Sermon for August 23, 2020

 

August 23, 2020                                Sermon                Matthew 16:13-20

                I would like us to think of the gospel in a new way this morning.  Think of it like an action movie.  In an action movie, the bad guys carry the plot.  What are the good guys there to do?  Stop the bad guys.  The course of the movie is the plan being uncovered, the bad guys carrying out the steps of the plan, and the good guys trying to catch up, the race to the finish line where there is the climactic battle and the good guys win.  Then there is that moment where one particular hero is singled out, “Well, he/she is the only one who can stop them now.” 

                Consider what we have shared from Matthew over the course of the last weeks.  Jesus walked on water.  He demonstrated he is here for the world, not just the Jews.  He fed five thousand men, plus women and children.  He healed the sick that were brought to him.  He equipped the disciples with the same divine powers he had.  He’s been preaching about things like the Pearl of Great Price.  And now he has just been identified as the Messiah.

                Picture the gospel as an action movie being shown to Satan and his minions.  They think they are in charge of the world.  Then Jesus shows up, with a plan to disrupt things completely.  They use the Pharisees to try and stop the plans, they see the things Jesus is doing, preaching and doing miracles, showing the power of Good.  There is going to be a showdown.  But here is that moment, when Jesus is not simply the Son of Man, but revealed to be the Messiah.  “Well, he is the only one that can stop them now.” 

                What is a driving force in a good action movie?  It is the race against hopelessness, if the heroes fail, all is lost.  They are the last hope.  Flip that for the gospel.  All was hopelessness, but Jesus comes as the new hope.  What Jesus has been preaching, where Jesus has been applying the power of God, the plan that He is unfolding, is all designed to restore hope. 

                In the human action movie, the question is “Who can truly stand up to this evil mastermind?”  In the gospel, the question is “Who can truly stand up to Most Evil One?”  This is an AHA moment, when we find out.  What are the options?  Jesus starts there.  “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  The disciples respond: "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

                These are all powerful answers.  We know that John the Baptist was recently executed by Herod, that led to the feeding of the multitude and walking on water.  But it is a tribute to the power of his ministry that people would believe that he had actually escaped death, or maybe even overcome it, due to the power he carried as the Lord’s servant.    

                What about Elijah?  He was the most powerful prophets in the history of the Old Testament.  Ever passed by Zaraphath on 287?  Or listen to the Radio station?  Drawn from the life of Elijah and his working with the widow of Zaraphath.  Or Elijah versus the four hundred prophets of Baal?  Or how many other stories?  He shows up in 1 Kings 17 and his story stretches into 2 Kings and beyond.  The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, also references Elijah’s return in chapter 4.

                It was prophesied that Elijah was going to return.  This is because of how his life concluded.  The Bible records he did not die, but was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot.  The expectation, the legend was that he would return.  And so he did, but not in Jesus, but in the person of John the Baptist.

                Another possibility was Jeremiah.  Political and religious conflicts surrounded his life, as outlined in his book in the Old Testament.  I would commend it to you as a powerful read.  I would be happy to help answer questions you might have.  He is a figure of great power.   

                Finally, Jesus could be ‘one of the prophets’.  Could have been any of them, but one is spoken of in particular.  In Deuteronomy 18:15, God speaks of raising up a new particular prophet “like Moses”, the founding father of the Israelites in a future time of need of the people.  For us, it would the promise of George Washington coming back to fix things, with Hamilton by his side. 

                That is what the people are saying.  They have heard Jesus, they have seen Jesus, they have received the miracles of Jesus, they know this “Son of Man” is something powerful.  So this is how they are trying to understand it.  But then Jesus pushes the disciples to put it all together.  Take what the people say, take what you all have seen and heard.  Then, “But who do you say that I am?”

                Can you imagine the wheels turning?  Is this a test? Multiple Choice?  Choose one: A is John, B is Elijah, C is Jeremiah, D is Other…, E is All of The Above...  Always hated “All of the above”.  It is Peter who  decides this is NOT multiple choice, but short answer, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

                In the action movie, this would be the moment when it is revealed what Harry Potter is THE one who will defeat Voldemort.  It is the moment in the Lord of the Rings when Aragorn is revealed to be the King of Gondor.  This is when the legend is fulfilled and King Arthur rises up to rescue Britain in her hour of greatest need.  This is the moment when the disciples put together all the parts they have been exposed to through the previous chapters, and they put it together.  Jesus is the Messiah, the one who has come to save the world.

