Three Questions

During the winter quarter of my senior year at UCLA, I was attending an economics class-I don’t remember what it was about--when we received our big midterm exams back with our grades.  I took one look at my test to see I received a 29.  29!  Not out of 30.  That’s 29 percent.  I told you I didn’t remember what the class was about.  I had never scored that low on a test before—or since.  So, I panicked.  I’m not sure if it showed, but anxiety filled my body.  29% meant I probably wasn’t going to pass this class.  Econ was my major.  Would I even graduate?  Would I have to take summer school?  And it was worse than just that one class.  I was also taking an independent study course.  (I highly recommend if you are in college, try to take some independent study courses—very little work and almost a guaranteed “A.”)  My problem was I was taking that class from this same professor who just gave me a 29 on my midterm.  Instead of an easy “A” would he now see me as someone who can’t cut it?  I sat there dumbfounded, emphasis on the dumb.

Then the prof went to the podium and said, “Let’s talk about the midterm.”  Unnerved I thought, “Let’s not.”  He continued, “It was a difficult exam.”  “Ya think?”  Then he admitted, “I guess I made it a bit too difficult. The average score was 17.” 

I figured, “17 is the average, and I got a 29?  I’m a genius.”  The teacher went on, “The high score was 72…”  “Show off!”  “Many people scored in single digits…”

I don’t remember too much about what happened after that.  But I learned an important lesson that day: You don’t need to know all the answers to make it through econ.  You don’t need to know all the answers to make it through UCLA.  You don’t need to have all the answers to make it in life.

We get anxious, worried, fretful and full of panic when we don’t have all the answers.  There are a lot of questions we cannot answer.

Here are a few:

When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

What the speed of lightning be if it didn't zigzag?

If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea...Does that mean the fifth one enjoys it?

Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as 4's?
How many people thought of the Post-It note before it was invented but just didn't have anything to jot it down on?

If you steal a clean slate, does it go on your record?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called "rush hour"?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is an alarm clock going "off" when it actually turns on?

Why do we call it an asteroid when its outside the hemisphere, yet we call it hemorrhoid when its near…?

We can experience dread when we don’t know the answers.  Are you anxious?  Is there a relational, financial, personal, professional or physical issue that is causing you unease or even anxiety because you don’t know the answer?

We don’t need to have all the answers.  But we do need to have some of the answers.

Let’s look at THREE QUESTIONS we need to answer.  If we can answer these three questions, our anxiety will no-doubt lessen.

The questions come from the life of the Biblical character of Peter, beginning in Matthew, chapter 16:

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’  ‘Well,’ they replied, ‘some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.’  Then he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’  Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’  Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.  Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.’”--Matthew 16:13-18 (NLT)

“Despite its natural beauty, this must have been a place of significant stress for any first-century Jewish man like Peter, for … Alexander the Great built a temple here for Pan, naming the area “Paneas.” Pan was the god of the wild, of goats and hunting and sexual urges. He looked like our traditional images of the devil, with horns, goat-like hooves, his tongue always stuck out in a suggestive leer like some eighties heavy metal rock star.  Pan was said to have the power to make people flee in unreasoning fear, which is why we get our word “panic” from his name.”

--Schlaepfer, René. Flawed Follower: Travels with Simon Peter: Hope for Imperfect, Inconsistent, Confused People Who Still Love Jesus.

Jesus paused with his disciples to bring up a series of questions.  The first one is, THEY.  “Who do they say I am?”  This seems like a pretty safe question, what are they saying?

“’Well,’  they replied, ‘some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.’”--Matthew 16:14

The disciples come up with some answers.  This is what “they” are saying… We don’t have to know all the answers to this.

I suspect the disciples scored higher than a 29 on this quiz. 

Some say Jesus is one of the boys, one of the prophets.

Some say Jesus is a good teacher.

Some say Jesus is Santa Claus

Some say Jesus is a hater

Are we going to let what they sat determine our relationship with Jesus?

They say…and they are often wrong.  The disciples got partial credit. 

Let’s get to the second question, a life-changing question:

“Then he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’”--Matthew 16:15

The story moves from a safe question, to a dangerous question:  So much for they, WHO do you say Jesus is?”  The “Who do you” question almost renders the “Who do they” question as irrelevant.

“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’” --Matthew 16:16

Peter immediately raises his hand, “Oooh, ooh, pick me, I know! 

“Simon Peter said, ‘You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’"--Matthew 16:16 (TMV)

The word Christ and Messiah are the same--Messiah is Hebrew, Christ is Greek, both mean king, savior, anointed one--the one who will save the world.

Peter answered the “Who?” question with Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God.

“Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.”--Matthew 16:17 (NLT)  

Jesus did not respond with, “I’m sorry, that is not the answer we were looking for.  Peter, you go home in last place.”  He responded with, “You are correct, Sir.  Peter, you’re our Grand Prize Winner today!

If we can answer the who question about Jesus, our anxiety will diminish.  If you know the God of the universe, your economics grade is trivial.  Our problems diminish when we recognize God is with us, and God is in control.

If your answer to “Who do you say Jesus is?” is “The Christ, the Son of the living God,” if you have committed your life--like Peter--to Jesus being your Savior and Leader--your God--if you got the correct answer, it isn’t because you’re clever.  It isn’t because you studied hard or have a high IQ--it is because God the Father revealed it to you.  So, thank God for revealing this to you.

"It is no news to me to tell me that a great prophet is born.  There have been great prophets before…But tell me that God is born, that God himself  has taken our nature, and taken it into union with himself, then the bells of my heart ring merrily, for no I may come to God because God has come to me.”--C.  H.  Spurgeon

"Jesus is different.  He is not just one of the boys.  He is the only begotten Son of God.

He is God!”--Anne Graham Lotz

C.S. Lewis observed, "You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to"--C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”

If you have never made that commitment--Jesus is my Savior, the Son of God, you can make that commitment right now.

If you’re not there yet--if you’re in a resisting, questioning or still-seeking stage on your spiritual journey, here’s a suggestion:  Ask God to reveal himself to you.

There is a third question we must answer to lower our anguish.

“Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”--Matthew 16:18

It is essential to know the answer to the who question about Jesus.  And it is essential to know the answer to the who question about you.  Who are you?  Or better, WHOSE are you?

This is the identity question.  This is an issue that so many people, especially young people, are struggling with today.

Have you heard about the elective surgery that is offered these days—especially popular in the country of Turkey, where they break your legs, insert a rod, and make you taller?  Everyone who elects to have the surgery immediately regrets it once they get on an airplane to travel back home and realize they don’t have any leg room.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. –Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

You were not born in the wrong body.  God did not make a mistake.  God didn’t start creating you and go, “oops!”

You are his.  You belong to Jesus.  If you can answer the who and whose questions correctly, your panic meter will go nearly to zero.

Pardon me, but have you been following all the news about pardons?  President Biden pardoned a bunch of people as he was leaving office.  Some received, “preemptive pardons” and some were pardoned at the last minute.  President Trump then ordered a grip of pardons for some convicts as soon as he stepped into the presidency.

The pardons have become quite controversial.  For at least two reasons:

1. Some on both sides of the political spectrum reasoned that many of these pardons were not deserved.  They did not like certain people receiving something they didn’t warrant.

The, “Don’t deserve it” argument is strange because a pardon isn’t something one deserves or earns.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines it this way: “To release (a person) from punishment or disfavor for wrongdoing or a fault: synonym: forgive.

2. Some recipients refused the pardon.  Again, people on both sides of the aisle declined forgiveness stating they either didn’t do anything wrong, or they disliked the pardoner so much they didn’t want anything from him.

The good news of Jesus Christ is God the Father sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins.  We are offered a full and even preemptive pardon.  We are presented with forgiveness

ABC Prayer

Jesus went on to describe HOW he would proceed.

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.   Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’  Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’"--Matthew 16:21-23

Here’s the point:  Just because we get the answer to the “Who?” question right, doesn’t mean that we’re right about everything else.  Peter got the who and the whose, but he missed the how question.  Peter went from “Grand Prize Winner” to “Get Behind Me Satan.”

And they missed the WHEN question:

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” –Acts 1:6-7 (NIV)

We don’t know how God will do it or when he will move.  We don’t know when we will die.  My uncle actually did know the exact date and time he would die months beforehand.   The judge told him.  But we don’t know when.

We’ve all missed most of the WHY questions.  And that’s okay.

But there is one more question we need to address.  It’s found in the next story.

“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”  After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”—Matthew 16:28-17:4 (NIV)

Mark added this editorial comment.

(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) –Mark 9:6 (NIV)

Peter didn’t know WHAT to do or say next.  He missed the what question.  And that is often our big question, what do I do now?

There is an answer that will lower our stress:

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”—Matthew 17:5 (NIV)

The “what” question can be answered very simply:  listen to Jesus and do what he says.  Do the next right thing.

Life is filled with questions and for most of them, we can get by pretty well with a score of 29 or even 17.

But we must

Answer the three big questions:

Who is Jesus?

Whose are you?

What is Jesus asking you to do?

Knowing the answers to those questions will help to reduce our anxiety.