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Pentecost 15, 08/24/2008

Sermon on Matthew 16:13-20, by Jennifer Gold

¹³Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" ¹⁴And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." ¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹I 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." ²⁰Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. NRSV

GOT THE KEYS?

Keys have Power

If you have a set of keys with you this morning, I want you to take them out of your purse

or pocket. Everybody got their keys? Hold them up for me to see!

Now, if you have a set of keys, what I want you to do is to find someone around you who does NOT have a set of keys and I want you to give them yours (along with your address and license plate number).

Ready? Go!

Feeling a bit uneasy about that? I bet!

Because once someone has got your keys, they have access to your life!

Anybody had their keys stolen?

The first thing I'd do if that happened is have the locks changed on my house!

Or if you give a neighbor or someone you know, or even someone you don't know real well like a maid, keys to your house,

you are trusting that person with everything that you have!

Keys are incredibly small but they have incredible power!

And you don't give powerful keys to just anyone!

Continue to hold onto your keys as a visible reminder during the sermon.

Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

In today's gospel passage, it is the only passage in the New Testament that explicitly mentions keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus has asked the disciples who people say that he is - Jesus wants to know what people are saying about him.

And they said, "some say John the Baptist."

Now, if you'll remember John the Baptist had recently been beheaded by Herod and people thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life - even Herod himself in Mark 6 was confused by Jesus' appearance and wondered if Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead.

Some thought Jesus was Elijah or Jeremiah, prophets from the Old Testament, whom the Jews believed would appear before the Messiah came.

Then Jesus says to them, "But who do YOU say that I am?"

In this passage we hear Jesus emphatically asking a question of his disciples - asking the question of each one of us.

Who do YOU say that I am?" (pause)

And Simon Peter answers, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Here for a moment Peter gets it right - Jesus is more than a prophet, more than a great moral leader, more than an example for us to follow.

Jesus was not only the longed for Messiah, he was the Son of the Living God - the very mind and heart of God in the flesh!

And because of Simon Peter's climactic confession, Jesus blesses him, changes his name from Simon to Peter giving him a new identity as "the Rock" and then tosses him the keys to God's kingdom.

It was an amazing gesture.

You don't give powerful keys to just anyone!

Peter has been handed the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Keys that will bind and loose on earth so that, as Matthew says:

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

I've always wondered what that means. Have you?

Keys Denote Authority "to Bind and to Loose"

Peter has been handed the keys to the kingdom of heaven, but they also have been handed to you and to me.

In this gospel passage today, Jesus is conferring profound authority upon Peter, the leader of the Church, and upon other church leaders, and upon the church itself - that's means you!

You know the song:* Sing: I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together!

The keys to the kingdom of heaven denote authority, and the authority "to bind or to loose" is the task of the whole Christian community to appropriately interpret and implement Jesus' teachings.

So let us not underestimate the weight of the work we have been given -

we have power - the power to do great good,

and unfortunately, we also have the power to do great harm when we betray the power of the keys that have been placed in our hands -

keys that we use to bind and to loose on earth.

Binding and loosing is traditionally the authority that only rabbis held in Jesus' day.

In this passage today, Peter is given the authority which only rabbis held - and that was to make binding and loosing decisions in the areas of doctrine, morals and ethics.

This passage is the one that fits the image that has become a staple in our pop culture today (and is used in lots of funny jokes) and that is the image of St. Peter and his keys, standing guard at the gates of heaven.

And my concern is that this is the image that most non-church goers and some church members have of the institutional church today.

It is the image of St. Peter, the leader of the church, deciding who is locked in and who is locked out of the kingdom of heaven.

The church, as far as the world is concerned, seems to be far better at binding then at loosing.

The church is far better at creating binding doctrinal norms, morals and ethical rules that we judge are right and wrong, than we are at the setting loose of God's people for lives filled with freedom through forgiveness and mercy in the midst of a horrifically complex world.

Oh I know we cannot live in a world without doctrines and morals and ethics - I wouldn't want that.

I know we need binding rules and guidelines and laws to govern our boundless sinful passions.

But all too often the church spends so much time defending moral absolutes that we think are right and wrong in the Bible that we end up keeping people locked up (or bound) in sin because we've turned them away from the church and from God all together.

Our binding can sometimes get in the way of our loosing and it gets in the way of Jesus' mission to draw people into relationship with him by setting them free (or loose) from the power of sin through the true power of forgiveness and mercy that he has already accomplished for all people on the cross.

