Sunday's Sermon

Find Life

September 3, 2017

Matthew 16:21-28

²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

²⁷ “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸ Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Let Us Explore the Scripture

We are challenged to set aside our knowledge of the “rest of the story” and to understand what knowledge the people in this scripture passage had at that moment. To understand this text we will need to grasp the image of Jesus which Peter had claimed. For Peter, the Messiah was one who would be triumphant militarily as well as politically. 

Most likely Peter imagined that triumph was coming because of might and force. However, this was not what Jesus had taught and represented, but rather a Messiah that Peter had created in his own mind.

Peter may have imagined himself as one who would reap some of the benefits of victory by following this Messiah he had created. 

However, the words “suffering” and “death” did not have a victory ring and did not fit his understanding of the Messiah. With this idea of the Messiah, we can understand why Peter pulled Jesus aside and chastised him for using language of defeat and surrender. Peter must have been frustrated and confused about why the one leading them on the path to victory was declaring defeat amid the journey. He may have also been concerned about his own self-preservation. If he was following and supporting the cause of one who would suffer and die, what might that mean for him? 

In retrospect, it is easy for us to be critical of Peter’s misunderstanding and the possible motives in his life which helped create this misunderstanding.  But under similar circumstances, what would we have done? 

In a culture where there was an apocalyptic or “end time” expectation of God’s interference, we might even understand why Peter felt as he did.  According to our gospel writers there was even an expectation that end time might be at any moment ..even before the end of their present generation. 

But what about our understanding of Jesus and the motives in our lives which have helped shape our understanding? No doubt Peter’s agenda and his worldview contributed to the Jesus he wanted to follow. At times, our confident claims about Jesus and his mission may be more reflective of our agendas and wishes than the true mission of Jesus. On the other hand, we might consider and reflect on how our own agendas and our worldviews shape the Jesus we follow.

Are we still looking for an end time at any time? Do we expect God’s Kingdom to be apparent in our day? After all, Jesus declared time and again that God’s kingdom was already on the earth.  Can we see any vestiges of that kingdom? 

Jesus chastised Peter and told him he was setting his mind on human and not divine matters. In this scripture, Jesus rejects the path that would not require pain or suffering. We know the human tendency is to avoid pain. Jesus was not on a mission seeking pain; however, fulfilling his mission upset the status quo, a status quo which was oppressing the common people. Those who disrupt things, as did Jesus, may suffer from challenging the status quo. 

We may be tempted to opt for an easier path, one without suffering and appearing much safer. 

We should instead be challenged to think about God’s mission for Jesus and the paths we are traveling in that mission. Do we even understand what might be expected of us in our particular culture? 

After Jesus chastised Peter he said that those who want to follow him must deny themselves and take up their cross. In our day, that cross may be severe criticism. To deny ourselves may be to be willing to spend our resources on improving the lives of others. 

Jesus’ suffering came because of his deep vulnerability to those who were broken, excluded, and hurting. One mark of faithful discipleship is the capacity to deny personal biases that shield one from being vulnerable to the needless suffering in the world. 

We, like Peter, may be unaware of how our agendas and biases contribute to our understanding of the mission of Jesus and the mission to which we are called.

We too are called to examine our understanding of the Jesus we claim to follow. Those who engage in his mission are often vulnerable. The path of the disciple will not always be free of suffering. Sometimes our own biases are the most difficult to deny.

So, let us ask ourselves how we would view a Jesus in today’s world. If Jesus was walking our streets today…he would be considered homeless. He might not have had a bath in days. He might only have the clothes on his back. He might not smell as clean as we would like. He would be still preaching his Sermon on the Mount. How would we react? Would we be willing to accept him and his message? Would our own cultural view interfere with our decision?

What experiences in our lives have contributed to our understanding of what God is like? Do we believe that suffering is a necessary part of the mission of Jesus or is suffering something we should all expect to go through at some point of our lives? 

Would we feel that suffering is even still necessary in today’s world? Or is it simply a fact of life?


