Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost | 30. August 2026 | Matthew 16:21–28 | Luther H. Thoresen

²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

²⁷ “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸ Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Scripture quotations from: New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Note: The initial paragraphs in italics of this sermon might be used as the basis for a Children’s message. If not used that way, one might adapt it as the beginning of the “usual” sermon or insert part of it later in the sermon…or elsewhere in the service.

[The preacher may want to have a few children’s puzzles on hand.]

Good morning! Do you like puzzles? These can be challenging and fun and frustrating. Right? When we are young we begin with puzzles that have complete shapes that need to fit into the same shape cut in the board, right? Then, as we grow, we get puzzles with large pieces to fit together to form a picture…and then as we grow older the puzzles get larger and the pieces get smaller. Would you agree? [allow answers] What do you think we learn with puzzles? [allow answers] Yes, with all this, we learn about shapes, about how pieces fit together to create a larger picture, and how to look for how pieces fit into a particularly shaped hole. One other thing, what do you think when you are putting a puzzle together and you get to the end and there is a piece or two missing?

I may talk about puzzles a bit more in the regular part of the sermon. But, for now, would you pray with me? God, Thank you for gifts like puzzles that can be fun and challenging and frustrating, and help us learn. Thank you for the joy of playing together, the joy of putting puzzles together alone and with another person, and the joy of completing a puzzle. Thank you for the people who give us gifts like puzzles. Thank you especially for sending your Son that we might have life and love…even when life is confusing like a puzzle with missing pieces.

I’ll talk about this more in the regular sermon. But for now, would you pray with me? God, thank you for gifts like puzzles that can be fun, challenging or frustrating, yet also help us learn. Thank you for joy in playing together, joy in putting puzzles together alone or with someone else, and for joy when a puzzle is completed. Thank you for people who give gifts to us like puzzles. Thank you especially for sending your Son with his gifts of life and love even when our life seems to be missing some pieces. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last week’s gospel story and this week’s gospel story are closely connected. They are side by side in Matthew’s gospel. In fact, todays reading connects to last week with the simple phrase, “From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples…” The characters last week and this week are the same – Jesus, Peter and the other disciples.

Yet the connections are deeper than having the same characters and proximity in Matthew’s book.  Last week asked the question, “Who is Jesus?” This week we think about who Peter is and the other disciples. Last week was about a good confession concerning Jesus, and this week’s reading addresses how disciples are to live, disciples then and disciples now.

Though we heard the two stories a week apart, in Matthew it feels like they are separated by a day or less…maybe just moments apart. One moment Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” The next moment, Jesus speaks plainly about his suffering, death and resurrection, and Peter says, “No, never!” One moment Jesus says to Peter, “Blessed are you Simon…” In the next moment Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.”  One moment Jesus says to Peter, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” The next moment Jesus says, “You are setting mind not on divine things but on human things.” One moment Jesus says, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” The next moment Jesus says, “You are a hindrance” or literally, “You are a stumbling block.”

It is as if Peter moves from being sooooo right to being dead wrong. It is as if Peter moves from being a rock, a building block to becoming a stumbling block. It is as if Peter moves from being useful and on the way to being a hindrance and in the way. It is as if Peter moves from being part of the team to being part of the opposition.

What comes between the two moments? Between Peter last week and this week? What moves Peter from being on the side of God and the side of Satan? What gets stuck in Peter’s ears so that he gets stuck in Jesus’ way? You heard it! Jesus bean to show the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering…and be killed and on the third day rise.

Peter resists so strongly, saying, “God forbit it, Lord. This must never happen to you.” Why does he resist so strongly? Good question. We don’t really know. When I have talked about this story with confirmation students, I usually note three possibilities…and there could be more. One of them is this, and it has to do with losing a friend and companion. Peter may not want to lose his friend. Jesus is someone he had heard teach and perform miracles. Jesus had lifted Peter up from the water when Peter had sunk into the sea while walking on it.

