I really struggled to write this sermon this week. I would write a sentence or two only to go back and erase it. I think this was happening for several reasons. One, this isn’t as difficult of a Gospel passage today, but it is one where is gets really easy for me to lost in the academic side trails, which are sometimes fun and mostly confusing to follow. Two is that the story that kept popping up in my brain as I tried to write this was one that I didn’t feel ready to preach about because my anger would get in the way. In case you’re curious, look up what is happening with the Spanish Women’s National Soccer team and the Spanish Federation, but I have to warn you that you might get angry too. It’s a good example of people trying to say who other people are and aren’t. And, third, these Scripture passages today mark my first full completion of a 3-year lectionary cycle, since these were the readings I had for my first week of preaching on internship. Now, we don’t always remember our good sermons, but I can guarantee you that I can remember all of the feedback from that first sermon and it kept getting in my head as I tried to write this one today; it’s how I know all my academic side trails get difficult to follow. But, nonetheless, I’m going to give this one my best shot.
Have you ever wondered what other people thought about you? How would someone else describe you? This can be both a terrifying question to ask, but can also help to highlight those incredible qualities we have that others see but that we struggle to see in ourselves. When I was in Resident’s Life training in college, we did this activity where we had to tape a piece of paper to our backs and others went around anonymously writing something they appreciated about us. It was beautiful to see what other people had to say. It’s an activity that I highly recommend. And, this is the direction Jesus takes in today’s Gospel.
‘What do people say about who the Chosen One is?’ (Matthew 16:13) Now, I also have to admit that my brain has a hard time hearing “Chosen One” and not jumping straight to Harry Potter, but I promise I’ll stick with Jesus’ story here. And, this is an interesting question by Jesus. He doesn’t come straight out and say, “hi, it’s me, I’ve been with you all along.” Instead, he has the disciples truly think about what they are hearing said about who the Messiah is. I wonder how Jesus felt hearing those responses too. Was he glad that the word about him hadn’t gotten out or was he a little annoyed that even with all the work he had been doing people still thought it was Elijah or John the Baptist?
And then we get to Peter and his response to a similar yet completely different question. “‘And you,’ [Jesus] said, ‘who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘the Firstborn of the Living God’” (Matthew 16: 17). Our translation gets a little bit fancier, but Peter is proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who was promised. Jesus seems to help guide them to that answer, asking first about who the Messiah is and then about who he is. But, we have Peter, the one who doubts and questions, who literally just fell into a lake during a storm because he doubted, now staning before Jesus proclaiming who he is. A little side note is that I wonder if any of the other disciples answered too and their answers were so wrong they just didn’t put them in Scripture or if I just happen to think that would be a great comedy sketch. Either way, Peter stands there knowing who Jesus is, and it will continue to change things for the disciples, especially Peter. As he is the one on whom Christ is to build his community (Matthew 16: 18).
This last part of that verse though, that the “jaws of death will not prevail against [Christ’s community] has some interesting ways that it impacts the story and our world today. It matters because Caesarea Philippi not only is the springs for one of the rivers that feeds that Jordan River, but it was also a worship site for the god Pan and there is an incredibly large cave there which has received the name “The gates of hell.” It is here, in the shadow of the gates of hell that Jesus tells Peter that death will not prevail against this community. Even in the face of some great challenges, death will not prevail. Although I have to say that the sermons we heard while visiting Caesarea Philippi were a lot more fire and brimstone than what Jesus is proclaiming here.
I want to jump back for a second too this this idea of the “jaws of death not prevailing against [Christ’s community]” because I think it has at times made the church too afraid to change. It’s been interpreted as “the church isn’t going to die,” which can lead people to think that everything can stay exactly the same. In an era of church closures across denominations, this has been an incredibly difficult notion to wrestle with. Because of course we do not want churches to close, and sometimes other ministries begin in their place that would not have existed otherwise. I don’t think Jesus is telling the disciples that the church is going to remain the same forever, but instead that as long as it is continually grounded in who Christ is, it will stand.
So who is Christ for us today? We hear the disciples trying to answer this question, but I would encourage you to spend some time thinking about who Jesus is to you. It’s a question they ask us over and over again in our candidacy essays and interviews, and it’s a response that I have read many times in my own classes I teach. Grounded in your own experience in worship and with God, as well as Scripture and the traditions of the church, who do you say that Jesus is? And what does that mean for you?
Now, I’m not saying that this is an easy question to answer, as myself and my students know since it was always the essay people had to rewrite the most. But it helps us to think about why it is so important that we gather as a community on Sunday mornings. When other people are having brunch or watching Seahawks games in a few weeks, why does it matter that we still show up to worship together? Why does it matter that we proclaim to be Christ’s church?
I’ll leave you with this story of the one time in the last year Emily actually thought I was funny. Because we were driving somewhere downtown when a man was standing on a streetcorner with a large sign that said “who is Jesus to you?” I was in a sassy mood that morning and I just straight-faced said, “my boss.” While that isn’t how I would respond in most situations, it’s still a story we laugh about frequently in our house. So, who is Jesus to you?