Way of the Cross Matthew 16: 13-28 February 23, 2014 This is week 8 of 17 with the Gospel of Matthew. We re just over halfway through the book. In today s passage the book takes a significant turn, it turns toward the cross. But first, Jesus introduces the church and the important of teaching and interpretation in the church. I ll walk through these one at a time and then end with a story. In the very first sentence of the gospel of Matthew, the narrator tells us that Jesus is the Messiah, which means God s anointed one, God s king, God s deliverer. But today s passage is the first time the disciples identify Jesus as Messiah. When Jesus asks, Who do you say that I am?, Peter famously says, You are the Messiah, the son of the living God. He means, You are God s deliverer. Peter is just as famously shocked when Jesus says that the Messiah will save the world by going to the cross. Peter is confused by the cross, and we are confused by the cross. Throughout Christian history, disciples have been looking back at the cross to find a helpful way of understanding this event. As we started reading the Gospel of Matthew I talked about a problem the writer of Matthew is trying to solve for his church that s living 50-60 years after Jesus. The problem is the Gentiles. Matthew s church was originally comprised of Jews who were following Jesus. This makes sense because Jesus was a Jew, and his movement was a Jewish movement. But Matthew s church, like many churches, is changing. New people are coming in, and they are different. These new people are Gentiles. They don t know the stories of the people of Israel. They eat different foods, they bring ham and shrimp cocktail and pickled pig s feet to the potluck. For some reason Gentile men do not want to be
circumcised. So what do we do with the Gentiles? is the question. Do we kick them out? Do we turn them into Jews like us? Or do we embrace them with open arms and allow them to change us too? Right away in the birth story of Jesus we see the writer of Matthew making the case that the answer to the Gentiles question is a both/and. We should honor our heritage as Jews and welcome the Gentiles with open arms. Last week, we read about the disciples being sent to the House of Israel, to Jews, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. And this week, Jesus speaks of the formation of the church, and the emphasis in the gospel begins to pivot towards welcoming the Gentiles. We re steadily moving towards the last paragraph of the gospel, the Great Commission. Go make disciples of all nations (Gentiles). This good news isn t just for us, it is for all people. This good news is also for those people who aren t here yet. At the center of the mission of the church are wide welcoming arms, and an unstoppable invitation, Come on in, this is a good place to be. But after Jesus introduces the church that will be pivoting towards welcoming the Gentiles, he says something odd. Jesus tells Peter, the rock on whom the church will be built, that he has the keys to the kingdom. Don t think about the kingdom as up there, think about the kingdom as here on earth. Peter, the church, is given the keys to unlocking the reality of the kingdom of God on earth, but to do that Peter/the church will need to bind things and loose things. What in the world does that mean? Binding and loosing is a rabbinic saying that applies to teaching torah, having the authority to hold onto what is most important (bind), let go of what isn t (loose) and apply what is needed to a particular situation. Jesus is saying that the church will need to teach the faith: the stories, the gifts, the call, the unique way of life, and the church will need to interpret. The church will need to sort out the principles and values that are most important and hold onto those, and to be faithful, to unlock the reality of the Kingdom of God now, the church will need to let go of parts of the tradition that aren t helpful anymore. Whenever I ve dug in and had heart-to-heart conversations with more conservative Christians, even fundamentalist Christians, I ve often been accused of interpreting the scripture rather than taking it literally. I ve been accused of picking and choosing what I like. We often feel ashamed here, and we don t need to. Interpreting, binding and loosing, holding on to commands like Love God and love they
