11. Sunday after Pentecost, 08/28/2011

Sermon on Matthew 16:21-28, by Carl Voges

The Passage

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'

Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.'" [English Standard Version]

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." [Romans 12.9-11]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord

The six months of the Pentecost season can often lull the Lord's baptized people into thinking that its Sundays are no longer reflecting the high impact of the Trinity's Life that is so prominent in the other six months of the Church Year. Such thinking is not fully accurate, though, because the Pentecost Sundays continue to have the high impact of Lord's actions through his Scriptures (from where his Word emerges) along with the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Supper.

This impact is vital because we continue to make our way through a world that is shot through with its ceaseless anxieties and fears choking us. The relationships in and between the Middle Eastern countries are getting more and more unstable, various commentators are analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the American presidency, and economic experts are wrestling with debt, unemployment and currencies.

But here we are, in the Sunday Liturgy, recognizing again that there is only one life that is sustaining our own, the Life of our crucified and resurrected Lord. This Life comes roaring in on us through today's Gospel.

Last Sunday we were confronted with the question of who the Son of Man is. We were

answered with the recognition that he is the Rescuer of the world's people from sin, Satan and death. Today's Gospel unpacks that rescue.

There are three sections to this passage with the third one dominating because it focuses on the Lord's Cross. The first section shows how the Cross works as the rescue begins. The second section shows the world's natural resistance to the Cross. The third section shows the Cross being laid over, through and into our lives.

In the first section the rescue begins with Jesus showing his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders (those who handled the legal and administrative business in the local synagogues)and the chief priests (those who led all the worship in the Jerusalem temple) and the scribes (those who were the professional interpreters of the Law). Following that suffering, Jesus states that he will be killed and on the third day be raised.

In the second section we see Peter's rebuke of Jesus' words. While the rebuke is surprising because of Peter's recognition last Sunday of who Jesus is, in a way it is not surprising because the rebuke reveals how deeply imbedded Peter and we are in this world's life.

We may think that Jesus' response to Peter is harsh, but it is accurate. When we look at things only from the perspective of the world's life, we have to recognize that Satan is the creator and sustainer of that life. Looking at things only from the world's perspective will block Jesus' rescue of its people because they won't see it.

In the third section we see Jesus' Cross being laid over, through and into our lives. He states clearly what it takes to be one of his followers. It involves the denial of self (this has us turning against the life given us at birth). It includes the taking up of the Cross (this has us receiving the Life given at Baptism). It stirs us to follow him (this has us slipping into the ways of Lord rather than the ways of world).

To encourage us further to be one of his followers, Jesus makes two observations and poses two questions. First, the observations:

[1] If a person wants to save his or her life, they have to lose it (contrast that with the world where grasping is the way to salvation).

[2] If person loses his or her life for Christ's sake, they will find it (contrast that with the world where we will consider losing our lives but only if it benefits our own).

Second, the questions:

[1] What is the advantage if you gain the whole world, but lose your life? (year after year we have examples of people who made quite an impact, but then had their lives crash).

[2] What can you give in return for your life? (possibly a six-figure insurance policy or the amount of income generated in a lifetime?)

Following these observations and questions, Jesus presses the encouragement to be one of his followers. In a shadowy way he points to his coming in the emerging resurrection

and ascension as well as to his return at the End-of-Time. Remember that the phrase, "Son of Man," is a reference to the promised Messiah who will rescue the world's people by plunging into their affliction and suffering.

Jesus' coming will spell out the responsibility of people - those who remain committed to themselves will live with that, eternally, and it will be hell! Those who remain committed to him will live like that, eternally, and it will be heaven! Then, in a less shadowy way, Jesus points to his approaching crucifixion and ascension, events which will occur before any of his disciples die.

How do the three sections of this passage affect our lives today, this week? When was our Lord's Cross first laid over our lives? It was traced on our bodies at Baptism. This tracing was not done because a Lutheran worship committee back in the 1800s thought it would be a nice-looking ritual. It was done because, in those holy moments, the person being traced was dying to the world's life and was being raised to Christ's Life. That's why we see the baptized today, in worship, re-tracing the Cross from head to chest, from shoulder to shoulder, not rapidly and thoughtlessly, but deliberately and thankfully.

The world, which prides itself on reality television shows and attractive people who apparently have nothing but emptiness within them, hoots and howls at such a tracing. The world claims the tracing shows no sense, no hope, no power. The baptized, however, recognize the world is dead wrong in that claim.

The baptized are brought to see that the Cross is the ultimate strength, the ultimate hope and the ultimate sense of the world's people. When the Cross traces over our bodies, it reminds us that our pride (we love it dearly), our arrogance (we delight in displaying it), our concern (we rejoice in showing extraordinary depth of compassion for ourselves), is being obliterated by the anger of the Lord God.

When the Cross traces over our bodies, it hushes the world which is so used to talking with and about itself. When the Cross traces over our bodies, it crushes all the gods that the world produces and maintains. When the Cross traces over our bodies, it carries us to center of all the affliction and suffering generated by the world's life.

In all this tracing, the Cross grasps us with the Lord's rising. The Cross draws us into a whole new way of living, a living for Christ and for one another. The Cross frees us to live in the world without being owned and trapped by it. The Cross causes us to realize that the brightness and blessing in our lives is not the result of our doing, but it is the result of the Lord's doing. All this occurs when the Son's Cross is traced over our bodies.

Before we leave this Gospel, though, there is one more thing. There are significant numbers of people in this world who have been struck with severe ailments. Their medical staffs have determined that patterning is the best way to help them. This patterning, which is very basic (they are the actions we take for granted because they are so instinctive), requires huge amounts of time and energy and patience so ailing people can have a good chance of regaining former skills.

If we do that in world, then isn't it even more compelling and demanding that the baptized trace the Cross of their Lord over and over again on their bodies? For it is the Life from that Cross which rescues us now and reaches on into eternity. May our Lord pattern us into that Life so we can always remain imbedded in it!

Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord.

Pr. Carl Voges
Columbia, SC
E-Mail: cavoges@bellsouth.net

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