Readings
Isaiah 51:1-6
Psalm 138
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
Having a teenager learn to drive is a terrifying experience. But not just from sitting in the passenger seat praying that you don’t get in an accident. That part, hopefully, passes quickly. But even as their ability grows there is a general uneasiness that comes with letting someone not yet an adult get behind the wheel of a ton of steel that can go a hundred miles an hour and loosing them on the world. Do they have the maturity to handle such responsibility? Do they have the wisdom? Are they ready for not only the privileges, but the responsibilities as well?
Today’s Gospel story echoes a similar theme. In it Jesus, after a lengthy period of public ministry, asks his disciples who people think he is. The response is that most, if not all, think he is the return of some prophet or another. Jesus then asks them who they think he is and, before anyone else can respond, Peter pipes up and says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then says that such a declaration is a gift from God and gives him the name of Peter and tells him that upon “this rock I will build my church.” After that we are told that the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church and that whatever is bound on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Now how exactly does the idea of teenagers driving and this story of Jesus’ and Peter connect?
Well in more ways than we might expect. Peter, as we know from scripture, is presented as something of a buffoon. He often engages his mouth before his mind. He is quick to leap before he looks. He by all accounts seems to be one of the most foolish and fallible of Jesus’ inner circle. And yet he is elevated and given authority. He is told that it is upon him that the church will be built. And it is to him that the keys to the kingdom of Heaven are given.
What are we to make of such a story? How is it that Peter is honored in such a way?
In the end it all comes down to his confession of who Jesus is. It is Peter’s faith and nothing else that Jesus responds to. Peter is not honored for his wisdom, maturity, or ability. No, it is his faithfulness; his openness to the revelation of God, that is at the heart of the matter.
Peter, like Abraham before him, is a rock out of which generations will be hewn. And like Abraham it is faithfulness that is at the heart of the matter. Peter put his trust in Jesus. Peter saw in Jesus not simply that he was a gifted teacher or miracle worker. Peter saw in Jesus that he was God’s anointed one, that he bore the attributes of God. It took a leap of faith to get there, and Peter was willing to make it.
And Jesus makes it clear that it is from such faithfulness, such a rock, that the community of the faithful will be built. And that this community will have the authority to unlock for others the kingdom of God. It is from such faithfulness that not even death itself will prevail. It is from such faithfulness that the fullness of God’s love, mercy, and steadfastness will be known.
That’s what all that imagery points to by the way. When Jesus speaks of the keys to the kingdom he is not talking about keys to the pearly gates. He is speaking metaphorically about the kingdom he has been proclaiming and he is speaking about making it available to all. And when he speaks of the gates of Hades not prevailing against the Church, he is talking about death not having dominion over us. And finally, when he speaks of binding and loosing he is using an ancient rabbinical idiom to talk about the authority to teach the fullness of God’s message and God’s intention for humanity.
And all of this is given to Peter and, by extension, to us. We are called to share in the faith that Peter had. We are called to authentically pursue our relationship with Christ, to proclaim him as God’s anointed and one in whom the fullness of God resides. And we are to be a people of faithfulness and love. When we do so we then have the ability to speak into the world with authenticity and impact. We become a people upon whom the community of the faithful is built. We become partners with Christ, ushering in the kingdom he proclaims.
But there are many who despair in our age about the status of the Church. All around us we see decline in membership and an increasing sense among the population of, at best, our irrelevance and, at worst, our hypocrisy.
I believe that some of that perception is well deserved. The Church at large has been wracked with scandal after scandal. We have seen issues like child abuse and financial misconduct exposed in the highest ranks of our institutions. We have seen moral turpitude swept under the carpet. And we need not look far to see messages of hate or intolerance come from our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need not look too far, either, to see the ways in which we tilt at one another within the Church jockeying for a superior position.
And as Episcopalians, we are quick to point our fingers when we see such behaviors around us, trying to distance ourselves from the shame. We lament the “broad brush” with which we get painted. But none of us have clean hands. We too have dirty laundry, and we too succumb to a sense of superiority.
But remember that the community of faith is not built up simply because of our skill, maturity, wisdom, or strength. If we are to be the community of faith to which Jesus points in today’s Gospel then we will do so because of our faith and our faithfulness.
Each of us must wrestle with what it means to claim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. Each of us must wrestle with what it means for us to affirm him as “the son of the living God.” And then we must boldly and without shame be prepared to let it shape our lives and our very selves.
In order for the Church to be the church we must resort to a radical authenticity bound up in the person of Jesus and the Christ he embodies. We must get out of the habit of taking our comfort in the trappings of our faith and instead do so with the God who loves us and was incarnated into the world.
Don’t get me wrong. Scripture, worship, sacraments, music, the Prayer Book, prayer, and meditation are all good things and necessary to the journey of faith. But in the end it is Christ upon whom we must cling, and it is Christ who we must confess.
Such authenticity will transform each of us in ways that we cannot imagine. By confessing and holding fast to Christ we will become agents of restoration and reconciliation. And the Church? The Church, both as a community and as an institution, will become one way in which God will make real the full redemption of creation. Through the Church (meaning all of us together) lives will be transformed, hearts turned, and the world made a place of blessing.
Maybe we’re all still teenagers learning to drive? Except the vehicle we’ve been called to steer is the Church. Trusting in the love and support of God, may we have the faith to cling to Christ and may we confess him as the one in whom God is embodied both today and always.