|Home| |Pericope Studies|
PERICOPE STUDY
CENTER FOR THEOLOGY, LRC
The Confession of St. Peter - January 18, 2004
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:13-19
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets?" "And what about you?" he asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind one earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
1 During one of the panel-discussion periods of last October's Aquinas/Luther Conference, "On the Unity of the Church," Dr. George Forell remarked, with no little passion, to the effect that the Lutheran Church has forgotten the Law and we do not know Jesus. (The quote is available on tape through Center for Theology). Forell went on to describe how we do not preach the Law as well as the Gospel. When you do not preach or understand the Law, the Gospel is eroded of its power. It becomes meaningless. It becomes candy and ice cream. And we do not know Jesus. The Age of Pluralism makes Jesus one among many possibilities for worship and devotion, for life and salvation. We do not know Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We do not know Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We do not preach the Law as well as the Gospel. We do not know Jesus.
2 Early on, his disciples did not "know Jesus." In St. Mark, especially, the twelve are portrayed as unsure, if however curious, as to "who he was." In the incident of the storm on the sea of Galilee, when after being asleep in the stern he quieted the storm with a word, they wondered - "Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him"? (St. Mark 4:35-41) And, whether they "knew" him or not, there were still some of them unsure, even on the mountain of the Ascension: "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted." (St. Matthew 28:16) Is doubting the resurrection - to say nothing of doubting also their eyes, as to the sight - also doubting Jesus? As to the kerygma and its content, yes. Did they "know" him?
3 Reductionists and dissenters we have, like the poor, always with us. The DaVinci Code is newly in the popular vein what the Jesus Seminar is still attempting in scholarship. Successors to Reimarus and David Strauss, who were themselves successors to the Gnostics and the Ebionites. Jesus and the Magdalene were married, or co-habiting around Galilee (DaVinci). The gospels are not reliable as to their inclusion of material (Jesus Seminar). The gospels portray a Jesus of miracles, themselves acts of bogus authenticity not subject to replication (Reimarus and Strauss). Jesus was, however much he appeared otherwise, not truly human … because humanity is, among several other things, flesh … and flesh is of the material world and therefore decays … which no self-respecting God would deign to join … therefore, no genuine incarnation … Jesus was God in human form only, not participating in human nature (Gnostics). Jesus, as Messiah, was anointed by God (see, the Baptism of Jesus), designated to the role. He was a man, as are all other men, but special endowed with the power of God (Ebionites, Paul of Samosata).
4 Are the detractors and reductionists, however scholarly or ignorant, yet the match for the pluralists and multi-culturalists, as to their impact? The religious pluralists see Jesus as one of several, if not many, avenues of "salvation." Never mind the claims to "go into all the world." Never mind the catholicity of the church. Never mind Peter's confession. Never mind "no one cometh to the Father but by me." Forell's complaint challenges the current blanket "toleration" of the intrinsic legitimacy of the claims of any and all religions, exclusive only of those that practice animal sacrifice or indulge in overt embrace of evil. For this blanket toleration, Jesus is one avenue among many to the embrace of God. Human religious yearning takes many forms and, across time, has produced many formalized cultural expressions (religions). All of which must be not only respected, as to origins and practice, but also as to truth claims. Because, in this reading, truth has not so much an assertion or discovery of content as a fervent devotion, a disposition of loyalty based on cultural and familial nurture. Your truth is not my truth, but it is nonetheless a good truth. All religious truths share in the legitimacy of faith expression, because all stem from human yearning and all yearn for the God who is beyond all human religious imagination. And that includes belief in Jesus Christ!
5 Not that tolerance in itself is other than a good thing. Long ago the ancient Israelites understood, from God, that they were to destroy vestiges of worship to other, local Canaanite gods. And to execute the devotees, if necessary. A grisly and bloody enterprise, and thus were they bloodied. The historical yield of that conflict exists still, in intifada and suicide bombings. Not to be culturally or religiously outdone by the Near East, Europe also ran its course through religious strife, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. But so far from religious oppression have we come - and rightly so, as to destruction and execution - that we now (even in the church, in places here and there) question the assertion that "no one cometh to the Father than by me."
