Pentecost 12, 08/27/2017

Sermon on Matthew 16:13-20, by David H. Brooks

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi...”

The city of Caesarea Philippi itself, which had existed in various iterations from its settlement by the armies of Alexander the Great until the Middle Ages, is no more. Its ruins are now part of Banias National Park in the nation of Israel. Banias is a local pronunciation of Paneas; there once was a temple shrine to the god Pan at the site, built over a gash in the earth that had the scene of Ba’al worship long before the Hellenists arrived. Worshippers would come, enter through the temple’s front façade, and throw their offerings of sheep and goats into the yawning maw that disappeared down into the earth. An accepted offering would disappear; a rejected offering would appear all bloody and mangled in a pool at the foot of the cliff, which welled up from a spring deep in the earth. You can imagine the mess.

It is against this backdrop that Jesus words about “the gates of hell” develop a particular poignancy.

Of course, we also have Peter’s famous words: You are the messiah, the one that is anointed/selected/chosen. You are the son of the Living God. Peter’s words stand in clear contrast to what is generally said about Jesus. Many people today, to the degree that they think about Jesus, might say that he is a godly man, someone worth listening to, a good man in the manner of and after the tradition of the best that Israel’s history could offer—but not unique. There is nothing particular about him, nothing singular about him that he might call me to question my commitments or to examine my deeply held beliefs, or worse of all, to cause me to place my very life into his hands, even if it kills me.

Peter’s confession, by contrast, connects Jesus directly to God, which means—to borrow Martin Luther’s phrasing—Peter looks to Jesus for every good and sees him as the place of refuge for every need. Peter is declaring that Jesus, as Lord, is the same source of daily life as is God. Please notice that what Peter has done here—in the place where pagan temple sacrifice was being done regularly—is make an offering himself, of himself. He is doing what Paul asks us to do—be living sacrifices that are not conformed to the death-dealing wisdom of the world but rather transformed so that we can see, discern how God is at work in the world and in us.

Transformation is what must happen in our congregations day after day after day. We gather as the Church so that the implications of Jesus being Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and of us being living sacrifices can be worked out in our daily lives. We simply cannot come to worship, gather around Word and Sacrament, and then reenter the world hoping, working, living so that no one else can see that we too have confessed Jesus is Lord and Messiah.

While there may be many reasons for why the church is in crisis throughout the West, it seems that one key reason is that we insist on living a disconnect between what we say about Jesus and what we say about ourselves. Jesus may be Lord, but are we living sacrifices?

As one example, if Peter (and Luther, following him) sees Jesus as the source of every good, then we must admit that Jesus is generous, giving to us all we need for living. In particular, our Lord gives us all we need for the ministry we have been called to do. So we need to be careful whenever we say that we lack something, that we do not have enough, that the task of proclaiming the Gospel and living as if it is true will diminish us. It is dangerous to say such things, since we know that we prefer to take the things that God gives us and give them, yes, throw them into the maw of some other god, and then wonder at the messes we create. How many people, how many congregations take what God gives for mission and ministry in to other places, and then complain about our poverty and lack?

But even as we use what God gives us to sacrifice to other gods, other Lords, Jesus continues to be at work in this world, for indeed he is Messiah! And he has chosen us! He draws us to himself, he gives to us what we need. Again and again Jesus chooses—Peter who can confess in one moment and betray in another, Paul who started out by persecuting the people of God, you and me and us. And the best part is that we, as people of a choosing Messiah, have space where we can choose too. For among the other things Jesus gives is the power to bind and loose. Who is in your neighborhood that needs your presence? Who among your friends needs your witness? Who among your brothers and sisters needs your encouragement, your knowledge, your generosity? Who do you meet daily who needs your God given wisdom to point out where Jesus is at work? Where is your Caesarea Philippi that needs you to stand before the gaping maw and confess Jesus is Lord? There are so many opportunities to stand on the rock of Christ, and do not forget, when you, when we, when the Church stands on that rock the gates of hell fall into ruin! Amen.

The Rev. Dr. David H. Brooks
The Triangle Lutheran Mission, Raleigh, NC
E-Mail: Pr.Dave.Brooks@zoho.com

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