Who Does Jesus Say that He Is?
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Matthew 16:13-20
Almost everybody loves the Olympics. It's thrilling to see the very
best athletes compete against one another. The challenge, the drama,
the drive, draw us in. But there's also something else that draws us
to the Olympics. It's the rules. Everybody comes into the Olympic
Games knowing the rules and everyone expects them to compete according
of the rules. When there's talk of unfair advantage, of some athletes
not abiding by the rules, it casts a cloud on the competition. We may
not like every single rule as it stands but we like the fact that the
rules apply to everyone because then there is fairness to the
competition.
This is the way we want life to be also. We want it to be fair. We
want everyone to have to play by the same rules we have to. Everyone
gravitates toward this way of thinking and acting. We naturally assume
it's the way life should be. The Bible tells us what this stems from:
the Law.
In contrast to this is something else the Bible tells us about—it is
the Gospel. What is the Gospel? It is what Jesus has done. It is who
Jesus is. It is salvation for the world. It is pure grace, no strings
attached, unconditional.
What is it about this that we don't understand? What is it about the
Gospel that we just can't take as it is? There's got to be something
more. There's got to be something about it that's not so, well,
simple. Easy. You know, we don't want people to take the Gospel for
granted. We don't want them thinking they're saved by not doing
anything. We want Christians to be excited about salvation. We want
them to have a hunger and desire to spread the Word of God and the
Gospel. We want them to jump at the chance to tell people about Jesus.
We don't want people just resting on the laurels of Jesus saving them
solely by His work and not by anything they have done.
When we get to heaven we are going to have a clear understanding of
what it means to be saved by Christ alone. In this life our
understanding of it is warped. It's not just off a little bit. Or even
a lot. It's seriously out of control. Find me the most ardent advocate
of salvation by grace and I will show you someone who does not really
understand what it means to be saved by grace and not by anything that
he does.
That is because there's still something within him that believes that
it can't be that easy. Yes, we're saved by grace, but aren't I a
pretty good person? Yes, we're saved by what Christ has done, but
isn't it wonderful how much better of a Christian I have become? I
believe with all my heart that I am saved by what Jesus has done for
me, and I'm sure He's glad I'm not nearly as bad as those people who
are descipable human beings with the brutal way they treat others.
We don't really believe we're saved by grace. Well, yes we do. But
deep down in our hearts, we tell ourselves that we're glad of
ourselves. Our heart, mind, strength, and soul are not fixed on Jesus.
They are fixed on ourselves. Doesn't this happen to us a lot? We're
thinking things are going really well in our spiritual walk. We're
calm and patient and loving in disciplining our children. We take the
time to explain that what they did was wrong, and why it was wrong,
and what they need to do to make amends, and ask God to help them to
do better. The next thing we know our children do something that
strikes a chord in us and we lose it. We grab them forcefully and
speak, or yell, even more forcefully, and strike terror into their
hearts.
This is an example of how we live by the Law. This may sound as if
it's just the sinful flesh acting out. And it is that. But it is that
very thing that is us living by the Law. Everything we do is against
God. You may think that's not true or ask how it can be. We see that
this is the case by the different responses Jesus got to His question
about who people say that He is. "John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah,
or another prophet." So many people did not believe who He really is,
the Son of God and the Savior of the world. That's because they live
by the Law. There's gotta be salvation in something more or other than
just Him. They all gave nice answers. Even good answers. Religious
answers. But they weren't the right answers. Because they were answers
that said this is the kind of Jesus we want, not the kind that He is.
And then there's Peter's response. The right answer, of course. A
great response—it couldn't have been better. So what's the problem?
Well, there's no problem, of course, with his answer. The deal is that
it wasn't his answer. Jesus says to him, "flesh and blood has not
revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." So Peter got
the right answer, and that's great, but it wasn't because he was. It
was because God the Father revealed it to him. Peter, of his own, is
not drawn to Jesus but to himself. But because the Father reveals
Jesus to him as the Christ, Peter is blessed.
That's why Jesus says to him, "Blessed are you." God loves to bless
us. But He doesn't do so because we get the right answer or do what He
commands us to do. He does it because of who He is. In other words,
"the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter is blessed because of
who Jesus is, not because there's anything special within Peter. Peter
is blessed because of what Christ has done, not because of anything
special that Peter would do.
We are drawn to the Law, not the Gospel. There's a reason someone came
up with the saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Someone
might in fact give you lunch. But the reason the saying came about and
resonates with us is because deep down inside we all believe that
there has to be a catch. There's something that we gotta do. Or want
to do. Or will be expected of us. Deep down we look to ourselves to
earn what we get. What did Jesus say to the sheep when He welcomed
them into the Kingdom? "For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was
thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I
was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in
prison and you came to Me." Their response was, "What are you talking
about? When did we do those things for You?" When we get to the gate
of heaven there will be no list Jesus will go through—Did you do this,
this, this? We won't say, "Hey Jesus, let me into heaven because I did
this and this and this." He'll say, "Welcome into heaven" and we'll
say, "What? You're letting us into heaven? Why? Oh yeah, because you
died for us!"
What is the picture of Jesus in the Book of Revelation, the picture of
the glory of heaven? It is of the Lamb Who Was Slain. Not the glorious
powerful Jesus-the Lamb who was slain. If we want power and glory and
emotion then we're not looking to Jesus. There's a reason He saved us
in the way He did. Not in glory, not in power. In weakness. God became
a man. Jesus suffered and died. We must look to Christ and Him
crucified. Nothing else. Anything else is of the Law. Anything else is
us looking within ourselves for salvation.
Jesus asks the disciples who people say He is. He then asks them who
they say He is. But what Jesus is really getting at is who He says
that He is. Because this is of the Gospel. It is the Gospel. He is the
Gospel. How do we find God? Is it through the Law? No, it is through
the Gospel. It is His grace, His unconditional giving of forgiveness
and His eternal love. In His Holy Supper He gives of Himself freely.
It is all gift. There are no expectations He places upon us, there is
simply the invitation to receive Him in the fullness of His grace and
mercy. This is why He Baptized you and why He will welcome you into
heaven. It is why you have life and may rejoice. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.blogspot.com
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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