{"id":9758,"date":"2021-02-07T19:49:43","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T19:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=9758"},"modified":"2022-10-03T07:54:18","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T05:54:18","slug":"matthew-1613-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/matthew-1613-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 16:13-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity <\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was growing up in a small East Texas town, I often heard different
\nversions of a joke about this guy that dies and goes to heaven. As St.
\nPeter shows the newly departed around the heavenly city, the man hears
\nsinging coming from a building set off by itself. When he asks Peter
\nwhat’s going on, Peter says, \u0093Ssshh! That’s the [name your least favorite
\nChristian group]. They don’t know the rest of us are here.\u0094<\/p>\n

It’s a tired old joke, but it says a lot about Christian disunity. Maybe \u0093we\u0094 accept \u0093you,\u0094 but \u0093you\u0094 don’t
\naccept \u0093us.\u0094 Therefore \u0093we\u0094 must be much better Christians than \u0093you.\u0094 After
\nall \u0093we\u0094 can poke fun at \u0093your\u0094 need to exclude others. Therefore \u0093we\u0094 are
\nthe dearly beloved of God while \u0093you\u0094 are like the crazy relatives of
\nthe Christian family.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile those outside the Christian faith and those that have recently
\nleft the faith overhear this kind of family squabbling and say, \u0093Now
\nthat’s another reason I don’t call myself a Christian!\u0094 Like Gandhi,
\nthey’re still waiting to see the Christians actually attempting to follow
\nthe Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n

So\u0085perhaps we don’t just need one week of prayer for Christian unity.
\nMaybe we could use a century <\/em> of prayer for Christian unity!<\/p>\n

Peter’s Confession <\/strong><\/p>\n

The week of prayer for Christian unity always begins
\nwith the Confession of St. Peter and concludes with the Conversion of
\nSt. Paul. It’s good to begin with Peter’s confession, because he reminds
\nus that all Christians share his confession that Jesus is the Christ.
\nJesus is what binds us together. Jesus is the Lord of the Church. Jesus
\nis the loving face of God to a Church and a world battered and torn apart
\nby disunity.<\/p>\n

Now I must say that I’m amused by the verses chosen for today’s Gospel
\nlesson. If you know the rest of Matthew 16, you know that our reading
\nonly shows Peter as Jesus‘ star pupil. Our lesson stops just before Peter
\ngoes from whiz kid to class dunce in a heartbeat. Wouldn’t it be great
\nif we could all edit our lives like that? Wouldn’t it be great if others
\nonly saw the highlights of our best moments and never those times we
\nlooked really stupid? I’m still convinced that right after showing us
\na digital replay of our stupidest moments God is going to ask us preachers
\nis, \u0093What did you say that for? What were you thinking?\u0094<\/p>\n

But today is Peter’s day. Like a classic competitor, Peter waits for
\nthe other disciples to give all the wrong answers. Then he nails it on
\nthe first take. Jesus asks, \u0093But who do you say that I am?\u0094 And Peter
\nresponds immediately, \u0093You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.\u0094<\/p>\n

He Probably Should Have Stopped Right There! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Like any professor delighted by a bright pupil, Jesus responds with
\nglowing praise, \u0093Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood
\nhas not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.\u0094<\/p>\n

Of course our Lord probably should have stopped there, but he didn’t.
\nI find Jesus‘ excitement very understandable. After all this is chapter
\n16 of Matthew’s Gospel. It’s about time that one of the disciples got
\nsomething right! Matthew has recorded a lot of Jesus‘ teaching by now.<\/p>\n

So\u0085Jesus is so pumped that Peter got it right that he begins to gush, \u0093And
\nI tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and
\nthe gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys
\nof the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound
\nin heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.\u0094<\/p>\n

You can almost see Peter visibly begin to swell up with all this high
\npraise. After all, Peter’s name means \u0093rock.\u0094 He must <\/em> be the
\nrock upon which the Church will be built. And that conviction has certainly
\nbeen cause for a great deal of disunity in the Church of Jesus Christ!
\nOne of the key stumbling blocks between major branches of Christianity
\nis the notion that valid sacraments flow from ministries that are in
\nunion with Peter’s successor \u0096 the Bishop of Rome.<\/p>\n

