June 4, 2006 Sermon

Was Jesus Just a Prophet?
Matthew 8:14-22

In the year 325 the Roman Emperor Constantine commanded Christian bishops from around his vast empire to meet at a place called Nicea. He gave them a job to do: decide whether the church would teach that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, equal to God the Father Almighty, or just a man. The bishops debated and voted. All but two of them agreed: Jesus was God in human form. He was equal to the Father.

Let’s put this history into perspective. The Bishops’ Council at Nicea happened about 300 years after the birth of Jesus. Three hundred years ago today takes us back to 1706. Isaac Newton has just “discovered” gravity. The British Empire encircles the world, and its American colonies have no thought yet of independence. Benjamin Franklin is born this year. Washington, Adams and Jefferson have not yet come into the world. The Salem witch trials ended only thirteen years ago. Most of the colonists do not practice any religion, though nearly all call themselves Christians. (Well, some things never change.)

Three hundred years after the birth of Christ a group of men met to decide who he was. But how, after all those years and the changes they brought, could they possibly have known the answers to one of the deepest mysteries humanity has ever tried to solve? It sounds fishy. In fact, it is fishy. The Council of Nicea happened. Bishops did meet to discuss who Jesus really was. But instead of having the arrogance to decree THE final answer, these men issued a statement of faith. They stated what they believed, not what they had proof of, and they invited their fellow Christians to share their beliefs.

The Da Vinci Code book and movie have caused a stir in Christian circles. But I welcome the opportunity this stir presents us. Author Dan Brown has built a fictional story around biased accounts of a few historical events. The Council at Nicea is one of the most important of those actual events. According to Brown, the bishops met at Nicea because the Emperor Constantine needed them. History says Constantine converted to Christianity, becoming the first Roman Emperor to do so. Brown says Constantine only pretended to convert. Christianity was becoming so popular it made sense for him to pretend. It was just politics. History says Constantine called the Council at Nicea to settle important disputes about who Jesus really was. Brown says he did it to stamp out widespread beliefs about the femininity of God that threatened the men like Constantine who ran things.

Unfortunately for Dan Brown’s theories, documents claiming that Jesus really was and is God appeared much earlier than the 300 years that elapsed between the cross and Nicea. Our confirmation students memorize one such document, the Apostles’ Creed. Honestly, nobody knows who wrote it or when, but references to the Apostles’ Creed appear within a hundred years of Jesus’ earthly life. It contains a detailed, no-nonsense section on the divinity, the “godness”, of Jesus. But we have an even earlier, and better, source: the Gospel of Matthew.

We could have chosen any number of passages from Matthew that deal with the godness of Jesus. We read a section that raises two vital issues. First, it shows the power Jesus had, power the early Christians believed could come only from God. Second, it shows how that power moved even the most skeptical men to follow him as the Son of God.

Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever. Witnesses went home to fetch loved-ones for the same kind of treatment. Jesus healed many people that day. Matthew adds an important point. He recalls that the Jewish prophet Isaiah predicted that when God came to earth as the Messiah, he would “take up our infirmities and bear our diseases.” When God came to earth he would heal. Jesus used his godly power to heal—to heal mind, body and spirit. His was not the macho, flashy and ultimately scared-little-boy kind of power that Dan Brown mocks in the Da Vinci Code. Jesus used his power as God to heal and to build.

After all that healing a mob pressed in around Jesus and his small band of followers. He gives the order to get in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee in the attempt to get away from the crowds. But before they can leave a scribe approaches. Scribes belonged to the upper echelons of the religious power structure. They had charge over the written text of the Jewish scriptures. They also were political players. Most of this scribe’s peers hated and feared Jesus. They denied he could possibly be the Son of God. But not this guy. This guy believes Jesus is God. He believes so strongly he claims he will follow Jesus anywhere. Jesus replies that he has no home, no safe place to go. Somehow I doubt that stopped this scribe from following him anyway.

This two-part story illustrates a question each of us must answer. Do I believe Jesus was “just” a prophet, or that he was and is the Son of God? I thank Dan Brown for raising the issue in his Da Vinci Code. Was Jesus a man or God? Your answer matters. Follow Jesus as God.

Not that prophets do not deserve our respect. For a very long time God has used prophets to predict the consequences of our behavior. Real prophets must have tremendous courage. Nobody likes to be told to behave. Most prophets—in Bible times and today—face threats. Men from Jonah to Martin Luther King Jr. have stared death in the face because they accepted God’s call to tell the world to change. Prophets are admirable human beings. But human beings is what they were and are.

A surprising number of people think Jesus of Nazareth was “just” a prophet. They believe he taught great truths with great courage,. He even died for his cause. But that ended his story. Dan Brown takes this approach to Jesus: starting even before the Council of Nicea the church made up this story about him being God. It needed the story, just as the Emperor Constantine needed it, to cover up the “truth”. (I will not reveal the Da Vinci Code’s version of truth because I do not want to ruin the story for those who have not yet seen or read it, and because I see no reason to spread a story I believe to be false.)

What do you believe about Jesus? Was he “just” a prophet? Or was he the Son of God after all? Your answer matters.

When we believe Jesus is the Son of God we have a saving relationship with him. The Bible teaches that our answer of “yes” to the question of whether we believe in Him as God qualifies us for salvation. This is the first and best reason for believing. Our confirmands join the church on the basis of their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Their “yes” to Him will change the rest of their lives. How about your life?

I hope these next questions do not sound arrogant. I mean them in all sincerity. How can people who do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God bear to keep living? What possible basis for hope, joy and peace can they have? If Jesus has no home in our hearts, what spiritual home can we possibly have?

Jesus still has the power to heal. If you find yourself persistently angry, unsettled or pessimistic, I challenge you to seek your cure in Jesus. Pray that your faith in Him might bring you relief. Faith brings healing. Follow Jesus as the Son of God and you will know hope, joy and peace. The Bishops at Nicea knew this. How about you?