Psalm 105.1-6; Matthew 16.21-28
Last Sunday, Jesus asked the disciples about the latest scuttlebutt, the news of the day, the talk of the town.
There was plenty … some thought Jesus might be John the Baptist, back from the dead … others thought Jesus might be Elijah or Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets …
Some folks thought he was too casual with the rules and regulations … others wanted him to offer proof, a sign, that he was from God.
Who is Jesus? we asked last week, and it’s still the question.
And what does it mean to follow him?
These are pertinent questions … especially in our time, when fundamentalist christianity has pretty much taken center stage - claiming to have the inside track on God’s will and purpose …
Fundamentalists of various sorts:
~ denounce civil rights for gays and lesbians …
~ denounce women’s rights for health care and employment … many fundamentalists believe a woman’s place is in the home, and nowhere else …
~ fundamentalists want to transform our public schools into extensions of the church … and not just any church, but their kind of church … a church that ignores science and denies history.
~ fundamentalists of various sorts oppose birth control … some claim that all pregnancies, even those of a rape, are a gift from God … and should never be terminated …
~ many fundamentalists are devoted to guns … with pictures of Jesus carrying an AR-15 …
~ some even quote Hitler …
~ many are openly antisemitic, anti-Asian … some now claim slavery wasn’t so bad after all … the white man rescued black people from the spiritual darkness of Africa, and gave them Christianity, and taught them trades.
Who is Jesus?
There’s plenty of claims for who he is …
Which one shall we follow?
And what, then, is the gospel?
What are the “glad tidings” announced by the angels?
Jesus says to the disciples, If anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ - do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Someone might say to me, “Well, Eggebeen, how do you know? Maybe you’re wrong, and they’re right.”
Let me ask you:
Do we live in a world where every thing could be true, where every claim has merit, where every assertion of truth is of equal standing with every other such claim?
Do words mean anything at all?
Let me put this way: Was Hitler right?
To hate the Jews.
To hate the Slavs.
To hate gays and lesbians.
You may not like what Hitler stood for, what he did, but how do you know he was wrong?
Are there no standards in this life?
Are there no means by which we can discern what’s good and right and beautiful?
Has God been silent?
Is there no word from the LORD?
This much I know: God is too good and too kind to lay it all out for us … to write it in the sky, with miracles and signs … so that we could stop thinking, and just believe, with blind faith, which isn’t faith at all, at least not as God intends.
God seeks our engagement, not the surrender of our minds, but to use our minds, our intellect, our emotions, our ability to consider the options and make some choices.
Jesus did not turn stones into bread … Jesus did not jump from the pinnacle of the Temple … Jesus did not bow down to power and domination …
What he says, what he does, is all about freedom and honor and respect and kindness and mercy …
The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables …
Jesus helps people regain themselves, their purpose, their dignity … Jesus welcomes the children, the Canaanite Woman, the two demoniacs raging in the cemetery … the paralyzed man … Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners … across the land, across the sea, Jesus seeks the lost and the lonely … Jesus welcomes those whom others have deemed “unacceptable” … Jesus speaks tenderly to the lost to the broken, Jesus touches the leper the deaf and the blind …
Jesus says: Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Who is Jesus?
Peter answers correctly, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
You’re right Peter … what you have said comes from the heart of God, my Father in heaven. You are right, says Jesus.
But don’t tell anyone … not now … you’ll have to wait.
Wait until what?
Until you see the suffering and sorrow of Jerusalem … until you come face to face with your failure … your cowardice … your foolishness …
Wait, until Judas sells his soul for thirty pieces of silver … wait - until the sham trial and the crucifixion … wait - until all the disciples turn tail and run away, in fear and confusion … wait, until I’m dead and buried, and all hope is lost.
Until all of this is completed … my journey into death, my descent into hell, and then, and only then, the resurrections.
This is the hardest work God has ever undertaken … creation was a breeze compared to taking on the sins of the world.
In Noah’s time, God made the world pay for its sins, and it didn’t work very well … but in the cradle of Bethlehem, God is born into the flesh, as one of us … as one of us, God takes up the cross of our sin, all the sin and sins of the world … to find a way through the deadly things of life, hatred, pride, fear, laziness, lies, greed, the power and glory of domination, to show us the real power, the real glory, of God’s love and mercy.
Peter doesn’t get it!
And maybe we don’t either.
Peter wanted none of the cost for the cross.
He wanted the peace of God, but not the price.
Peter didn’t want Jesus to suffer, because Peter didn’t want to suffer, and who does?
Peter scolds Jesus … Jesus, in turn, tells Peter, Go to hell … you’re doing Satan’s work … you’re a stumbling block to me … you’ve set you mind, not on divine things, but human things.
There have been times when it was easier to be a Christian … there have been times when it’s been hard to be a Christian … when faith in Christ potentially meant death.
We’re in a strange in-between time … it’s difficult to sort it out … but here in this place, where the Tower still stands, we set our minds and hearts on Christ … as best we can, with the resources at our disposal …
When carefully done, when prayerfully done … the Spirit of God is present, guiding us to the heart of Christ.
And so I believe, so I know:
Hitler was wrong.
White Christian Nationalism is wrong.
A preacher prancing on the platform, waving a Bible and holding an AR-15, is wrong.
Those who disrupt city council meetings, school boards and library associations, with outlandish claims are wrong.
Those who shout, “The sky is falling” with regard to election fraud and immigrants are wrong.
Those who use race and religion, gender and orientation, to divide the nation, are wrong.
Peter was wrong, when he wanted Christ without the cross.
Because of Christ and his cross:
I honor the Constitution and our Democracy as the best environment for people of faith, all faiths.
I believe in the Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I believe America is at its best when it welcomes everyone.
I believe the church is at its best when the doors are wide open.
I know we’re not perfect … God has not yet worked out all the angles of redemption and love for us to see … we see through a glass darkly … there remains much work to be done … there is a cross waiting for each one of us, the cross of discipleship, the cross of care and kindness, the cross of justice and peace.
Jesus still invites us to be more than we are, the Holy Spirit still moves the human heart, the Love of God is at work, in all things, for good.
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Holy God, of creation and cross,
deliver us this day from falsehood and fear.
Clear our eyes to see the truth.
Empower our will to choose the best.
The living truth of Christ our LORD.
Amen and Amen!
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