12 Pentecost/Proper 16/Ordinary 21 Year A August 27, 2017
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Hutson
Exodus 1: 8-2:10 + Psalm 124 + Roans 12: 1-8 + Matthew 16: 13-20
Grace and peace to you from God who creates us, Jesus who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who comforts and sustains us. Amen.
Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Jesus asks the disciples. Apparently there’s been some confusion. Some said he was John the Baptist, others said he was Elijah and others said Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
But make no mistake. Who we are matters. Our names matter, to be sure. Names are our earliest identifiers. If we don’t know someone’s name we cannot call to them or call on them. Knowing one another’s names helps us as community forms. Vicar Laura is still learning our names, which is why we are encouraged to wear our name tags. Names can change, which is further evidence of their significance. One of my seminary classmates changed her name to Imani, which means Faith. To be honest, even though she didn’t change her name until our second year of seminary, I don’t recall what her original name was; Imani just suits her. It’s who she is.
There are other identifiers that sometimes go along with our names. I am Pastor Julie. I’m your pastor, here in this place. My children grew up trusting Dr. Brad, who could make almost any illness better. My grandmother is forever my Nanny.
And names identify groups of people as well. For example, we are Lutherans…but we are Christians first. But Lutheran Christians. Most of us in this room are Twelves as we cheer on the Seahawks.
Our names and the names by which we identify create a fairly powerful descriptor of who we are. I am Pastor Julie, Mom, Jewels, Bama Fan, Lutheran, Disciple of the risen Christ. This is who I am.
After the disciples tell Jesus who he is rumored to be….Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, a prophet….he turns and asks them a pivotal question: “But who do YOU say that I am?”
Who do we say Jesus is? We’ll get to Peter’s answer eventually, but the questions for us today have to be: Who do WE say that Jesus is and what difference does it make in our lives and for the sake of the world?
Peter answers the question in a way that Jesus affirms. Peter says “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus blesses Peter and tells him that it is on him, Peter, that the Church will be built. That’s no small thing. And Jesus goes on to introduce and confer upon Peter what is known in the larger Church as the Office of the Keys. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
We don’t talk much about this in the life of the church, even though it’s something straight from Jesus’ mouth to Peter’s ears. But in these days when so many people take a portion of Scripture and beat their sisters and brothers over the head with it….this is important to parse out. Peter is instructed to consider tradition and law and whether what it puts forth is unbearable or whether it is life giving. In such cases that it is unbearable, where humanity is made less, where the dignity of people is not respected….then Peter is free to loosen that tradition or law. And when there are laws and traditions that prove to be life giving and sustaining to community, Peter is free to bind them into the life of the community.
Because in spite of what some will tell you, the Bible contradicts itself all over the place and it contains some laws and traditions that are no longer life giving. Laws and traditions that are no longer helpful, that no longer sustain community. The tradition of stoning disobedient children comes to mind. Polygamy. Slavery. The subservient role of women. All of those were tradition and law in antiquity and none of those are helpful today. They oppress others. They do not respect the dignity of the other.
Scripture is a living, breathing story. It is not God. But it is the story of God and God’s people.
And so, when we ordain pastors…when Vicar Michael is ordained in a few months and hopefully, when Vicar Laura is ordained in a few years….we remind them that the office of the keys is likewise given to them. This interpretive move toward justice, this call to truth telling is entrusted to them.
And remember, we are Lutherans, so we say that all believers have this call….to find the justice seeking way, to act accordingly, so that our families, our communities, our nation, and our world become a place of peace for all people.
Because let’s face it…our names are only a part of who we are. How we treat the poor, it is said, tells more about who we are than the name we are given. How we work for justice, freedom, and peace says more than any title. What we bind and what we loose tells the story of who we believe Jesus to be.
In the reading from Exodus today, we have the story of a terrible time in a nation’s history. It is a story that begins when one people oppresses another. The Egyptians became ruthless in their oppression of the Israelites. So ruthless that the King, whose power has gone unchecked until now, commands that all the male children be killed. Eventually he is outsmarted by two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. Their quick thinking means that some baby boys live, including one baby boy named Moses.
We don’t hear much about Shiphrah and Puah or about Moses’ mother for that matter, who floated Moses down the river, or his sister, who kept watch over him. They are the true heroes. They risk the wrath of the unjust King….they risk their very lives….they risk it all….doing the right thing.
It is absolutely true that we are living in one of the most divisive times in our nation’s history. People are polarized; families are divided; friendships have been the casualty. And we mourn that brokenness.
But beloved community, mourning over brokenness does not mean we can ignore injustice. It does not mean we can tolerate racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and misogyny. And here’s why. Because we come to this place and we stand and say that we believe in Jesus Christ. Every week we gather in this place and say that our faith, our beliefs, and our hope is in this Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And this makes it impossible….or it should make it impossible….for us to remain silent in the face of evil.
We, the followers of the risen Christ, said at our baptisms and we say at every baptism that we witness that we renounce the forces of evil that defy God. We say it! We declare together “I renounce them.” Following Jesus has transformed us, as Paul writes in today’s letter to the believers in Rome. “Do not be conformed to this world,” Paul writes….”but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Beloved children of God….the hatred and evil of the exclusion of some because of their sexuality or gender or skin color or nationality, the willingness to overlook the deeds of those who have committed nefarious acts…..this is not what is good and acceptable and perfect. The profiling of people based on the color of their skin or their heritage or their sexuality or their economic status is not good and acceptable and perfect.
Those of us who claim Disciple of Jesus Christ as a part of our name must not and cannot remain silent in the face of behavior that binds the community in sin. We are called to stand for the oppressed and marginalized. We must say that our transgendered siblings have as much right to serve this country as any other person. Perhaps, like Shiphrah and Puah and the mother and sister of Moses we will have to find creative ways to thwart the spread of hatred and stem the transgression of intolerance.
It may very well cost us….our relationships or our opportunity or a dream that we had. But we will not lose hope. The transformed people of God know that, like Israel, the Lord is on the side of right. When the times are dark and despair seems all around us, we have hope. Because we are named, each one of us, children of God…followers of the Messiah, the son of the living God.
Thanks be to God. And let the Church say…Amen.