There is a story about a man who was a tightrope walker who stretched his rope across the Niagara Falls and walked across while the crowd watched and clapped. He walked across several times to show that he was perfectly capable of doing so. Then he took a wheelbarrow and asked the crowd if they believed he could walk across Niagara Falls on the rope while pushing the wheelbarrow. They cried out yes, they shouted that they believed he could do this. He asked them several times if they believed, and they kept shouting yes. Then he asked for a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow.

Jesus is Lord! This is one of the earliest statements of faith for the followers of Jesus. To say “Jesus is Lord” is statement of allegiance, of trust, of faith. The metaphor of getting into the wheelbarrow is not a perfect one of course, but to say “Jesus is Lord” is to place total allegiance and trust in God.

For the earliest Christians to say “Jesus is Lord” was also to say Caesar was not. Jesus is Lord was a political statement. It was then, and it is now. Not political in a partisan way, but political in the question of how will we live, how will we be together, how do we act now that our allegiance is to Jesus, to God? In the movie Chariots of Fire there was a scene were an older gentleman said “in my day it was king first and God second.” To say “Jesus is Lord” is to always put God first in all areas of our life.

In my own life I must ask myself whether or not I truly always put God first. The truthful answer is that while I want to, I don’t always. I don’t always act in the way that God has told us, I am not always merciful, compassionate, forgiving. I don’t always see the hungry and give food, see the homeless and help provide housing, see the sick and lonely and bring healing and community. When I think about my own commitment to the statement “Jesus is Lord,” I fail more than I would like. This is probably why I believe in and need the Church. I need to be with others who are also committed to the way of Jesus and who can help me, just as I can help others.

I wonder about you. I wonder how you live into this early statement of faith, a statement that calls us to place our allegiance with God and not any earthly rulers, a statement of total trust and faith that propels us to live as followers of Jesus. I wonder how you use your congregation to help you in your life with Jesus.

Jesus is Lord, that is the truth we proclaim, and the truth we are called to live in both word and deed.