Pentecost 14

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

(This Sermon is based on Sermon: PN13-16A)
SEASON: Pentecost 14
PROPER: 16A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: August 25, 2002

TEXT: Matthew 16:13-20 - Confession of Peter
He (Jesus) 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 . . . . ."

ISSUE: New identities are given. Through relationship and divine inspiration, Peter declares that Jesus is no longer the carpenter's son from godforsaken Nazareth, but Messiah and son of the living God. Peter is no longer just a fisherman but one who holds the authoritative keys that unlock doors for entry into the Kingdom of God's domain. Matthew is describing the formation of a new institution. The issue for us is how we ourselves identify Christ in our own lives and use that knowledge as his disciples. What does Jesus Christ mean and how do we live into that identification?
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Arriving in Caesarea Philippi, a place that was supposed to have a wide variety of shrines to pagan gods, Jesus asks the question of Simon bar (son) of Jonah: Who do the people say that the Son of Man is? Peter replies that some say that the Son of Man is like John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. These three were men of great courage who stood up against great powers to proclaim what they felt the truth of God to be and what they felt was God's justice. Then Jesus asks Peter more specifically, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter boldly replies, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
More than likely most people today see this questioning of Jesus to his beloved disciple Simon as a kind of theological test. As if Jesus is saying, Simon, do you really know who I am, according to the Nicene Creed? It is in our thinking as if Jesus was completely clear about his identity and mission, and was testing his disciples. Americans would think this because we are very individualistic and have relatively clearly defined identities. We all have our Social Security number. And we pretty much define who we are and what we are going to be. This kind of clear identification was not so certain in the time of Jesus, the first century Middle Eastern culture. These people were not so individualistic, and identity came from other sources, primarily family, and then from stereotyping. Essentially, Jesus was son of Joseph. Jesus was then expected to be a carpenter following in his father's footsteps. He was also a Nazarene, coming from the town of Nazareth. Jesus' enemies of course would say he was Jesus, son of Joseph, a mere carpenter of no stature, because artisans had no property or honor. Some referred to him as Son of Mary, which may well have been insulting, since he was being defined as not having a father, and therefore a bastard. "Isn't he just the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where did Jesus get all this? And they took offense at him." Matt. 13:55-57) He is stereotyped as a Nazarene, and nothing good comes from Nazareth. Nazarenes are good-for-nothings. At this point, Jesus is not in Nazareth, and no longer a carpenter. He's become something of a deviant character without identity. So he asks Simon bar Jonah, a disciple: "Who do you say that I am?" It is to say, How is my identity be reshaped and redefined. For Jesus to make such a claim on his own would have been presumptuous and dishonoring. Who you were, your identity came from the community. Simon replies with those awesome titles, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Having accompanied Jesus and developed a close relationship, Simon is inspired. You are a deliver, messiah-like as was Jeremiah, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist. But you are also in close union with God. To know you Jesus is to be able to approach God the Father. You Jesus are the son who reveals the Father. Jesus saw Peter as clearly inspired, and a new clear identification is made of who Jesus is. It is a new dawning.
(It is also an identity that is not yet to be revealed to the larger community. A premature pronouncement like this would likely have met with great opposition as a yet a claim to honor of which Jesus was not yet considered to be worthy, nor understood in it proper context.)
Something is happening here in this account. Matthew seems to have set up this situation of Jesus being in a place of great religious diversity. Jesus is in a world where he is severely criticized and dishonored, and he receives a clearer inspired identity by his discipleship.
At the same time Jesus turns to Simon who has just had this diving inspiration and gives Simon a new identity as well. He is no longer a fisherman. "You are Petros (Peter)," says Jesus. At this time 'Peter' was not a name, it simply meant 'rock.' Jesus gives Simon a nickname which is literally "Rocky." There are, of course, many scriptural references to God being like a rock, a fortress, a stronghold. (Ps.71, etc.) Jesus sees something of a godly strength in Peter as well. Jesus goes on to give Peter, Rocky, keys to the kingdom of God's domain. This gesture is to give Peter a real share in the rabbinic-like ministry of Jesus who was the one who came to liberate those who were oppressed. (This authority is also given to all the rest of the disciples in Matt. 18:18.) The keys were given in order that they would with Jesus unlock, open-up the way of to the love and truth of God, and of God's justice. It was truly an important responsibility. The keys open up a greater understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures as well.
