Sermon on Matthew 16:21-28
Pastor Jennifer Garcia
This week’s Gospel reading continues right where last week’s left off. Peter had declared his belief that Jesus was “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”He understood what the crowds who called Jesus a prophet did not. But his understanding only went so far.
When Jesus started trying to prepare his disciples that the religious leaders and the Roman overlords were going to find him so threatening that they would put him to death and that he would be raised on the third day, Peter wasn’t having it.
He was understandably upset that his beloved rabbi and the Messiah would even suggest his untimely death. If an important mentor or teacher in our lives said something like that, we would also be concerned and distressed.
For Jesus’ disciples, all they could see was that there was so much more for Jesus to accomplish. If he was the Messiah as he just confirmed, then certainly he would rescue them from the Romans, showing God’s power and protection of God’s people like God had done through Moses. Or maybe Jesus would be a powerful military leader like his ancestor David and show God’s power over their enemies.
God surely wouldn’t allow Jesus to be a victim of state violence like so many would-be revolutionaries against the Roman Empire. Jesus would triumph! He had to!
What they didn’t understand, of course, was that triumph could look different from what they expected. God isn’t a God of violence and war.God is a God of liberation and healing.
God liberated God’s people from Egypt. And God helped them heal from their enslavement.
And now God was going to heal the world through something that would look like utter defeat: the cross.
It would take much harder work than crafting a military strategy. It would take total self-emptying.
It would mean riding a donkey into Jerusalem instead of a warhorse.
It would mean being jabbed with a crown of thorns instead of wearing a crown of gold.
It would mean being mocked and insulted and lied about without defending himself.
It would mean submitting to the excruciating death of a criminal and enemy of the state.
Jesus went through all that because he loves us. Because he believes in God’s shalom, the Beloved Community, where the last will be first and the first will be last.
He came to bring God’s peace, not just the lack of war.
He came to bring God’s healing, not just the lack of sickness.
And because he didn’t match what people like Peter expected, we profoundly misunderstood what he was about.
Even those of us who have spent decades in church pews still get derailed sometimes in our understanding of Jesus when we get caught up in the way the world thinks.
Society cares about the size of our bellies instead of the size of our hearts.
About the number of dollars in our wallets instead of the number of kind words we say.
About thereach of our platform instead of the reach of our generosity.
If God is alluded to at all, it’s usually in a “God helps those who help themselves” sort of way, which discounts the way Jesus encourages us to support each other.
Or a #blessed message that correlates earthly possessions or good fortune with God’s blessing, which has troubling implications for any of us who take a financial hit or receive a difficult diagnosis or who are born into under-resourced circumstances.
Sometimes we’re fed an image of Jesus as strong, vengeful, powerful.
Other times, we’re fed an image of Jesus as so meek and mild that a breeze would blow him over.
But worldly power isn’t true strength, and self-emptying isn’t fragility.
As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians about God’s response to his request to remove the “thorn in his flesh,”“’My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’”[1]
This is so opposite of what the world says.
The world says, “Might is right.”
God says, “My might is in the cross.”
The world says, “The one with the most toys wins.”
God says, “How much can you give away in love for your neighbor?”
The world says, “Hustle.”
God says, “Abide.”
The world says, “You’re nothing if you’re not the richest, fittest, most powerful, most attractive, most influential.”
God says, “I loved you before I made you. I became human, lived, died, and rose again out of love for you. I love you exactly as you are right now, and that will always be the case.”
Jesus came to heal the world, and that healing looks very different from what the world sees as success.
Now, all that is easy to say and even believe in your head, but it can be hard to feel it in your heart, your gut, your bones.
So, today, we’re going to spend some time a little later in the service asking God for healing.You’ll be able to receive individual prayer, healing oil on your forehead, the laying on of hands—a gentle hand on your shoulder or head. Any or all of these things as they feel right and meaningful to you.
We’re going to need help setting our minds on divine things instead of passively accepting the way the world defines success.
The healing Jesus came to bring to the world may not look like success. It may not include curing us of our illnesses or disabilities. It may not remove our challenges.
But it does mean that Jesus is here with us in all our challenges. It means that we’re together in the Body of Christ to support each other. It means the Holy Spirit lives in your heart and brings you God’s peace and comfort.
Jesus, the Second Person of Almighty God, emptied himself, accepting humiliating execution by the state, in order to bring God’s surprising life and healing to a world that wouldn’t understand it.
We don’t have to understand it. We can let that healing sink into our bones togetherso that we carry that healing into ourhurting world.
[1] 2 Corinthians 12:9