I imagine Jesus getting that ‘proud parent’ look when they put it together.  The disciples were not as dense as he feared.  Of all the expectations of the Old Testament, they have figured out that the greatest promise, that of a Messiah to save Israel, is fulfilled in Jesus.    

                And Jesus blesses them through Peter, laying two very important charges upon him.  First, Peter will be the Rock on which Jesus will build his church.  Anyone picturing Dwayne Johnson?  Is that a bad pun?  Well, Jesus started it.  Peter means “rock” in Greek.  Second, Peter will have the keys to the kingdom.  What he binds on earth will be bound in heaven and vice versa.  That is why the Vatican flag has crossed keys on it, as Peter was declared the first pope.  It is also why so many leaders of the church presume this gives them permission to judge others.  They see themselves as Peter’s heirs. 

                But that is a whole other sermon.

                So here’s the pivotal moment.  The world is dominated by evil and the Messiah is revealed.  From here, Jesus takes the journey that will lead to his death upon the cross.  In fact, the next verses in Matthew 16 have the disciples reacting angrily as Jesus lays out the how the Final Work of the Messiah will play out.  But the journey of the Messiah does not end at the cross, but on Easter Monday, when he rises from the dead, total victory won over all the powers of Sin and Death and Hell.  

                I love this passage because it is a reminder of what it is all for.  It is a reminder of why we are a church, of why we believe in Jesus, in why we seek to live our lives as Christians.  We are in the midst of this pandemic and we are opening the sanctuary for the first time since this began and it is fitting that we are reminded that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and nothing less.  

                It is so necessary to remember Jesus as Messiah because too many want to water down the power of the Son of God.  He was a ‘great teacher’.  He is an example of ‘ethics and love’.  He is a Great Man, but just a man.  Or there are harsher messages, like “God is dead”, or God is weak, or God doesn’t care.  That is not the truth.     

                The truth in Song of Solomon 8:6 tells us, “love is strong as death”.  The Truth in the Messiah tells us that love is stronger than death.

                Take the measure of any problem in the world, line it up against the power of God, and success is assured.  Two examples from the headlines.  This pandemic will be overcome because the loving power of God is inspiring people to take the steps needed to be victorious.  And it would go so much faster if those people who keep obstructing the process would get with God and the program.  The Black Lives Matter movement is going to stride powerfully against racism in this nation because the loving power of God who has created us as God’s Children and the sure and certain knowledge that humans are NOT color-coded in heaven.  And while we should now that the loving power of God is enough to overcome all, how quickly do we forget and get bogged down in the sins of the world?

                I am going to be privileged to lead worship and share this sermon in the church because of the power of God over the pandemic.  I have been privileged to lead worship and share sermons virtually because of the power of God within the pandemic. 

                This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is what it means that Jesus is not simply the Son of Man, but the Son of the Living God.  This is the moment to be grabbed and held onto when things seem to be falling apart.  I will be honest, I don’t know what the pandemic is going to bring.  We may be bounced out of here once again.  But it is not going to stop us because the power of God cannot be stopped.  

                Right now, we live with the consequences of sin running the world.  Bad things happen to good people, to everyone.  It is so awful so much of the time.   But the power of the gospel story is it shows us how Jesus builds up, point upon point, what the plan of God, what the power of God, what the victory of God is going to look like.  Each piece of it, every miracle, every parable, every teaching, every healing, every prayer, every argument with the leadership of the time, every question he puts to the disciples, every moment go into building up what the victory of God over sin is going to look like and going to accomplish. 

                Follow the gospel story, through Holy Week, Jesus’ death and resurrection, and BOOM, victory is attained.  We see the results at Pentecost, when the power of Jesus enters into each disciple through the Holy Spirit, which is a promise for every Christian, that the power of Jesus enters into each of us as well, through that Spirit.  It gives us not only the strength to survive, but to thrive in a world of sin.  In the action movie, there is that scene where the good guys look like they are going to give up, that things are impossible, the bad guys are just too strong.  Those moments occur in life, when it feels like things are just too heavy or too dark or too much to bear, remembering that Jesus is Messiah, that Jesus’ presence had a plan and brings us victory, I pray we be refreshed in the sure and certain knowledge that Jesus overcame the sin that dominates the world and brings in the true power of love that conquers all.

Amen.