Jesus Is The Rock That Peter Confesses <\/strong><\/p>\n

But Peter doesn’t quite get it as will become painfully clear in verse
\n23. Peter is not the rock. Jesus is the rock, the cornerstone which the
\nbuilders rejected. Peter’s confession, that got Jesus so excited in the
\nfirst place, is that Jesus is God’s Chosen One, the only begotten Son
\nof God. The Church will be built not upon Peter but upon Jesus, the One
\nwhom Peter confessed.<\/p>\n

By himself, Peter will not be worthy to hold the keys of the kingdom
\nof heaven. Peter will certainly not be wise enough or holy enough to
\nforgive and withhold forgiveness on the basis of his own goodness. In
\nshort, Peter still doesn’t get it, and he won’t get it until sometime
\non Easter Sunday!<\/p>\n

In just a few more verses, Peter the dunce will say, \u0093You must not die,
\nJesus.\u0094 And Jesus says in return, \u0093Get behind me, Satan!\u0094 Now that’s
\nenough to puncture Peter’s newly inflated ego.<\/p>\n

There can only be forgiveness of sins in Jesus‘ name if God’s only Son,
\nthe Messiah, is crucified for the sins of the world. Jesus has to die
\nin order to make the keys to the kingdom of heaven fit the lock. Jesus
\nhas to die for Peter’s sins and for your sins and for my sins in order
\nto take away our sins and give us his own righteousness as a free gift.
\nHe is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and opens
\nthe door to Paradise!<\/p>\n

When Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, he says
\nmore than he knows. But his confession does not yet have the full force
\nof Good Friday and Easter behind it. The Church can’t yet be built, because
\nthe forgiveness of sins hasn’t yet been accomplished on Calvary’s cross.<\/p>\n

Confessing Christ <\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite Peter’s well-meaning protests, the Lord Jesus
\nwas crucified for the sins of the world and then raised from the dead
\non Easter morning. Now the keys to the kingdom work \u0096 there is forgiveness
\nof sins in the name of Jesus. His Church continues to be built upon that
\nbedrock conviction \u0096 Jesus Christ is the world’s Savior!<\/p>\n

At the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, the Risen Jesus has assembled his
\ndisciples on a mountain. There he says to them, \u0093All authority in heaven
\nand on earth has been given me, therefore go and make disciples of all
\nnations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
\nand of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded
\nyou. And I will always be with you to the end of time\u0094 (28:16-20).<\/p>\n

Baptism into Jesus‘ death and resurrection gives the assurance that
\nChrist has died for this one. Baptism means the forgiveness of sins,
\neverlasting life, and salvation from sin, death, and evil. But that’s
\nnot the end of things.<\/p>\n

In this Christian Church, day after day, we renew our Baptisms. We confess
\nour sins and are enveloped in God’s mercy. We learn to confess boldly
\nwith Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. We learn
\nto confess boldly not merely with our lips but with lives that convincingly
\ndeclare that Jesus is truly present as Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n

We Christians will probably disagree until Jesus comes on how and when
\nto baptize, on how and when to distribute the Lord’s Supper, and on who
\ndoes which ministries in Jesus‘ name. To the extent that we accent our
\ndisagreements, the world will continue to have good reasons not to join
\nin our confession of Jesus as Lord.<\/p>\n

May our prayer this week be a plea for forgiveness for making a lukewarm
\nconfession that Jesus Christ is Lord! May our prayer be that we may see
\nJesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly \u0096 day
\nby day [from the Book <\/em>of Common Prayer <\/em>]!<\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Zumwalt
\nSt. Martin’s Lutheran Church
\nAustin, Texas USA
\nszumwalt@saintmartins.org <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity When I was growing up in a small East Texas town, I often heard different versions of a joke about this guy that dies and goes to heaven. As St. Peter shows the newly departed around the heavenly city, the man hears singing coming from a building set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,727,108,110,433,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-9758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-archiv","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-16-chapter-16","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9758","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=9758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13833,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9758\/revisions\/13833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9758"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=9758"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=9758"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=9758"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=9758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}