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Festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, 06/29/2014
Sermon on Matthew 16:13-20, by Andrew Smith
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for the sermon today is from Matthew's Gospel.
People have been confused about who Jesus really is ever since he was born and the confusion has never lessened. In the reading for today Jesus attempts to clarify for his disciples' sake, just who he is. "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Who do people today say that Jesus is? Some say a great prophet, like Moses or even Jeremiah. Some say a guru and put him in with Gandhi. Still others would say a teacher and lump him in with Socrates. And some would call him a revolutionary and put him in with the likes of Marx, a sort of Galilean Che Guevara. There was confusion in Jesus' own day and there is still confusion about him today.
Today is one of those days in the Church when we celebrate the clarity of Jesus' message to his disciples seen particularly in Peter's confession of who Jesus is and in Paul's insistence on the truth of the Gospel message. I'm happy that in our Lutheran circles we have begun to restore the more important festivals to our calendar. Especially on otherwise green Sundays, it's good to take a break from the Sundays after Pentecost rotation and celebrate a festival and in my opinion this one could not have come at a better time. A few years ago, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a report which surveyed the US religious landscape and as a Christian preacher the news shocked me. I wasn't surprised shocked. I was sort of sick shocked. For those of you who didn't hear about this report, the major finding was that most Americans agree with the statement that many religions-not just their own-can lead to eternal life. Now, that didn't shock me until I found out the definition of "most Americans." These were people with a religious affiliation. There were only 2 religious groups where there was even a majority that their religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life, and no one of them wasn't Lutheran. The two were the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. There weren't even 51 percent of Lutherans who thought Jesus was the only way to heaven. That was shocking to me. Jesus is asking his disciples the question that the Pew Forum asked their survey participants. "Who do you say that Jesus is?" I'm glad that the clarity of Jesus message to his disciples is clear especially today in Peter's confession and Paul's teaching.
Contrary to the opinions of the majority of American Christians, dear brothers and sisters, your answer to the above question matters. Just as Jesus asked his disciples while they were still up in Galilee before they went down into Judea and before things started getting really dicey with the ruling religious establishment, Jesus asks you his disciples within the relative safety of the walls of this church, "But you, who do you say that I am?" We can have no other answer than Peter's answer to this question because no other answer to this question is the saving Gospel. If Jesus is just a teacher, prophet or guru and goes to the cross, he's dead. He had a nice run, but that's it. We can study what he said and try to live a better life and be nicer to each other but that's it. There is no other answer because Peter declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" Peter's confession has nothing in common with these lesser statements about Jesus. Peter's Jesus asks us to believe in who he is because that is vitally important for what is about to happen next. In the very next lines, Jesus announces he "must go to and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." It is important that Peter gets it right who Jesus is. Who Jesus is gives the content and meaning for what he does in Jerusalem. He will die on the cross as the Son of the Living God not as a guru or revolutionary. Jesus must do what God never asked of John the Baptist, or Elijah or even Jeremiah. Jesus is going to the cross to die for the sin of the world so it is vital that we have the correct answer to his question, "Who do you say that I am?" because that answer matters on a cosmic scale.
Our church believes, teaches and confesses that God sent Jesus and no one else to Jerusalem to die for the sins of the whole world. Now, I want this message to be heard within the right context. I am not one of those fire breathing preachers gleefully consigning to the fires of hell all those non-Lutheran or even non-Christian folks out there. You can get to heaven without being a Lutheran. Of course, when we all get there, we'll all be Lutheran. But seriously, we teach that even among heterodox churches, that is, churches that don't teach the pure doctrine of Christianity, that there are true believers. We might even admit that there are some people among non-Christian groups who don't really agree with the teachings of their own faith tradition and do believe in Jesus as their Savior in the same way that we do and even those folks would be saved. But let me be perfectly clear that we believe, teach and confess that it is nowhere revealed by God that he has made other plans for the salvation of the world than through his own Son, Jesus Christ. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Peter was certain about his answer to Jesus and so must we. That is why we have put so much effort into missionary work especially in Africa, Asia, and in the Middle East. That is why we are evangelizing here in our own community because we honestly believe that God sent Jesus and no one else to Jerusalem to die for the sins of the whole world.