Another possible reason for Peter’s resistance to Jesus’ words might have to do with his expectations about any messiah. Peter probably held common Jewish expectations in his day of the anticipated Messiah, or God’s anointed One. Peter probably expected the Messiah to lead a revolt against Rome and WIN. Peter probably expected if Jesus went to Jerusalem, it would be to go to celebrate as a victor in battle. But to die? To lose and not be victorious? That’s not Messiah to Peter.

A third possible reason for Peter’s opposition might be about what this might mean for Peter himself. That is, if Jesus said, “Follow Me” to Peter some months earlier along the Sea of Galilee, to follow now might mean suffering and possible death for Peter, too. But if Jesus will not suffer and die, Peter would not have to do so either. Anyway, it could be any one or a mix of all three of these. Somehow, for Jesus to die, for the Messiah to suffer just did not fit.

Back to puzzles for a minute. Have any of you done puzzles as an adult? 100 pieces? 500? 1,000 jigsaw pieces? Many adults do these for fun, for enrichment, to make as gifts for others, for intellectual engagement and more. Can you imagine this scenario? You have a 500-piece puzzle. You do the edges first (like most people), looking at the picture on the box. Maybe you sort the pieces by color and begin putting portions together. Next you connect the portions. It’s coming together…just a few miscellaneous pieces. Finally, you are down to the last piece, and it does not fit. What???? Would that be frustrating? You better believe it!

With Jesus’ ministry, Peter was putting the pieces together – call, preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons, eating with tax collectors and sinners. It was coming together, and Peter said, “You are the Messiah.” Now, there is one more piece, and it does not fit! Jesus must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and rise. It just does not fit.

We may find ourselves being and behaving like Peter. One moment we may make a good confession, and the next moment we may be telling Jesus what God forbids. One moment we might be a building block and the next moment we may be a stumbling block. One moment we may be open to God’s revelation and the next moment we may be thinking of human things. One moment we may be following Jesus and the next moment we may be in the way.

Next Jesus speaks to all the disciples, and all of us. As Jesus speaks about following, he wants all disciples to know that this conversation is not only for and about Peter, but for and about all of us. Jesus uses these words “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

What might that mean for disciples then and now? In the reading from Romans chapter 12 we heard about 20 things that Paul encourages his fellow Christians to do and ways he wants them to think. Jesus may have had those kinds of things in mind. I won’t read that whole list again, but here are some of them, “Let love be genuine…hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor…Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you…Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep…do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil…If it is possible…live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves…” Yes, with that kind of living, we deny ourselves, we take up our cross and we follow Jesus. Is that an easy path? Not on your life. It requires your whole life. It requires my whole life.

We live in a world that does not value that kind of living. To live this way is to “swim upstream.” We don’t need to draw attention to ourselves as if to say, “Look at me.” Rather, we let our living speak for itself. To live this way is not easy. Amen? To live this way requires a life, a power, a Spirit beyond ourselves.

This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us as a gift. (period)

• This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us in, with and under the words of holy scripture heard together in public worship and heard alone in devotion at home.
• This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us in, with and under the water and Word of Holy Baptism as a divine voice says, “You are mine” and as we return to the grace of Baptism in the Confession and Forgiveness.
• This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us in, with and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion as Jesus gives to us his life blood and body so that we might share his life with others and become his body in this world.
• This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us in, with and under the mutual conversation among God’s people and as we serve together. This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us in, with and under the needs of the kinds of people Jesus notes in a few more chapters in Matthew’s book – the sick, the hungry, the naked, the thirsty, the imprisoned, the thirsty, the stranger. Jesus’ list there is not exhaustive, but he gives us a good idea of whom we are to serve.
• This life, this power, this Spirit comes to us in, with and under moments of silent awe and prayer, and moments when prayerful words form and escape our lips.

This life is Jesus’ life. This power is Jesus’ power. This Spirit is Jesus’ Spirit. What comes to us is Jesus. Through his life, death and resurrection he has made his own life, power and Spirit available to us as a gift…even when life is puzzling, even when the pieces don’t seem to fit.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

©Pr. Luther H. Thoresen, ELCA, STS,
retired; thoresenluther54@gmail.com;
Grundy Center, IA, USA