaster’s warning of an approaching storm. He begged them not to go, but they were sailors, and they knew better. They were wrong, the harbormaster was right. The storm swept down on them with a first-rate fury. Few of the men, and fewer of the boats returned. The church at which many of those fishermen belonged had three male members left. Those fishermen died because they didn’t pay any attention to the warning. It was a foolish thing to do. Just as foolish as it is not to pay attention to the warning of this message today. My friends, look around, the evidence for sin surrounds you. If you can see sin, then you must also see your need for a Savior. You need the Savior. You need the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God.
We all like to talk about people. Let me finish by talking about President Herbert Hoover. Once a reporter said, “Mr. President, when I was a boy you were one of the most popular men in the world. Then, (because of the Depression), you were one of the most unpopular, with nearly everyone against you. Didn’t any of this meanness and criticism ever get under your skin?” “Of course not,” came Hoover’s reply. “I knew when I went into politics what I might expect, so when it came I wasn’t disappointed or upset.” Then Hoover looked directly into the reporter’s eyes and quietly added, “Besides, I have peace at the center, you know.” Hoover had peace. Why? Because he knew the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ was at his center. If you would like to know the Savior, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Let’s talk about Him. Amen.
Reflections for August 6, 2023
Title: Who Is Jesus?Mike Zeigler: Today I’m visiting with Pastor Kurt Klaus, son of the late Ken Klaus, whose sermon you just heard. Welcome, Pastor Klaus.
Kurt Klaus: Thanks for having me, Pastor Mike.
Mike Zeigler: So, Kurt’s dad, Pastor Ken Klaus, if you’re not familiar with who he is and what he did, he served as Speaker of The Lutheran Hour on this program for eight years until his retirement in 2008. Then he frequented the program as a guest Speaker for another 10 years with us. When I began serving as speaker of The Lutheran Hour in 2018, my hometown pastor told me how much he respected the work of The Lutheran Hour over the years and the pastors who filled the office. He said that his favorite Speaker of all time was Pastor Ken Klaus, your dad, Kurt. And I know many people would say the same, and so we grieve with you as your family grieves the loss. We grieve, however, as people who’ve lost a beloved pastor, a beloved preacher, but it’s completely different to grieve as someone who’s lost a father, a husband for your mom, a grandfather—so how’s your family doing?
Kurt Klaus: Well, thank you for the condolences and yeah, it’s been different. It’s been strange. Like anybody who’s lost a loved one, very close, a mom, dad, brother, sister, son or daughter, you expect to walk around the corner and see them there. When they’re not there, your heart drops every time. The family’s doing well. Our mom’s doing great. My sisters are doing well, I’m doing well. We’re grieving, but I can’t tell you how many times we have said to each other, “How do people that don’t have faith get through this?” Because we know full well where dad is. We know dad’s not in pain, that dad is in the presence of his Lord, that he is in a place far better than we can possibly imagine, even in the best day here on earth, he has surpassed it.
That is this comfort to us that it’s hard to explain, and so having that loss and that pain, but at the same time that hope, we sit there going, “How would we get through this if all we had was the loss and the pain?” Because we still have the loss and the pain. It’s not like we’re like, “Oh yeah, it doesn’t matter.” It still hurts like crazy, but there’s that hope that we have that we know where he is, and even better, we’re going to see him again, and the next time we get reunited, there’s not going to be a goodbye. It’s going to be just joy in the Lord’s presence with each other. It’s what we’re all holding onto. Everybody’s doing well, and thank God for that hope we have in Him.
Mike Zeigler: I’m sure one of the treasures that you have, in addition to the hope of our Lord, are the things that your dad left behind. Not just things that he owned, but I know he wrote a book. I saw this when I was present at the funeral. Well, he wrote lots of books, but he wrote a book specifically to his family about his thoughts and memories of his life. Have you got a chance to page through that?
