Romans 12. 1-8; Matthew 16.13-20
+ “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” After Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter answers, “Messiah…Son of God,” Jesus assures his followers that no power of chaos will prevail over Jesus’ life for us. “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. This pledge from Jesus has given courage and comfort to overwhelmed, fearful, suffering Christians from the New Testament onward. These words can do the same in our own difficult times; be a source of courage, strength, and hope for our own lives of faith.
Peter is the first person in the gospel to recognize Jesus for who he is as Messiah and Son of God. Now ‘Messiah’ means ‘Anointed One.’ This title comes from the Old Testament practice of anointing kings when they ascended to the throne. And for those anointed kings, it was believed that they stood in a unique relationship to God. Some of the psalms, Psalm 2 for example, call those kings ‘sons of God.’ This is all background to the Peter’s declaration of Jesus as “Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Only what he said may not have meant what some people thought it meant. Because up to and around the time of Jesus, there was hope that one day a newly anointed leader would spearhead a movement to rescue the people of Israel from oppression and set right a world gone off the rails. Who wouldn’t want a world set right? There is a deep human instinct that wants this and it’s right to want it. In our day, this is one of just a few things we all seem to agree on: the need for a world set right. Only how to get that done? That is the question. At a time of crisis, the instinct is to look for a powerful leader to exercise every possible amount of power to shape things up. This is the way of the world. Only don’t mistake what is powerful for what is permanent.
Jesus was a very different Messiah than the messiahs of popular imagination. As Son of God, he was a healer, not a warrior; he spoke of forgiveness, not revenge; love of enemies, not hatred toward them. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus blesses the meek and said they would inherit the earth. Jesus blesses both the hungry and people who hunger to see God’s ways prevail. Jesus blesses peacemakers. These, Jesus says, are the ones through whom God is at work to make the kingdom of heaven known. And we not only see this kingdom at hand in Jesus’ ministry of teaching, forgiving, and healing, we see it in the community of people who make his life the foundation of their life: people who build hospitals and schools, who look after the poor, who establish communities of hope—this is where, how, and through whom God is at work to make the kingdom of heaven known. Now both religious and secular authorities were puzzled by Jesus. Even his disciples had a challenging time understanding his message. They argued for positions of power. Remember James and John’s request? “Grant us to sit on your right and your left when you come into your kingdom.” They were waiting for cabinet appointments in Jesus’ administration. But Jesus spoke of greatness that comes through serving others. This is how the world is set right. Peter with God-given insight, sees that Jesus’ way of forgiveness, healing, and teaching is God’s way in the world. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Peter’s declaration is the source of courage, strength, and hope for our life of faith, too. Self-serving power, whether political or personal, is provisional at best; at worst, it’s misguided. Don’t mistake what is powerful for what is permanent. This is what St Paul wants us to see in today’s reading from Romans, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice…Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, discerning the will of God.” Paul isn’t merely writing a bit of inspiring advice. He is speaking about the transforming work of God in his life and that same renewal at work in the church and in each of our lives. He’s describing a community of believers, you and me included, who, in the assurance and conviction of the Spirit, share Peter’s faith in Jesus as Messiah and the Son of God, look to Christ in hope, and are built up by Jesus through gifts of serving, teaching, supporting, generous giving, and compassion; not conformed to the ways of the world but transformed by the Spirit to follow the way of Christ. The church is made up of people who, as we look to Christ, look different than the world around us, who make his life the foundation of our life. “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” This gives confidence and assurance for us to live as Christians.
One of my favorite hymns is from the ‘Evening’ section of the hymnal: “The Day Though Gavest, Lord, Is Ended.” It’s not the most familiar hymn. Unless you come to Evensong on occasion, it doesn’t get sung—it’s for the night! But I’d like you to turn to it now; it’s hymn 24. I appreciated Brad Benton quoting a hymn a couple Sundays ago in his sermon. You know how hymns are an important part of spirituality; the words and music get in you and live inside you long after you are done singing them. No one, for example, remembers Christmas sermons but we all know Christmas carols. The last verse of hymn 24 is worth knowing. After three verses singing of how the praise of God continues even when we sleep, verse four turns to prayer. “So be it, Lord; thy throne shall never, like earth’s proud empires pass away.” That verse is nothing less than world history set to music. The most powerful human kingdoms may rise; they will also fall. Remember that when you read the headlines. Human empires appear permanent when they are at the peak of their power: Rome, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, countless other kingdoms that seemed invincible in their day. Yet each of those empires has disappeared. The kingdom and life built on Jesus Christ, however, is different. “Thy kingdom stands and grows forever.” Human kingdoms rise and fall; Christ’s kingdom transcends them all. There is no need to mistake what is powerful with what is permanent. What endures is life in Christ.
When Jesus says to Peter, “On this rock I will build my church,” the important word there is ‘I.’ Jesus is the one who builds, sustains, and preserves the church and our life in it. The church itself may experience weakness, conflict, decline, persecution, or moments when its future appears uncertain. And for each of us? We will all live through weakness, suffering, and doubts of our own. Yet none of it, in the world or in our lives, endures. “The gates of Hades” do not have the final word. Remember what Paul both asked and answered earlier in Romans, in chapter eight? What can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus…”Hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” No, Paul says, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus’ authority does not depend upon territory, wealth, political institutions, or even human allegiance. When it comes to a world set right, there is no need to mistake what is powerful with what is permanent. We belong to kingdom whose future does not depend upon the fortunes of any earthly institution, doesn’t depend even on our own good fortune. The hymn, “The Day Thou Gavest,” together with today’s gospel reading, give courage, strength, and hope for our own lives of faith because what Christ builds, in the world and in our lives, cannot be destroyed by any dark power, death included. Where Jesus is proclaimed, lived, and trusted, the doors swing open to life.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells a parable about a wise person who builds a house on rock. The rains came and storms raged, yet the house stood firm because it was built on rock. Today, Jesus is building that very house. “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Jesus builds a community of all who live in faith and make his life the foundation of their life. One of the New Testament letters written in Peter’s name describes Jesus’ death and resurrection and says, “The stone that the builders rejected as become the chief cornerstone.” Then the letter of 1st Peter invites us all to, “Come to Jesus, a living stone, chosen by God but rejected by mortals, and be built up into a spiritual house.” Your life, this congregation, and the church of every time and place are anchored and held secure in Jesus, the Messiah, the unique Son of God who is life and who gives life. When it seems like the world, or even your life, stands at the gate of hell, Christ holds you secure. Sin and evil, suffering and death, may continue to rage. Yet nothing can separate you from the love of God. Jesus’ way of forgiveness, healing, and teaching is God’s way in the world to set things right. The meek, the merciful, the peacemakers are where God’s kingdom is seen. Jesus’ way is God’s way in the world and is the foundation for the life you live. He is the source of your own courage, strength, and hope. “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” +
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