It will be forever true that for centuries Christianity taught people that women were inferior to men and dark skinned people were inferior to light skinned people. They taught that the earth was the center of the universe; that colonization, slavery, and apartheid were justified and that kings had a divine right to rule.  They taught that irrational behavior was the result of demonic possession.  Eventually most Christians stopped teaching these things.

Of the many radical things said and done by Jesus, his unflinching emphasis on love was the most radical of all.  Love was the greatest commandment, Jesus taught. It was his newest commandment, his prime directive…love for God, for self, for neighbor, for stranger, for alien, for outsider, and even for enemy, as he himself modeled. 

The new commandment  of love meant that neither beliefs not words, neither taboos, systems, structures not labels that enshrined them mattered most.  Love decentered everything else. Love took priority over everything else. …everything.   

The other day a friend sent me a good story that has been around a long time, but it’s still as relevant as it was the first time I heard it.

The light turned yellow as he was turning right. He saw pedestrians in the crosswalk, so he stopped. The woman behind him was furious, so she leaned on her horn, flipped him the finger many times, and shouted angrily from her car.

Suddenly, a policeman was tapping at her window. He ordered her to exit and raise her arms. He cuffed her and put her in his patrol car. At the station, she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. A few hours later, a guard opened the cell door and took her to the booking desk. The officer who had arrested her was waiting with her personal belongings.

He introduced himself and said, “I’m sorry for this mistake. When I was behind your car, I saw a crazy woman doing and saying awful things. I also noticed the Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Then I noticed two decals, ‘Choose Life’ and ‘Jesus Is My Christ.’ After seeing your behavior, I figured this must be a stolen car.”

I have no idea if this really happened, but every time I hear this story, I take a self-inventory. I ask myself: Could anyone tell that I am a faith-based person by my actions? What are my prejudices? Do they control me, or do I control them? Would folks know that I am a faith-based person without me telling them?

How can my actions show my faith? The first way is to treat every human being as the most important person in the world. Second, stay calm, no matter how ugly the situation. Third, stay in control, which means not raising my voice, yelling, or talking down to others. A long time ago I learned that I can get further ahead with honey than vinegar! Fourth, listen, and then listen some more. Next, remember that negative picture I have in my mind when I lost it. It’s not nice. Don’t repeat it! Sixth, keep working every day on my patience, humility, and listening skills.

As I was writing this, I immediately thought of a campfire song: “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.” As a Christian, that is how I would like to be known—not by my words, but by positive actions and attitude.

Have you ever heard of Fred Phelps? He was a Baptist pastor at the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. His claim to fame was his deep open hatred of the LGBTQUI community. Every third year, we’d see Fred and his fellow haters show up at the Conference of our Church in Independence, Missouri with big signs stating, “God hates fags.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, he then decided to extend his message of hate to mourning families of military service members who had given their lives in the line of duty. Un-Reverend Fred would show up at their funerals with the message that God was killing members of the US military to punish America for enabling homosexuality.

For me, “Rev.”, and I use the term loosely, Fred has used religion as an excuse to promote his intense hatred of the LGBTQUI community. Whenever I see such hatred, I have to ask myself, “Where is Fred coming from? Why would he dedicate his whole life to hating gays rather than loving humanity? Did his seminary teach him that? Did he read that hatred in his Bible?”

At the conference where our church voted to accept gay people into our congregations and our ministry, Fred was right there with his family and their signs and toxic brochures preaching their brand of hate to all who would listen. 

Let me end by asking you: Which do you think speaks louder, our words or our actions?

Finding the life that God desires for us depends on how tuned in to God we are. Do we pray and listen for God’s still small voice before we make our life’s decisions?  Because if we don’t, we will not find life at its best and happiest. 

We each have our own set of personal prejudices. I know I have. They may not be the same ones as Fred Phelps but we all have some changes to make to be able to say we are willing to take up our cross to follow Jesus. Are we ready to try to make that sort of journey? If we aren’t, then we may not be prepared to be a follower of Jesus. That may be our personal cross.

As we approach taking the sacrament this morning, let us ask ourselves if we are really ready to make personal change a commitment?