Brad
Sullivan
Proper
16, Year A
August
27, 2017
Emmanuel,
Houston
Matthew
16:13-20
Sure,
You’re The Messiah, But…
Some of y’all may not be aware of this, but children often
don’t do what their parents say.
Sometimes they simply want to do their own thing, and sometimes it seems
like they’re just pretty sure their parents have no idea what they’re talking
about. We’ve got this great picture of
Noah when he’s a few days old in which his expression clearly states, “I get
that you love me and all, but I’m not sure I trust this situation all that
well; you seem to have no idea what you’re doing.” To be fair, at the time, he was kinda
right. Since then, of course, there has
never been any doubt in our children’s minds that we’ve got it all
together.
This idea of children not really trusting that their parents
know what they are talking about pretty well illustrates Peter’s and the
disciples rather regular response to Jesus.
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked, and Peter answered, “You’re the
messiah, the Son of God, but…” Ok, Peter
didn’t actually say “but” anything. Immediately
after his declaration that Jesus is the messiah, however, Peter told Jesus he
obviously didn’t know what he’s doing.
As we’ll hear next week, Peter didn’t like what Jesus had to say in
predicting his own arrest and crucifixion, and we hear in Peter’s response to
Jesus an unspoken, “Well sure, you’re the messiah, Jesus, but you obviously
don’t know what you’re talking about.
You may be the Son of God, and all, but right now you need to listen to
me. ”
“Sure you’re the messiah, but…” has turned out to be a common
refrain in the church. Like children who
aren’t really sure their parents have any idea what they’re talking about,
disciples of Jesus often seem to think that Jesus had it about as together as
the first time parents of a newborn. I’m
talking about ways we behave and even lessons we teach which seem to counter
the claim that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God.
Here are some things we’ve done or said, or at least heard
of Christians doing and saying:
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but praying
for our enemies doesn’t seem to keep us as safe as we’d like, so we think we should
fight them first and only pray for them afterwards…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but my eyes
are just fine, log or no, and I can spot other people’s sins quite well, thank
you very much…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but we should
only let certain people be a part of the church. Jesus may have wanted all who travail and are
heavy laden to come to him, but we say only those whose lifestyles aren’t too
objectionable (or who at least are quiet about it) because we think his grace should
only be poured out for those whom we deem appropriate…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but contra
his teaching in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, having enough to
eat is only appropriate for those who have worked enough to deserve having
enough to eat. Those with more than
enough shouldn’t share with those reprobates, they should get a job…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but we don’t
want to wait for God to sort out who the evil ones are at the end of the age,
and we certainly don’t want all of us to grow together. We think God is taking too long, and we want
to kill off the ones we deem to be evil right now, or at least keep them far,
far away from us…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but taking up
a cross, and risking death for the sake of love and peace in the world just
isn’t working for me. I’d rather live
with the assurance of eternal life and not worry about too much sacrifice in
this world…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but reconciliation
is too hard. I’d rather say I’ve
forgiven them, really hold a grudge, and let God work out the details…
-
Jesus may be the messiah, but his
rebuke of the Pharisees was really way out of bounds; purity tests required for
being Jesus’ disciples is a good thing, that way we can keep out those whom we
feel are icky…
We probably wouldn’t claim that Jesus actually taught any of
what I just said, but those are ways that are often lived out in the
church. There are many ways teachings
which seem like wisdom but which rather counter to Jesus’ teachings. We’re like kids who aren’t doing what our parents
say. We’re usually not trying to be
openly defiant or rebellious. We just
keep thinking that the supposed wisdom right in front of us is going to work
out better or be an easier path than the way of Jesus…if we even think about it
much at all. That’s kinda been our M.O.
since the Garden of Eden.
I’m pretty sure Jesus is expecting that we’ll mess up in
fact he’s certain of it, otherwise we wouldn’t need a messiah. At the same time, accepting that Jesus is the messiah, the
Son of God, is meant to be a game changer for us. Like Peter, we’re going to mess up, a lot,
and we’re also meant to constantly learn from
Jesus, learn from our mistakes, and assume Jesus really did know what he
was talking about.
We’re not going to be perfect. We’re going to mess up, a lot, and that’s why
grace is so fantastic. Grace to say, I
love you and you are forgiven. Again, our
need for grace is why need a messiah in the first place. Our challenge is to take seriously our need
for a messiah and to take seriously the way and teachings of that messiah, and
when we don’t follow his ways, we should claim that as our failing, not twist
his teachings to suit our ways.
Killing another, for example, should not be considered the
way of Jesus, but rather a failing on our part to follow in Jesus’ way. We may be justified in killing someone to
protect the lives of others. I still
don’t believe killing another is the way of Jesus. That’s when we repent, lay our sins at his
feet, and ask forgiveness, rather than twist Jesus’ teachings to say we were
following him well.
There’s been a lot of debate over the last decade about who
is acceptable in the church and who is acceptable in the leadership of the
church. Folks on all sides of these
questions have been looking to the teachings of Jesus to guide their beliefs
and have come to different conclusions.
That’s part of our life together as we muddle through as best we
can. That’s part of the way of Jesus,
that we strive together. Unfortunately,
some have decided to push out those who they feel are wrong. Some have decided to push out those whose
beliefs of lifestyles they deem to be wrong.
Such forcing out of the other is not the way of Jesus, and if we’re
truly going to believe that Jesus is the messiah, we need to repent of these
actions, lay our sins at his feet, and ask forgiveness, rather than twist
Jesus’ teachings to say we were following him well.
Everyone needs grace.
Everyone needs forgiveness.
Everyone needs to be able to come to Jesus, learn from him, and be in
communion with him. Everyone needs the
messiah, the Son of God. Peter’s
declaration that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God tells us that we are also
God’s children. Jesus was human, brother
to us all, and we were all made in God’s image, made as his children. Like children who are sometimes not all that
great at listening to our parents, we are all brothers and sisters together,
and we are all at times not that great at listening to Jesus. We often say, “Sure, you’re the messiah,
but…”
“Sure, you’re the messiah, Jesus, but”… that’s why we need a
messiah. “Sure, you’re the messiah,
Jesus, but”…that’s why God gave us a messiah .
Despite our many protestations to the contrary, God loves us like any
good parent loves their children.
Despite our many instances of assuming God has no idea what he’s doing,
God looks at us and says, “my beloved.”
Despite the many times that we refuse to love and forgive each other,
God looks as us in our weakness and gives us grace, gives us forgiveness, gives
us a messiah, his Son, Jesus.
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