Kurt Klaus: Yeah, it’s funny, we got that for him for Christmas, I want to say like three, four years ago, because there were so many stories that dad had. I mean, we’re talking about stories and there were so many stories that were like, “We don’t want these to be lost.” Knowing that one day dad wasn’t going to be there, we’re like, “We want to have these stories.” So we bought him that book, and I have to say, it’s one of those things where if he had just written a sentence or two for every question that he got, it really wouldn’t have been that great. But there’s times that he gets this little question and suddenly there’s eight pages of a story, talking about his and mom’s honeymoon or talking about his first church or talking about Mom and Dad’s their first fight and getting over it and then having us kids and stuff, you know, just when he grew up with my aunt and uncle and just all this fun stuff that we didn’t know.
It’s been a blast getting to go through that book again, because I had read the whole thing. Gosh, soon as I got it, I went through it and read the whole thing. But it’s been good now that he’s gone, to go back and just kind of bask in the stories again and just brings back such great memories. It’s one of the things we are so happy we did. If anybody’s thinking about, “Maybe I should do that for my family,” I cannot recommend it enough. It was one of the best things we did as a family. It was a lot of fun.
Mike Zeigler: Tell us more about how your dad used stories. We just heard this sermon. We heard how he uses stories to great effect. We heard a story about Winston Churchill in this sermon; we hear a story about Ulysses S. Grant in this sermon, but tell us how he used stories again, as a dad, as a friend, as a pastor, as a grandpa. Tell us about that.
Kurt Klaus: Yeah, it’s kind of funny because I think a lot of people expected Dad to be like … if you knew Dad, it was basically being around Abraham Lincoln. He had a story every three seconds and that kind of thing. That’s really not the way Dad was. Dad believes stories were a great way to get points across that people wouldn’t understand otherwise, or they might not be as clear. So you’d be having a conversation with Dad and he’d be trying to explain something, and if you didn’t get it, boom, that’s where the story would come out. Because it would put it in a different context, in a different way, and when you’re using stories, you’re using everyday life stuff usually. It took that complicated idea and would transition it into something that you could get.
The stories would come when you’d be struggling with something and you’d go to Dad for advice and he’d tell you what he thought you should do, and you’re still like, “Yeah, I don’t know. I get where you’re going, but I’m not sure if I completely get …” Then, boom, comes the story, and it’s like, “Oh, well why didn’t you just say that?” That was kind of where the stories often came in, in those areas. It was the same thing for his sermons is that it was his way of taking those sometimes complicated theological ideas and boiling them down to something more simplistic or saying them in another way that maybe the person listening didn’t get it the first time. But when you flip it and tell it in that story way, “Oh, wow! Yeah, I get it.” That’s where he used it so often.
He wasn’t a walking storyteller, but he would use them on a regular basis. To be honest, he had a brain for stories. I can’t tell you how many … this is one of the things I’m going to miss a ton, because when I’d get stuck on a sermon, I would just call Dad up. I’d be like, “Hey, this is the idea I’m trying to get across. I’ve been searching for a sermon or story, trying to think of something and I can’t think of anything.” He’d be like, “Well, why don’t you use this one? Blah blah blah blah blah.” And I’m like, “I hate you.” Because it would’ve been something I would’ve been pounding my head for three, four hours trying to come up with something, and he in three seconds just popped it out right there. Yeah, so he was really good at that and was able to make those connections, too.
You can know stories, but if those stories don’t connect to and say—point you to the same thing, the truth that you’re trying to say is, that story’s useless. Or it actually will confuse the truth that you’re trying to point people to. That was another thing that he was really, really good at was making sure that the story actually pointed you to what he wanted you to hear.
Mike Zeigler: Well said. Let’s talk about that truth that he’s pointing us to in this particular sermon, title is “Who Is Jesus?” I’m interested to hear how that truth made an impact on you, encountering these words back from 2008 I think this sermon was recorded. For me, it was the way he framed this question, “Who is Jesus?” He talked about how that’s a more, in some ways, foundational question and maybe a more pressing question for people today. Maybe in a generation past, the pressing question for people was, “Am I going to go to heaven when I die?” Or “Have I done enough things for God to accept me?” Certainly that was a live question in people’s minds perhaps a generation ago. But today, and in the time of this sermon, what your dad was saying was that the more basic question people are asking are not “How can I be saved?” but simply “Who is Jesus?” That stayed with me, this truth that he’s communicating. What was it that stayed with you?
