Contemporary Service
Bumper Sticker Faith:
What Would Your Bumper Sticker Say?
October 15, 2006

Luke 9:18-20
(The Message)

One time when Jesus was off praying by himself, his disciples nearby, he asked them, "What are the crowds saying about me, about who I am?"  [19] They said, "John the Baptizer. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the prophets from long ago has come back."  [20] He then asked, "And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?"  Peter answered, "The Messiah of God."

Sermon                                        What Would Your Bumper Sticker Say?


So what are you talking about these days? What’s the hot topic of conversation? Probably the Yankees and Red Sox are out. Maybe the Patriots? Talk of the upcoming election is taking up a lot of sound waves… but you know what they say about religion and politics. I’m sure there’s some breaking celebrity gossip, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston. And, the weather… the weather is pretty much always a safe bet… especially here in New England. Hot one day, cold the next. We can always talk about the weather.

I imagine the weather was not such an exciting topic of conversation in the ancient near east, though. ‘Another hot and dry day stretches from Galilee through Samaria all the way to Jerusalem. It’s a scorcher out there.’ (Sounds pretty good to me) But, no, the people of first century Palestine were likely talking about something else, something much more interesting. News had traveled fast about this Jesus who was said to be about the hillside healing and teaching and performing miracles. Word had spread. Who was this Jesus guy? And what was he up too? Jesus was being talked about by the high and the low, by the well connected and the disconnected. And they were saying all sorts of things about him.

So Jesus decides to poll his disciples about the word on the street. In our Scripture today Jesus asks them, “What are the crowds saying about me, about who I am?” In this election season, we know how people put all those political bumper stickers on their cars. Jesus wanted to know what the bumper stickers were saying about him…. how he was coming across in the public opinion. So the disciples are quick to answer, “John the Baptizer. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the prophets from long ago has come back.” The word is varied. But there is one thread that runs through all the answers. In trying to figure out who Jesus is, the people are looking back, back into their tradition and back in time to the late greats – Elijah, the prophets, even John the Baptist.

But Jesus doesn’t dwell on this. No, he moves on to the next question, asking, “And you – what are you saying about me?” And it seems that this is the important question. The question Jesus was leading up to. He doesn’t really care what the masses are saying. He wants to know about you. “And you – what are you saying about me?” Or, in the context of our bumper sticker series, he might say, “You’ve studied all those other Bumper Stickers, but what would your bumper sticker say?”

We’ve probably all said something about Jesus at one time or another, right? At least I would hope so. We might have even put a Jesus bumper sticker on our car at one time or another. By virtue of the fact that we come to church, I would hope we would have something to say about Jesus! Maybe at our confirmation, when we affirmed our faith in Jesus as Lord. Maybe when we joined the church or presented a child for baptism and were asked, from our Book of Worship, “Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace?” Maybe over coffee with a friend, when the topic of religion came up and we shared our faith in Christ. There are all sorts of things we can say about Jesus.

I heard of graffiti that was found on one seminary wall. (Yes, seminarians deface property too!) The graffiti was a take-off on our Gospel reading. Jesus asked who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being. The kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our personal relationships.” And Jesus said, “What?” There are all sorts of things we can say about Jesus… some of them can be stated more simply than others!

Peter had a pretty simple answer to Jesus’ question. Maybe speaking on his own, maybe acting as a spokesman for the group, Peter answers, “You are the Messiah of God.” You are the Messiah of God. Sounds pretty basic to me, almost a little too basic. Couldn’t Peter come up with a fancier way of saying it? Yet, what sounds so basic, so commonplace to us, was an amazingly bold declaration at that time on the side of that hot, dusty road. Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one, the Son of God. Jesus as Christ.

And in making this bold pronouncement, Peter reorients, shifts the way we look at Jesus, who he is, where he comes from. Peter takes us from looking back to looking ahead. Remember how all the crowds had said Jesus had to be one of the heroes of the faith returned? They were craning their necks backwards, to figure out who Jesus was. Peter says, “No way! Look right in front of you! God is doing a new thing, right now, right here in this man.”

I wonder what kind of responses we would get today if we were to take a poll. What would people say about Jesus? If we asked people on the street, they might say he was a prophet, a philosopher, a wise man, a revolutionary, a noble teacher. Some might actually say that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. But that’s not the important thing. No, Jesus doesn’t want to know what other people say. Jesus wants to know what you say. “And you – what are you saying about me?” “What would your bumper sticker say?”

“What are you saying about me?” We probably all come to faith with some preconceived notions about who Jesus is… based on a combination of childhood imagination, Sunday School, our parents’ understanding, life experiences. Throughout our years we hear lots of things about Jesus from teachers and preachers, from the media and friends. But eventually we have to look at them all, all those different factors that have influenced our faith, and decide what we believe. “And you – what are you saying about me?”

There are all sorts of things we can say about Jesus, but are we saying them? We may say them at those big moments in our lives, baptism, confirmation, but what do we say about Jesus the rest of the time? As one preacher suggests, “Confessing our faith also happens on exit ramps, and in grocery store check out lines, during sleepless nights watching TV, dropping the kids off at school…” What we say about Jesus is more than what we say on Sunday. It is how we address the whole world, in ours words and our actions, every day of our lives.

So what do you want the world to know about Jesus? And what will you do to spread the word? It is certainly easier to talk about the weather or sports or the latest movie, but Jesus asks us a question, a question that stretches across the generations, “And you… what are you saying about me?” As we make our bumper stickers together after the service, as we share together in our picnic, as we distribute our door hangers this afternoon, let’s talk about those questions. What’s the important message we want to get out about Jesus and how will we, individually and together, spread the word? It doesn’t have to be complicated. We don’t have to talk about eschatological manifestations or kerygma. We simply have to stand with Peter, not sure where the journey will lead us, but looking forward with hope, saying, “You are the Messiah of God.”