Sermon prepared for
by Gregory S. Kaurin, associate pastor
Morning Promise Services,
Text: Matthew 16:21-25
Sermon:
He Did It God’s Way
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Last
week, we read the scene that happens right before our gospel lesson. Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say
that I am?” and Peter answered with conviction, “You are the Messiah, the Son
of the Living God.” And for that
wonderful bold declaration Jesus blessed Peter, told him that the voice of God
had just spoken through him, and that upon Peter’s witness, Jesus would build
the church. Jesus finished in the 20th
verse by ordering the disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah. Our gospel lesson today started with the 21st
verse.
Maybe
a few of you are like me and have wondered why Jesus made such a big deal about
it, and then told them to keep it mum. I
have often assumed that—since this was near the height of Jesus’ ministry, when
big crowds were following him—Jesus was afraid that the people would misunderstand
what he meant by Messiah, and just as some would try to do when he rode into
Jerusalem, that they would try to push him into a political or a military
figurehead (not that you could push Jesus into anything).
But
I suddenly realized the other day that I’ve been thinking too hard. The answer is probably right here in today’s
text. Jesus didn’t want the disciples
telling other people, because the disciples themselves didn’t understand what it
meant! He needed to teach them what
being the Messiah was about before they started blabbing it to everyone they
met. That became even more obvious when
Peter literally dragged Jesus aside, almost like he was dragging his suicidal
friend from the cliffside: “No, Jesus,
heaven forbid it! That can never happen
to you!”
Jesus’
answer sounds harsh, like he was calling Peter, “Satan.” Moments before Jesus had blessed Peter and
said that God had spoken through him. Peter
was the voice of Father, now he was the voice of Satan. The name Satan means, “Adversary,” Jesus
adversary. It wasn’t so much that Jesus was
calling Peter the devil. In fact—while
there was fear and shortsightedness that lead Peter to say what he did—I think
there was also honest love and concern. This
is what we would all say to a dear friend who was saying things like that. “I’m going to suffer and die.” “No.
Not you! I won’t let that happen
to you! Come back from that edge.”
The
real problem was that, through Peter, Jesus was hearing his old Adversary’s
voice. “Jesus, you don’t need to do it
this way! Turn back from suffering and
the cross! Take power. Rule these kingdoms!” It’s similar to that time that the devil took
him to the pinnacle, showed him the nations, and said, “You can rule all this
if you just turn aside from God.”
But
just as Jesus pushed the devil’s temptations aside when he was alone with him
in wilderness 40 days and nights, he turns him away again. I really thing that Jesus more angry at the
temptation than at Peter himself, and Jesus was saying, “No, I will not set my
vision on human ways, but on God’s way.
I’m going to do this God’s way.”
Jesus
was also speaking to Peter and to us. And
he went on to command us to follow God’s way, to pick up our cross and follow. —On that point, I do want to be clear that it
was Jesus sacrifice on the cross that brought salvation: we’re not called to
seek suffering and death just to earn our place beside him. That’s not what he meant by picking up our
cross.
Let
me tell you what I find wrong with the martyr complex. There are people who seem to wallow and feel
more righteous or important through their suffering, and people who seem to
almost seek hardship and struggle just to feel more significant, by staying in
crisis mode. The problem with the martyr
complex is that it’s almost as if some people feel that Jesus didn’t really do
a good enough job, or that they want to somehow earn a piece of that saintly
place beside him.
To
me, that is still focusing on the earthly things, not heavenly. Yes, we are all going to have our ups and
downs, challenges. We may be called into
risk for the sake of loving God and neighbor, but the key in this cross-bearing
life is to hold onto an over-riding sense of peace and assurance. Through it all, we can do it, we can risk, and
we can cry when it’s sad, laugh when it’s funny and keep moving on, with
whatever cross it is, because we are at peace.
Christ’s
sacrifice was strong enough. God’s claim
on us will not be revoked. The mark of
our Baptism is written with God’s permanent ink. We are survivors, who can rise from
everything with smiles on our faces, who take delight in helping lift and care
for God’s creation, because we know that we are okay, eternally okay. You do not need a martyr complex to be a
servant of God. Personally, I think we
could develop an entire Christian theology on God’s command to rejoice.
I
also think one of the early church fathers, Origen in 3rd or 4th
Century, hit on an idea that is really insightful. Origen felt that
Jesus also said, “Get behind me,” to mean, “I must lead, Peter, where God will
take us. You cannot lead and take me
where you want to go.”
This
is the insight that catches us. I can’t
tell you the number of times that I’ve wanted to take Christ where I wanted,
the number of times I’ve wanted to make God be the way I wanted. The fact that God must lead leaves us with
two challenges: 1) with regard to our relationship with God, and 2) our
relationship with each other.
1)
Our relationship to God: If God must
lead, then you and I must hold on! Trust!
God is much more able to handle some of the stuff that is thrown at
us. You will hear people say that God
doesn’t give us more than we can handle.
People say that’s Biblical, because you can find it in the Bible. I think people are partially right. I think it fits the message of the Bible even
better to say that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle …with his help,
and the help we receive from him through our families, friends and other all
the miraculous gifts of each other. God
doesn’t give us more than we can handle with his help.
2)
Our relationship to other people: If we are to follow God, if we are to imitate
him, then we need to throw our mercy wide, forgiveness wide just like he has. We must believe that God truly did look out
over a crowd of people and forgive their utter blindness, because we all depend
on that kind of mercy.
What
matters to God is not the way we conquer the world with our Christianity. (That’s not the way Jesus chose, and it’s not
the way he’s going to let us drag him).
What matters to God is how we spread his love, how we live to lift up
others. “Pick up your cross,” he said, “Do
my work. My burden is light.” In fact it will lift you up…Jesus is already
there with you, carrying it. He leads
the way, with a mercy and grace no less powerful than the awesome pillar of
fire and clouds that lead Moses and
There
is an awesome untouchable part of God that is called mystery. It’s powerful. And it’s not just the judgmental, stern side
of God. In fact, I think it’s the grace
side of God that I find even more incomprehensible and out of control. There’s a great old song. The first line says, “There’s a wideness in
God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.”
It makes him unpredictable and uncontrollable. And we depend on that, we need him to love
and forgive us more than we do ourselves!
…just as we depended on Jesus to lead the way, and to do things God’s
way—all for the love of his people. We
are called to do it God’s way. Amen.
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