<\/p>\n
13<\/sup> Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, „Who do people say that the Son of Man is?“ 14<\/sup> And they said, „Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.“ 15<\/sup> He said to them, „But who do you say that I am?“ 16<\/sup> Simon Peter answered, „You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.“ 17<\/sup> 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.<\/p>\n 18<\/sup> 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. 19<\/sup> 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.“ 20<\/sup> Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. (Mat 16:13-20 NRS)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last week we heard Jesus say that it was not what went into the mouth that defiled a person, but what came out.\u00a0 He was talking about our words and how they originate in our hearts.\u00a0 I asked you all a question in my sermon:\u00a0 \u201cHow would someone know you are a Christian?\u201d I hope that you were able to reflect on that question in regards to the things you say; the words that come out of your mouths that originate in your hearts.\u00a0 In our Gospel lesson today, we have several examples that I think builds on what we heard last week.\u00a0 These examples show us how important our words can be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our lesson begins with Matthew telling us that Jesus is in the district of Caesarea Philippi, a border town between Israel and the Gentile world.\u00a0 It is in this \u201cin between\u201d place that Jesus asks his disciples \u201c13<\/sup>Who do people say that the Son of Man is?\u00a0 Like good Israelites, they respond with Israeli answers.\u00a0 \u201c14<\/sup>Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.\u201d\u00a0 With this answer, the disciples verify that Jesus stands in the prophetic tradition of Israel.\u00a0 With this answer, they show a belief that exists in the hearts of those that have heard of Jesus.\u00a0 This is important because Israel is under Roman occupation, and corruption of the political and religious classes are evident.\u00a0 God has a history of sending a prophet when the people are not keeping covenant with God, and so having Jesus identified as a prophet is a good reminder of Israel\u2019s history as well as how it worked out for them in the long run.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The disciple\u2019s response though seems to not quite be good enough for Jesus.\u00a0 \u201c15<\/sup>But who do you say that I am?\u201d\u00a0 In other words, what are your<\/em> hearts telling you?\u00a0 Don\u2019t always go with the flow of the crowds and the popular opinion\u2026.who do you<\/em> think that I am?\u00a0 This is a very important question to his disciples.\u00a0 They have heard explanations to parables, seen him walk on water, and been called away from their daily lives to follow him.\u00a0 It is no surprise that Simon Peter answers rather bluntly \u201c16<\/sup>You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.\u201d\u00a0 These words come from the pure love of God that abounds in Peter\u2019s heart.\u00a0 For the first time, Jesus is recognized as Messiah, the Savior Israel has long expected, the only one who can save Israel from its enemies.\u00a0 This is Peter\u2019s confession of truth.\u00a0 It is a confession and witness that comes from the power of God working inside of him.\u00a0 How would someone know Peter was a disciple?\u00a0 By the words that come from his heart out of his mouth.\u00a0 And for this confession, Peter receives the same blessing that Jesus has previously bestowed in the Beatitudes.\u00a0 \u201c17<\/sup>Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah!\u201d\u00a0 Again, powerful words of the heart.\u00a0 Peter receives a blessing that can only be given by the Son of God, for a confession that too can only be revealed by God.\u00a0 \u201cFor flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After this revelation and confession, Peter is given a task by Jesus.\u00a0 \u201c18<\/sup> 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. 19<\/sup> 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.“\u00a0 In his new found role, Peter finds himself as a servant who guards the gifts of the church.\u00a0 This is not a role that diminishes in any way the other disciples or workers in the kingdom, but is a role in which Peter is set apart.\u00a0 He is not better than, nor is he lesser.\u00a0 He simply has a different role.\u00a0 It is a role that the church still carries on today.\u00a0 Peter is tasked to keep the church true to its mission:\u00a0 to be a witness to the Messiah, to be holy, and to promote peace through confession, absolution, and reconciliation, as Matthew will later record in chapter 18.\u00a0 We could say that Peter has been given the task of unity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So how do we as the church today continue this task?\u00a0 How do we strive for unity and as such a defense against sin in the world?\u00a0 One could say that we start with how we speak, the things that come from our hearts and then out of our mouths.\u00a0 But maybe that is the problem.\u00a0 Christians agree on lots of things, but our words also do not speak with unity.\u00a0 Sin has caused us to fracture the very gift of God that is the church.\u00a0 But hopefully with some reflection we might find ourselves on the path that Jesus laid out here for Peter:\u00a0 confession, absolution, and eventual reconciliation.\u00a0 This is how people will know we are Christian. The church speaks words of unity and peace in a world that so desperately needs it.\u00a0 These words are the same as Peter\u2019s\u2026.\u201c16<\/sup>You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.\u201d\u00a0 Not just a prophet, not just a teacher, but the promised One who is revealed by the Father through the church, for the sake of the world.\u00a0 As we ponder on this Gospel lesson throughout this week, I hope that we continue to listen to how God speaks to our hearts, so that our words become a blessing for unity and a witness to Christ, who is the Messiah.\u00a0 In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pentecost 12A – August 23, 2020 | a Sermon on Matthew 16:13-20 | by The Rev. Dr. Judson F. Merrell, STS | 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, „Who do people say that the Son of Man is?“ 14 And they said, „Some say John […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,157,108,110,235,433,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-3201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-judson-f-merrell","category-kapitel-16-chapter-16","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3202,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201\/revisions\/3202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=3201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}