The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 24, 2014
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
St. John’s Church, Kingsville
The Rev’d Timothy E. Kroh
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s Gospel is about Jesus and Peter, so it’s really about Jesus and us. Peter is every disciple as much as Peter is also
Peter. So often the character of St. Peter in the Gospels has been over-simplified. In truth, Peter’s is a deeply complex
character, heroic but flawed, who gets some things right and not others, who aims to serve and follow Jesus but doesn’t
really “get” the truth about Jesus until after Christ’s death and resurrection.
And yet, this is the one whom Christ renames Peter, the rock on which Christ will establish his congregation.
Only two weeks ago, we read the story St. Peter walking on the water; a story often used as an occasion to criticize Peter
for doubting when in the story, Jesus is pointing out at least as much that Peter did have a little faith, Jesus is inviting
Peter to deepen it. Today this invitation comes to fruition.
After they travel through some foreign territories, Jesus and the disciples find themselves closer to home, in the RomanJewish region of Ceserea Philippi. Jesus begins to cross-question the disciples about the public opinion. “Who do people
say that I am?”
Disciples rattle off the possibilities. “And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’” But then Jesus increases the stakes of the answer, saying, "But who do you say that I
am?" Peter impetuously answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
The gentle scold of the previous episode when Peter sinks into the Sea of Galilee is completely changed to an act of praise
and blessing. Jesus says, “"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
Father in heaven. And 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.”
Jesus tells Simon that he is blessed, because no human revealed this truth to him but only God the Father. And Jesus gives
him a new name: Peter. A new name symbolizes a new identity, and certainly Peter has that: he is no longer primarily
identified in the old way, as Simon son of Jonah, but as Peter, the rock on whom Christ will form the Church. The name
‘Peter’ and the Greek word for ‘rock’ are similar, and the name is a play on words or a nickname; something along the
lines of, “Now you’re called Rocky, and on this rock I’ll establish my congregation.”
Once Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah, he becomes a rock on which the Church will be established. But Jesus doesn’t
end there. Jesus goes on to make some extraordinary claims about good old Rocky, which are even more extraordinary to
we who know the extent of Peter’s later failings.
Jesus says: “I 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."
Jesus gives Peter a share in the divine authority. Poor, bumbling Peter, who is too thick to understand the full implications
of Jesus and his mission as Messiah. Poor Peter, thick as a rock, who on the night before the crucifixion cuts off the high
priest’s slave’s ear because he still doesn’t understand that the Messiah is not a military conqueror. Poor rocky Peter, who
denies Jesus three times as Jesus sits in prison waiting to be executed. This Simon Peter, this rocky disciple, becomes a
sharer in the divine authority, simply because he had the faith to recognize the Christ and to proclaim him before others.
Peter holds the keys of the kingdom, and it is in this way that he is depicted in the window on west wall of our beautiful
church. As Peter holds the keys, so do we.
The central Christian claim about the universe is that it is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus reveals the true identity
and purpose of God. In this Gospel, Jesus is challenging his disciples: "Who do people say that I am?" And we have a
variety of answers, but the one Jesus values is the one from Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
And Peter was right. The words were right. But then Jesus asks him to tell no one. Why? Why does Jesus silence a
perfectly good answer? And, Jesus will do it again as the Gospel continues toward the life-giving events of Christ’s death
and resurrection. Jesus will tell some people to keep quiet, and to tell no one that he is the Christ; while other people—
seemingly insignificant people like the Syro-Phonecian woman with the tormented daughter and the Samaritan woman at
the well—receive the plain truth. Biblical scholars call this the Messianic Secret, and it’s been a puzzle in every
generation.
There are a lot of possible reasons for keeping the Messianic Secret. Perhaps Jesus wants individuals to decide for
themselves? Perhaps Jesus is just trying to buy time for more public ministry, before the inevitable? There are a lot of
other possibilities for the Messianic Secret, as well. It's a puzzle, to be sure, but I think it suggests that you can say the
right theological words, but that doesn't guarantee you have the right theological content, because after you say the words,
you then have to understand the meaning of them. Anyone can say Jesus is the Christ. That's easy. But following Jesus as
people in the world is a lot more challenging.
And Peter will definitely learn that as his life and ministry with Jesus continues. But we’ll get there next week. For now,
Jesus rewards Peter for his proclamation in three ways: (1) he says that Peter is blessed, (2) he gives him a new identity
and a name, (3) he gives Peter a mission: to share in the divine authority and participate God’s work.
As I mentioned, next week, in the very same episode, things will do very differently, and the one whom Jesus gives this
authority will be rebuked for presuming that this Messiah will conform to peter’s narrow view of him. But we’ll get there
next week. For now, Peter has been blessed, Peter has been given a new identity, and Peter has been commissioned for
ministry.
We are given the same gifts as Peter. Each one of us is called out by Jesus and commissioned to share in his kingdom. In
baptism, each one of us receives a blessing, is given a new identity, and given the authority to participate in God’s
redeeming work. We don’t always get it right. Sometimes we have great “successes” (at least in the world’s terms) and
other times, not so much. Like Peter, sometimes we even have dark moments of denial; or doubt like Thomas; or sorrow,
like the woman disciples who stayed with Jesus at the foot of the cross.
And it’s not a question of achieving “success” as disciples—we will have our share of ups and downs. It’s a matter of
following in the footsteps of Jesus. St. Paul describes this in the Epistle, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,
by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship.”
What does it mean to be a “living sacrifice?” It means living our lives like Jesus lives his earthly life. Jesus offered
himself to the people—he preached good news to the poor and shared miraculously bountiful food with them. Jesus
offered his life to others, through his preaching, through his healing and compassion, through his live and his insistence to
see each person as a beloved child of God. We are meant to do the same. Jesus was also a literal and an ultimate
sacrifice—on the cross. We may not be asked to forfeit our lives in this way, but we are asked to lay down our lives and
offer them to the mission and life of Christ.
We are meant to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. When we recognize Jesus as the Christ as Peter did, we
are invited into God’s mission like Peter, and this gives both blessings and challenges. We have the joy of service, and the
challenge of figuring out who Christ really is for us, and who we are for Christ; that is, how Christ wishes us to present
ourselves as a living sacrifice, to share in Christ’s ministry as his baptized people. Living this way is a daily blessing and a
daily challenge. It is a blessing to know what we are sharer in the divine life, sharers in the divine mission to bring God’s
love into every mind and heart, to be people of peace and forgiveness and joy. It is a challenge to know that we won’t
always get it right, and that Jesus is always gently but firmly challenging us to follow him. But also like Peter, we know
what Christ loves us, makes us his own, and will never abandon us.
These are the blessing and challenge of discipleship, and although it is not easy, it is the only path to true joy and freedom.
We have all laid claim to this path in our baptism, and we have all likewise promised to live according to Christ’s
example. Like Peter, the rocky disciple, we are useful to God not because we are perfect, but because God reveals God’s
glory through us. Like Peter, Christ’s children in Holy Baptism receive a blessing, a new identity, and a mission. We have
become rocks on which Christ establishes his congregation. Each one of us is a living stone, part of the temple which
Christ has built his on earth: his own Body, the Church.
In this way we have also been given the audacious commission Jesus gave to Peter. We also hold the keys to God’s
kingdom. What we do with them is up to us. So thanks be to God that when we step forward in faith, recognizing that
Jesus is the Christ, we know what whether we have “success” or “failure” we are united to Jesus with a bond that can
never, ever be broken; we know that we are part of his living and glorified Body for ever; and that our inheritance will be
in God’s kingdom. By God’s Grace, the keys are already in our hands!
Amen.