Later in Matthew's account of the Gospel (Matt 23: 5ff), Jesus rigorously condemns some of the teachers, rabbis, and especially the Pharisees of this time. Their teachings about all the laws, says Jesus, seems to tie heavy burdens on people's backs that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren't willing to help them carry those loads. "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go it, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter!" says Jesus. (Matt. 23:13f) If Peter and the other disciples are to be rocks with Jesus, and to join in that calling to teach and to open, to unlock, to make accessible the way to God, they must be truly knowledgeable of who Jesus really is, and what his ministry is truly all about. The keys to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Domain of God are for the purpose of unlocking those things that prevent people from easy access to the justice and the love of a compassionate and merciful God. If you stand around doing the same old stuff, nothing happens. Misery, Hades, continues to prevail. But to turn the keys to unlock the way to God is to allow greater access for all people to step into the Kingdom of God.
What's going on here? Matthew is establishing a new clear identity of Jesus in a skeptical world, where many saw him as mere carpenter's son, from that place, Nazareth, from which no good can come. Matthew is giving clout to the disciples as the community with the keys for opening the way to the presence of God from which so many people have felt alienated through some of the previous teaching. Let me insert here that calling Peter, Rocky, has an element of humor for us. Peter was not always that rock like character. He is the one who walks on water but sinks. He's the one who betrays. He's the one who challenges Jesus. But he survives it all, and in that sense he is the prevailing rock. In this Caesarea Philippi, this place of many religions, and among the hostilities leveled at Jesus, Matthew establishes his identity and the firmness of his followers to be the gatekeepers, those with the keys to unlocking the way to God. This passage expresses the foundation of the church and purpose of its work.
I believe that the impact of this passage for us today is to keep in mind that it is still a valid question for us to prayerfully seek the meaning of Jesus' identity for us today. That identity influences us in how we carry out our discipleship and the church's mission. We too live in a kind of Caesarea Philippi. We live among a pluralistic variety of religions some of which are pagan. Keeping our identity and appreciation of whom we are and who Jesus Christ is for us in our world is still quite important.
For some people Jesus Christ is little more than a swear word.
For others the meaning of Jesus is something of a magical superman. He is like God who sits on a throne in the heavens somewhere and does or does not answer prayers. The problem with Jesus as a superman, or super human is that he is beyond our reach and ineffective. Jesus who becomes so grand becomes out of touch with our human condition. In his ultimate perfection he is beyond being the savior of the human condition.
For some Jesus is a moralist. He is the statement or measure of all that is good and bad. It makes Jesus appear to be a judge and the person who selects who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Life then becomes reduced to being a system of reward and punishment. We become judges of one another, and our place in life is always uncertain based on whether from day to day we are good enough. St. Peter then stands at the gate to decide whether people get let in or locked out. And we stand to question the standards of one another to condemn some, and to welcome those who think and do things our way. This way of seeing Jesus is inclined to lock people out of the Kingdom.
For some Jesus was extraordinarily human. He was of the earth. He suffered with people. He felt outrage over the injustices by the political powers. He hated to see the masses impoverished and used by a very small minority of the rich. He hated the exclusion of people from the Temple by virtue of status, and their health.
By and large we think of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. That could mean that Jesus is distant and militant. It could mean that he is the accessibility to the love of God, and a servant. He is the broker that opens the way for people to find peace and consolation from God. It could mean that Jesus is a suffering servant who is not at all distant but who in true outreach embraced the poor, the least, and the last, seeing them as worthy of God's redeeming love in spite of themselves.
How we see Jesus as Lord, and how we define him effects who we are. If Jesus is the great superhuman character then we see ourselves as struggling to be something that we cannot attain, or deluding ourselves into thinking we are superhuman hotshots. If Jesus is moralist than we stand to become judgmental people. If Jesus is human, accessible, holy and an expression of a profound love and forgiveness of God, our motivations are then to be servants with him. It does make a significant difference in us as we seek to be the body of Christ in the world as to how we perceive and identify the meaning of Christ in our lives.
Peter saw something of Jesus that was more than, or at least different from John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah. He saw him as deliverer, messianic servant. He saw him as attached in some wonderful way with the loveliness of God, truly a holy man with divine attributes.
Jesus saw in Peter in all of his wavering a rock of faithfulness. And he shared with him the servanthood ministry and the keys that open the Domain of God to all those who search and want and need the redeeming love of God.
It's so important to be prayerful, to be knowledgeable of scripture, to keep our focus on Jesus as Lord of God's love so that we can be the instruments of faithfulness that keep the channels of grace open to those who seek for God that live around and among us. It is not enough to merely accept ancient doctrines. As cleverly worked out as they may be, they don't always speak to the present age. We must reclaim not dogma alone, but what is heart felt. Jesus is my Lord, the love of my life. He challenges, and gives hope. He makes me what I am, a child of God, and partner in the bearing the keys that open up heavens gates, that opens up new understandings of being in the domain of acceptance, forgiveness and love.