6 Toleration is much to be preferred to murder, persecution or scorn. But does toleration understood as pluralism require that Jesus take His place in Maimonides' heaven as one room in the mansion? As St. Paul put it, about another matter, "(we) did not so learn Christ." However much St. Paul and St. Peter may have disagreed about the role of gentiles in the nascent church, and thus debated the catholicity of the faith, they were not far apart on who is Jesus Christ! Peter's confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi was, according to the apostolic evangelical narrative, a breakthrough as to understanding and commitment. Again, according to the record, Jesus both acknowledged it and cautioned them to silence, as least temporarily.
7 We are not so cautioned to silence. We are called to proclaim Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. We are called to be "Christ to our neighbor." Whatever the religious legitimacy of other cultural and faith expressions before God, we make our confession that "Jesus Christ as Lord" as to its content and as to its uniqueness and, yes, as to its exclusivity. As to the other claims to religious truth, railing against them or condemning them is no better (and no worse) than uncritically embracing them as avenues of equal legitimacy. Discernment and dialogue are appropriate. Peace and justice are appropriate. Deeds of love and kindness are good. A cup of cold water in His name is always good. Neither uncritical embrace nor final judgment (of other faith claims) is warranted. Leave the judgment to God. According to Jesus himself, the wheat and the weeds will be separated, but only at the time of the harvest. Leave the embrace to the pluralists. Leave the judgment to God.
8 What we are called to do is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all that (Christ) has commanded. And lo, He is with us to the end of the age. And beyond. Again, St. Peter: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Amen.
JLY - 01.13.04
THE CONFESSION OF ST.
PETER
18 JANUARY 2004
SECOND LESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-5
I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2)and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3)and all ate the same supernatural food 4)and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5)Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. The day of the Confession of St. Peter presents us with a reminder of a man who was so human that he might provide a model of ourselves. Nor is it a bad picture, for out of it can come a picture of Christ which is rather accurate and certainly reflects honest faith.
The second lesson for this day is not from one of the letters written by Peter but from one of the letters written by another apostle who seems very human to us. This also is a confession of faith in Christ as the foundation of the church. Peter's confession is made before Jesus goes to the cross to establish that church by his death and resurrection for Peter and the rest of the twelve, for Paul and all who will be called to faith in the time to come between his resurrection and the parousia.
All who share in the victory of Christ will share in the sinfulness of people as much as Peter and Paul and the others. We understand how a man like Peter can make a strong confession of faith and then fail to keep that faith on another day because we share the same experience. And we should be able to understand the failing of Israel, the people called by God to trust Him and follow His leading through the wilderness. In spite of their experience in their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and under the leadership of Moses, they also have days in which they fail. The addition of more history when they can see God at work does not insure their faithfulness. Their history is also a history of failure.
The same is true of us and so we return every Sunday to confess again that we have failed. That is what Peter had to confess when he had lived through the weekend of Christ's death and victory and he had to find his hope in Christ's response of forgiveness. Only that made him a fit under-shepherd to the sheep and lambs of Jesus he would serve in the remainder of his life. Only pastors who join in the confession of sin can turn and speak God's forgiveness to others who have sinned, realizing that the same forgiveness enables them to be proclaimers of it.
Paul's word to the Corinthian Christians present them and us with a picture of Baptism ("baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea") and the Eucharist ("ate the same supernatural food . . . drank the same supernatural drink . . . from the supernatural Rock . . . and the Rock was Christ.") Hope does not come from finally gaining the ability to be perfect and forgiveness from God will always be followed by our sinning again. We will never reform the church to the point where we will really believe all the right answers or even know them. Our greatest hope is that we will return as sinners to God's forgiveness and find that he is the one who does not fail. He always meets us with forgiveness.
Is the confessing church the people who can see their own courage and strength or the people who recognize they are really like the rest of people in the world and any courage or strength is the doing of God?
WEM
|Home| |Pericope Studies|