Giving of the Keys

In our reading today, Peter, on whose confession the church is founded, is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

But immediately, as we'll see in the reading next Sunday, immediately Peter messes up Jesus' plans because he does not understand the true nature of Jesus' mission.

Continuing on from our reading today, Jesus goes to describe his mission on earth and Peter rebukes him.

And in the span of just five verses, Peter goes from the greatest blessing in the universe to the darkest curse.

He goes from the gates of heaven to the outskirts of hell when Jesus says to him "Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block for me."

I wonder how often we, the Church, are a stumbling block for Jesus? Hmm!?

And as if that's not enough for Peter,

it was this very Peter (according to John's gospel), who could think of nothing more productive to do after encountering the risen Christ, than to return to Galilee and go back to fishing.

And then, some years later, when you would think he had finally managed to get things sorted out, and understand what Jesus' mission was really about, it was this same rock of faith Peter who received a good tongue lashing from the apostle Paul. Why?

Because Peter had withdrawn from table fellowship with fellow Christians, simply because they were Gentiles.

You see, Jesus founded the church on the back of a man who was a repeat recipient of divine mercy and forgiveness.

Someone who fell often, but who was allowed to stand again.

In other words, Jesus placed the keys to God's kingdom in the hands of someone who had as much reason as any human being who has ever walked the face of this earth, to acknowledge his radical need for God's mercy, forgiveness and grace.

The Church's Mission: The Office of the Keys

And oh, how I wish that the Church did a better job of presenting the Gospel in that way.

How I wish we did a better job at showing the world that Christ's mission was and still is, and that therefore the Church's mission always has been and still is, fundamentally a mission of divine mercy and forgiveness.

That any wisdom, any doctrine, any moral or ethical truth of which the Church might dare to boast, is grounded fully and exclusively in the truth and goodness of divine mercy and forgiveness.

The mercy and forgiveness that picks up each one of us every time we stumble or fall.

St. Augustine once said that the kingdom of Heaven will be built not from the perfection of virtue, but from the forgiveness of sins.

Traditionally, the phrase, the "office of the keys," is interpreted to be the church's authority to "declare the forgiveness of sins" after confession of sin during the worship service.

So as you hold your own set of keys in your hands, I invite you stand and to join me in the confession and forgiveness as printed in your bulletin:

Pastor: Let us pray.

God of all mercy and consolation,

come to the help of your people,

turning us from our sin

to live for you alone.

Give us the power of your Holy Spirit

that we may confess our sin,

receive your forgiveness,

and grow into the fullness

of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

All: Amen.

Pastor: Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another. (silence)

Pastor: Gracious God,

All: have mercy on us.

We confess that we have turned from you

and given ourselves into the power of sin.

We are truly sorry and humbly repent.

In your compassion forgive us our sins,

known and unknown,

things we have done and things we have failed to do.

Turn us again to you,

and uphold us by your Spirit,

so that we may live and serve you in newness of life

through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Pastor: In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us,

and for his sake God forgives us all our sins.

As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority,

I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins,

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

All: Amen.

(From Evangelical Lutheran Worship; Augsburg Fortress)

Please be seated.

This is the office of the keys.

Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."

We are sent as people bowled over by how powerful God's grace and mercy and forgiveness are for the least likely of folks, starting with Peter and continuing with us!

Got the Keys?

You know every time I leave the house, I don't know how many times I have to run back in because I forgot my keys and without them I am powerless.

Keys are incredibly small but they hold such great power.

And the keys we hold in our hands today are nothing compared to the keys Jesus tosses to Peter and to us.

Having been entrusted with the keys of the kingdom, the Church (that is us) has just one message to deliver: forgiveness available through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So for all of us, each and every time we leave this building or our homes, or any place, don't forget your keys because we are stepping out into a world that is hurting -

A world in which so many people want to know more than anything that they are forgiven by God.

As you leave from here or from anywhere, ask yourself, "Got the keys?"

The Bible says we do indeed - keys of the kingdom.

And may we use them to unlock God's grace and mercy and forgiveness to all people whom we encounter.

Amen.

Rev. Jennifer Gold
Associate Pastor, Zion Lutheran Church of Helotes
San Antonio, Texas

E-Mail: jgold@zionhelotes.org

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