23 August 2020 Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church
Pentecost 12 Vienna, VA
“For the Life of the
World”
Text:
Matthew 16:13-20 (Romans 11:33-12:8)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
What’s in a name?
Well, apparently, a lot
these days. If you have the wrong name. School districts, counties, and states
are willing to spend millions of dollars to change the names of schools,
buildings, roads, and holidays which bear a name now deemed unworthy of such an
honor. Those names were good, apparently, at one point. But no longer. And so
they must go. Along with statues and anything else associated with them.
Perhaps some of that is
good. Perhaps some is overdone. You could argue whether the expenditure of such
money is good stewardship, or if that money could be better spent elsewhere and
in other ways. But it does point out the reality that your good name today may
not be a good name tomorrow.
Which is a good warning
for those who are trying to make a name for themselves in this world and life.
A name that might make them famous now and then live on after they die. To be
their legacy. Well, be careful. Your memory may not be what you think.
Sometimes the bad is forgotten and the good lives on. But sometimes, too, it is
the other way around.
Who do you say
that I am?
Jesus asks that question
today. But His concern is different than what’s going on today. For it is not
for Himself that Jesus is concerned that His name live on, but for you.
For there
is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved (Acts
4:12). So this confession is not just so that Jesus’ name
will live on after He dies, but so that YOU will live after YOU die. So there’s
a lot riding on His name.
And Simon replies on
behalf of all: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Now, three weeks ago, we
heard the story of when Jesus fed over 5,000 people with only five loaves of
bread and two fish. A pretty great miracle. Two weeks ago, we heard of Jesus
and Simon walking on the water, on the Sea of Galilee. Again, pretty great
stuff. And last week, Jesus answered the prayer of a Canaanite mother and freed
her daughter from demon oppression. Powerful stuff. But this today, these words
of Simon today, are a greater miracle than those. For here is not a weak heart
made strong, or an empty heart filled, or a struggling heart strengthened, but
a stoney, hard-as-granite heart, a heart born rebellious and against God,
turned into a confessing and believing heart. A miracle that happens here, too.
In you.
And this is a greater
miracle also because its result is greater. Jesus showers blessings and
miracles on all in this world and life - He continues to feed, and care, and
protect, and give life. But this miracle of confessing Jesus is not just for
this life, for a while, but for a life that will not end. A life that will last
forever.
So Simon’s confession
here isn’t something he came up with on his own, after weighing the evidence,
after careful study and reasoning - it was a miracle; the work of God in him. Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jonah! Jesus says. For flesh and blood has
not revealed this to you, - especially his own flesh and blood!
- but
my Father who is in heaven. Perhaps Jesus is referring to the
voice of the Father that spoke from heaven at Jesus’ baptism: This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased (Matthew 3:17).
Or maybe the Father working through His Word and Spirit in Simon’s heart. But
however it was given, this confession was given to Simon, as it was
given to you.
And everything rests on
this confession; on Jesus’ name. How surprised Simon must have been at Jesus’ next
words - not the ones commending him (for he really didn’t do anything!), but
expressing how powerful this name of Jesus is! That on this confession
(not on miracles!) will the church be built, and that the
gates of hell will not prevail against it. So what’s in a name? A lot!
When it’s Jesus’ name!
Which is why it is so
concerning when the name of Jesus is taken away today, or stripped of its
power. When it is said that Jesus is not the only name that saves. When
churches that used to be named after our Lord or those who confessed Him are
now given trendy names instead, like The Journey. Or when His name is
more often used in shock and pain than in confession. I often point this out to
my catechumens - that you never hear the names of other gods used this way. No
one ever hits their thumb with a hammer and then cries out “Oh Buddha!” or “Oh
Allah!” Only Jesus Christ. Why is that? It’s the only name satan cares about.
The only name that saves. And so the only name he wants to rob of it’s special
character and power.
A similar problem is when
the name of Jesus is kept, but His Son of God-ness is taken away. Like in these
iconoclastic days, when you can have Jesus as long as He is the right kind of
Jesus - as long as He is depicted as the right color, or nationality, or He
teaches what I want Him to teach, or agrees with my way of thinking, or isn’t
too exclusive. And this is not just a problem for “them, out there,” you know,
the unbelievers. How easy it is for us, too, to ignore those parts of Scripture
we don’t like. To hold onto our sins, to continue in them and not confess them
and stop them. To make Jesus into how WE want Him to be. Satan is the master of
a million tricks and will use them all on you. Count on it.
So that you’re here
today, confessing with Simon today, really is a miracle. Not something that you
can take credit for, but the work of God in you, too. Jesus building His
Church.
Which He does through the
Office of the Keys. That’s what Jesus said to Simon, playing with Simon’s new
name, Peter. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I
will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And
then Jesus tells him how: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
So Simon the Peter,
along with the others who confess Jesus the Christ, will, by this petering,
by this confessing, bind and loose. And just as their petering, the
confessing of the apostles, was not something they did, but a miracle, the work
of God in them, so too will be the petering, the confessing, of others
be not because of them, but the work of God through His Word which the apostles
will speak. As they speak the Law of God, binding and uncovering and
exposing sin and unbelief. And as they speak the Gospel, as they speak
Jesus, loosing and forgiving that sin.
The disease is diagnosed, the medicine is applied, and peters,
confessors, are created.
Which is what happened to
you. To you the Christ was petered, confessed, and now from
you the Christ is petered, confessed. Or maybe we could say re-peted!
You speak what was spoken to you. Give what has been given to you. And as Jesus
has been spoken to you, poured out on you, and fed to you, He has worked in
your heart, that you believe and confess His name. And with that name, not even
the gates of hell hold any fear for you. For with that name, your
name is written in the book of life.
Now at the end of the
reading today, Jesus tells the twelve not to tell anyone that He is the
Christ. Not yet, anyway. They haven’t yet been sent to do so.
And Jesus is still on His way to the cross. For it is there that He needs to be
seen as the Christ - not in His miracles. Not in the Feeding of the 5,000, not
in walking on the water, not in expelling demons, nor in any other miracle -
but on the cross. Miracles are great, but they cannot save. Only the one on the
cross can do that. Only the one who dies and rises can do that. Only the one
who says “Father, forgive them” can do that. And so Jesus will. He will be the
Christ, there. And we are peters when we see and confess Him there.
And then we have a name that will live forever, for we have His
name, given to us.
And that name we then peter,
confess, not only with our lips, but with our lives. Living sacrifices,
is how Paul put it. Not just speaking, but living, our confession. Living in
forgiveness by forgiving others. Living as if we really believe that death
cannot end our life. Living in the confidence that the gates of hell hold no
power over us. Living in the knowledge that the name we bear is greater than
anything this world can give us. And living in the freedom that all that
brings. That come what may, while you and your name may be nothing in the eyes
of the world, you are precious in the sight of God.
And that’s all in the
name you bear and confess.
So what’s in a name?
Well, everything! When that name is Jesus.
So as you petered
Him in the Creed, and as you peter Him in your lives, so now peter
Him as you come to His table. For as the apostle Paul told us, as often as
you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He
comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). His death for
you. His death for the world. That His Name live on for the life of
the world.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+)
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.