Our little church must seem like a strange little group amidst the rest of the people in our society. We still believe that words mean what they say and we say what we mean. In our churches, when people join, they take a solemn oath before God and the assembly that they will not depart from this Lutheran confession of faith even upon threat or pain of death. I've been thinking about this rather a lot recently because of the recent confirmations and baptisms, and the new members who've joined our congregation over the past few weeks. Over the years, I've met a number of people who told me they never wanted to force "religion" on their children so they never had them baptized. I'm not sure if it's really fair to ask 13-year olds to make the level of commitment we do at confirmation and I often wonder if it's fair to ask older adults to do it too. The more people fall away from our churches the more I wonder if those people have any idea of the depth of commitment they are taking on when they speak oaths like these. In our society oaths are just words, they don't really mean anything. "to love and to cherish, till death do us part," "I, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of The United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" "I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America," I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord." "Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, father than fall away from it? I do, by the grace of God." Just words? I hope not. And yet we sin daily, falling away from our confession in the blink of a television commercial or however long it takes for the computer to load another web page of celebrity gossip or filthy smut. Peter was certain in his answer and he fell away almost in the same breath so we are in very good company. Our church must look strange indeed to outsiders for whom words are just talk and Christians are just hypocrites.
But in Peter's confession, is the Gospel truth of who Jesus is. "And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." You see these are not mere words! These are the words of the living voice of God! When we speak these words, it is God who is speaking in our midst in our world, in our world, to us. These words are what make us the church; these words are our confession. When we say, our churches believe, teach, and confess this we're using language from our Lutheran Confessions. This past Wednesday was the 484th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession in 1530. It would do us all well to make such commemorations more visible. One thing comes out clearly in the preface of the Augsburg Confession. This was not Luther's document, this was the document of the German electors, the princes. They were ready to put their names on the line for the sake of this document of their confession. They were ready to go toe-to-toe with the Holy Roman Emperor and stake the rulership of their lands on this confession of the Gospel. We believe that this confession of Jesus is truly the living voice of God. Peter's confession is the Gospel truth of who Jesus is, the Son of the living God come so save sinners from their sin.
The confession of the Gospel is the foundation of the Christian Church. "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." A lot of folks fuss that we Lutherans are not with the times. Words don't mean anything. What we do is what counts. Deeds not creeds, they urge to us. Our creed is Jesus' deed. Oh, make no mistake, I agree that deeds are very important, even necessary, because the Church is to go out and be about the destruction of the prison of death and hell but all that we do is merely the continuation of what Christ has already done and completed at the cross. By his dying he destroyed death and by his resurrection he overcame the power of hell. For years, I had this little passage backwards. It isn't hell that is attacking the gate of the church. No! Dear friends in Christ, it is the Church of Jesus Christ which goes forth; the Church is on the offensive! It is the gates of hell that will not stand before our onslaught! Don't confuse what looks to be the passive death of a lowly Jewish peasant preacher as a Roman rebel. Jesus is the Son of the living God! By his death he destroyed the place of death, hell itself. Our confession of what Jesus has already done is the bedrock of Christian church.
This confession is what Peter and Paul handed on to those who heard their preaching and wanted to become Christians. Together with the whole Christian Church on earth, we give thanks to God for Peter and Paul through whom God revealed the truth-the saving and cross-shaped truth-of the Gospel that all people are saved from their sin on account of Jesus Christ. We know there need be no more confusion about who Jesus is. I pray that we might be a witness to the truth of the Gospel to all those who do not know God through Jesus and to those whose foundations have been weakened by the weakening of their confession of Jesus through fear of death or accommodation to our culture. These are not just words. Jesus is the Son of the Living God come to save sinners. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.