…Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
– Matthew 16:13-19
In November 1963, when President John Kennedy was assassinated in a motorcade, his wife, Jacqueline, threw herself, as best she could, over his bleeding body and said: “They have killed my husband.” Who were “they”? Mrs. Kennedy lived in a world of vague but very real hostile forces that would harm or kill her husband. She knew that. She didn’t imagine it. They were real. They had no names. She didn’t know where they lived or where they came from, but they killed her husband.
Many people live in a world of “they.” A hostile, threatening world. An adversarial world—this world of they. Jesus sent his disciples out into a world of they.
Before the disciples left, Matthew tells us, Jesus called them by name, gathered them around, and gave them instructions. He began by saying “they” multiple times.
“They are going to haul you up in court.”
“They’re going to drag you into prison.”
“They’re going to haul you up before governors and kings.”
“They are going to hate you.”
“They are going to call you names.”
These followers of Jesus must have been frightened by this world of they. Who are they? What are their names? What are they after? They… are going to do this to you.
Then Jesus said, in effect, I don’t want you to be concerned about the world of they. That’s not your world. It’s not your problem. And it’s not to be your fear. Because God knows you by name. In other words: around you, behind you, beneath you, and beside you is a very personal world where God knows you by name. This is not a “they” world. God has created a you world, calls you by name, and calls every person in love into God’s world.
Think of all the people who continue to live in a world of they…
…They say Elvis was at Starbucks on Friday morning. Ordered a mocha latte. I mean, I am just telling you what they are saying …
… You know they will never accept screens in this church.
…They tell me they don’t count votes anymore. No use going to the polls—it’s already decided.
…They say they are really upset by what’s going on in church, and they are pointing at you, pastor. Who is upset? They are. Who says? They do.
This is not the world God made and Jesus redeemed—this world of “they.” If you’ve been living in the “world of they,” get out! You don’t belong in a place so ruled by fear and deception. You belong in the world of Jesus Christ, who calls you by name. We all belong in a world where Jesus calls us by name and invites us to call him by name.
We cannot build a church in a they world. We cannot proclaim the saving truth of the gospel from the place of they. Faith cannot take root or grow in a they world.
If I had the power, the one requirement I would add for participation in a faith community—beyond affirming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—would be to strike the word they from usage. If I could give every faith leader one gift, it would be ears incapable of hearing, let alone answering, any sentence that begins “they are saying.”
Jesus gathered his disciples one day and said, what are they saying about me? The disciples responded, well they say that you are John the Baptist come back from the dead. Or they say you are Jeremiah, or Elijah. Or one of the prophets. That’s what they say…
Then Jesus said: what do you say? Did Peter respond well, they say that you are the Christ? No. He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”
God knows, this is a confusing world, and ministry is hard at every turn. The voice of they can spin you around until you cannot see the work of love and grace God has placed before you. Spend your whole life listening to what they are saying, and you may never discover your true calling.
God calls you by name. God calls us by name and expects us to do the same with God! When we finally escape the world of they, we can banish fear and hear, directly, the sweet promises of God’s love and grace.
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