Kurt Klaus: It’s definitely that truth, but I think what I love about the fact that he used that truth, like you said, if you say, “Am I going to be saved?” Most people nowadays would say, “Well, I’m a good person. I’m not Adolf Hitler and so I’m going to be saved because whatever.” The “Who is Jesus?” forces the question. Because either Jesus, and I think it was C.S. Lewis that did this, “Jesus either is the Son of God or He is an absolute lunatic. There is no in between.” If you finally find that Jesus is the Son of God, if you read the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit works in your heart, and it says, “He is the Son of God,” then you have to have ask other questions like, “Okay, if He is the Savior—why is He the Savior? If He is the Son of God, why did the Son of God come to this world? Why did the Son of God have to live a perfect life? Why did the Son of God have to die on a cross? Why did the Son of God have to rise again? If He is who He says He is, then why does all this other stuff ….”
It forces you to look at the fact that, okay, if He had to die for sin, it means sin is way more serious than I’m trying to make it out to be and how I’m trying to hide it and I’m trying to just ignore it. If God had to send His Son to die for it—what it does is it forces you to ask that question that you wouldn’t ask otherwise or that the world tries to ignore nowadays or diminish. When you get to the question of “Who is Jesus?” it forces all that other stuff, if you believe that he’s the Son of God. If you had asked the other questions, people would’ve went … they would’ve ignored them or thrown out their own answer. But when you ask the question, “Who is Jesus?” And when you get to that point of He is the Son of God, then why for all this other stuff, and it forces a good conversation.
Mike Zeigler: Talk to us a little bit about how your dad, and then obviously your mom as well, how did they embody and continue to embody that lived truth of who Jesus is and why He matters?
Kurt Klaus: That’s a good question. And the reason I struggle at first is there’s so many aspects to that, as I think back to it. It’s not a one-word answer or one-sentence answer. Because for my Mom and Dad, Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Lord of our life. He is our Savior. He is all these things that Scripture proclaims Him to be. For that, and because of that, faith and Jesus were not just a hobby. “Oh, I suppose we need to go to church on Sunday.” It was prayers when we woke up, because you wanted to connect with the Lord as soon as you woke up. It’s that connecting with that Savior. For breakfast, there was a prayer for breakfast; there was a prayer at lunch; there was a prayer at dinner.
When there was worship, we were there because it’s like if there’s Advent and Lent and Sundays and all these different things, because you wanted to connect with the Lord. And so because He is the Savior and if He is God who wants to be the Lord of your life and wants to save you and wants to spend eternity with you, then that was just wrapped in everything of our life. The one example I give people sometimes about—well, they’re like, “Well, how did your dad or mom and the family just integrate faith?” The one I always love is we’d always go on one vacation a year, usually. The one thing I always remember is as soon as we got in the car, the first question is everybody buckled up, and two—well, when we had seat belts. Because I remember the old Oldsmobile didn’t have one. I think there was seat belts in the front, but the rest of us kids were just bouncing around freely back there.
The next thing was, “Okay, everybody bow their heads.” Before we even pulled out of the driveway, there was a prayer that the Lord would guide our travels and that He would keep us safe and that (especially without the seat belts), and that we’d have a good time together, that we would be rejuvenated, that we would—it was just asking, knowing that if this is the Savior, this is God, we want Him in every aspect of our life. We want him to cover it all, not just our sins, which, don’t get me wrong, that’s important, but wanted Him to be flowing through everything we did. The more I look back, the more I realize what a special gift that was.
Mike Zeigler: Thank you so much for joining us, Kurt. We’ll Have you back again next week and we’ll continue to pray for your family and know that the same Savior who has been, will continue to be the center and the support for you and your family.
Kurt Klaus: Thanks, Reverend. It was an honor to be here.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“O Living Bread from Heaven” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.