neighbor and allowing that command to judge other commands is what we need to do to stay faithful. This is actually what we see Jesus and the Gospel of Matthew doing. Our method and the position we take on issues isn t Christianity lite; if you are going to take an ancient tradition seriously and unlock its power you must interpret. Then Jesus turns toward the cross, and I d rather he didn t. I m with Peter on this one. I like Jesus just fine when he s teaching and healing and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. I don t want to see Jesus die. Every year, telling that story saddens me. On top of that, the cross is a more difficult place to make meaning. Sometimes I wish Jesus just wouldn t go into that theological territory. There are many meanings of the cross I don t find helpful at all. I m more than happy to let go of them. Some of my most difficult days in pastoral ministry have been ecumenical Good Friday services listening to colleagues from other parts of the church talking about their understandings of the cross. I could barely stomach what was being said. To be fair, my colleagues gave me quizzical looks too. To Peter, and to me, Jesus says, Get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block, a phrase that will come up again. Calling someone the devil is never very kind, but the other words are more important. Get behind me is instruction to a disciple. Jesus is saying disciples must go with Jesus to the cross, and avoiding the cross places a stumbling block in front of the mission of the church. Avoiding the cross places a stumbling block in front of the unlocking of the Kingdom of God. The way of the cross, giving oneself for the sake of others, giving oneself for the sake of the world, is central to Christianity. This self-giving is what allows for deliverance. This grace from so many places is what saves. Walking with Jesus to the cross is an antidote to selfishness. Walking with Jesus to the cross deconstructs our selfcentered worlds. To be honest, this is another reason I d rather not deal with the cross. I m comfortable where I am, and the cross invites dis-comfort. Here s a story. On Wednesday of this week I was sitting at a Conference Committee on Ministry meeting. I m on the Discernment and Preparation for Authorized Ministry subcommittee which is a fancy name for gatekeepers. We read ordination papers and give aspiring UCC clergy the stamp of approval. At the beginning of our meeting we were having some devotional time and we were asked the question,
What keeps your soul alive? We started going around the table sharing what keeps our soul alive, each one of us trying to one up our neighbor stories of spiritual depth. I shared that I had just ordered my garden seeds for the spring and I felt lightness and excitement looking forward to this work of growing food where I feel so close to God and the miracle of life. Everyone nodded in approval. I was feeling pretty good about my entry until our Associate Conference minister Rick Wagner shared this story. He said he has a rather close relationship with the squirrels in his backyard. He has spent enough time with them that they will eat peanuts out of his hand. He knows enough about squirrels to know that those in his backyard will not give him rabies, and he does live with a doctor if something goes awry, but he has trained these squirrels to eat out of his hand. And, they have in turn trained him. They will come to the patio door, look in and if they see him, they will rap on the window. If they see his wife, the doctor who knows about rabies, they will not knock, but if they see Rick they will. If he is working in the kitchen, they will jump on the grill, look in the kitchen window and knock on the window, peanuts please, and he will go out and feed them. At this point I knew that I had lost the spirituality competition to St. Francis of St. Louis Park. He said, I know that this is a gestation period for squirrels, one of two times in the year that squirrels are preparing to give birth to young. And it is a time when food can be hard to come by. I have a peanut wreath outside my door. It s like a slinky and you can stick peanuts in it. Blue jays will come and pick peanuts out of it. Squirrels will come and pick peanuts out of it. What I saw this week was something I had never seen before. I saw a squirrel take a few peanuts off the wreath and eat them, and then the squirrel took a peanut and placed it out on the snow in the backyard and hopped away, and another squirrel came and took it and brought it up to a nest. This happened a few times. He said he d never witnessed that sort of altruism before. He d seen squirrels act like they were digging to hide a peanut, but then not bury it and carry it away to try to throw others off the trail of getting their food, but he d never seen this self-giving behavior from a squirrel. That peanut, especially in the heart of winter, represents life to that squirrel. That squirrel was giving life away for the sake of another, for the sake of the community, for the sake of the next
generation. From here Jesus will be going to the cross out of love for God, for the sake of the world, for the sake of others. Jesus will be on a path of giving life away. And, Jesus invites us to follow. The Christian life is not all about us; that is one lesson we will be challenged to learn over and over again. We will be given what we need on this spiritual journey, but an even deeper need that we have is to give life and love away so that others might truly live. This is the way of the cross. Amen.