The Text: Matthew 25:14-30 

Often when we read the parable of the talents we see the word talent and we immediately think of abilities and the things we are good at. We often say of someone who is good at something—you’re talented. But when we look carefully at this parable we see that these talents are in fact large portions of money that are given to each servant to manage. So what might this parable be about?

Jesus uses this parable to teach us about the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus’ parable begins with a man who was about to leave on a journey. And he entrusted his servants with the task of managing his financial affairs while he was away. He divided this responsibility amongst his three workers according to their ability. He gave five talents to one worker, two talents to another worker and one talent to another worker. I guess you could call this ‘diversification’—putting your eggs in several baskets rather than one. Dividing your assets to provide more opportunities for growth and reduce risk.

And then, when the master returned, he called his workers before him to give an account of how they managed his money. Two of the workers doubled what they were first entrusted with and the master was full of praise for them.  He said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servants. You have been faithful in handling these small amounts, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

But the third worker did nothing with the one talent that he was entrusted with. He had simply buried it. When this worker gave account of his actions, the money was taken from him and given to servant with ten talents.

Now, in Jesus days a talent was used in two ways: it was used as form of currency and also as a measure of weight. Bible scholars believe that for the average worker one talent was worth more than 15 years of wages.

Now if we look at this in today’s environment what might a talent be worth today? In Australia, in 2020 a person on the minimum wage working full time would earn about $40,000 a year. This suggests that in today’s context a talent could be worth at least $600,000 Australian dollars. Can you start to see what an incredible responsibility the master has entrusted to each of these three workers!

Even the person who has received one talent has received an incredible responsibility and an awesome opportunity. If only this servant had recognized this opportunity!

Now like all the parables, we need to look for the principles that Jesus is teaching us through them and ask: what does this mean for us?

Firstly, notice the trust that the master puts in his servants. How he delegates responsibility for so much of what belongs to him to his servants. He believes in his servants. He has full confidence in his servants. Secondly, notice the way he divides the responsibility – that he does not divide it evenly but he divides it according to their ability. In other words he knows the ability of each of his servants and divides responsibility appropriately.

In this parable we may choose to see the Master as Jesus, and we, his church, are his servants. He has given each of us responsibilities. In giving us responsibilities he recognizes our unique ability and gives us responsibilities according to our abilities.

This parabIe has often been interpreted as a frank and simple call to work hard at developing the gifts and talents that God has given us. Sadly, too many of us feel we have failed to fulfill the responsibilities God has given to us.

Maybe we feel we have failed to recognise the responsibilities God first gave us and have failed to try, to take risks, to learn, to grow, to ask questions. Maybe we feel we have failed to use our abilities to fulfill our responsibilities.  The challenge we face is to recognize our responsibilities and use our abilities to fulfill our responsibilities while we have them.

While it is true that God wants us to use his gifts and to multiply them for the benefit of his Kingdom, we are not judged according to the quantity of the work we do for God, nor even by the quality of that work. Rather, we are judged by our attitude: by our willingness to do as God wants us to do, by our willingness to risk all that we have been given for the sake of the Kingdom just as Jesus risked all of himself for our sake.

As Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

But if we reduce the parable of the talents simply to saying that we must be productive for God or else be condemned, then we miss what is so good about the Christian life! We miss the good news of Jesus Christ, the good news of the grace and mercy won for us on the Cross.

If we see this parable as all about productivity, we will end up like the servant who failed to invest the talent that his master gave him. We will end up being afraid—worried more about how well we are doing in the eyes of God than we are about actually doing anything at all.

Consider the servant who buried the talent entrusted to him. He was afraid and he took no risks. He did not see the potential for growth and he buried what he had to keep it safe. He did nothing. In what areas of your life are we burying our responsibilities and not exercising them according to our abilities?

The parable of the talents is not a lesson about success or our degree of productivity. It is a lesson about our attitude and responsibility. It is about faithfully stepping out with God’s treasure in our hands for the sake of others.

The servant was afraid – and so he did not try. What counts is not whether we win or lose, but whether or not we even try. What counts is whether or not we dare to risk those things that God has given us.

What counts is whether or not we invest ourselves in God’s kingdom:
– Whether we take what we have and use it for God’s purposes.
– Whether we pass on the blessings we have received.
– Whether we seek to build community and bring hope to the strangers among us.
– Whether we reach out to those in need and show them the love that God first showed to us.
– Whether we try to multiply joy and divide sorrow.
– Whether we willingly use what we have been given in the service of God.

Do we work with the resources that God has given us for his sake or do we focus on the fact that we might fail and so refuse to try? Do we use the gifts we have been given to build up the church and to bring praise to God or do we use those gifts only for our own benefit?

God gives us many gifts and resources. Why he does so is not always clear, but what God expects of us is clear. God expects us to develop the good things we have so that the world around us can benefit from them, so that those gifts might be fruitful in us, and add to the good things that God’s world needs.

God, like the master in today’s parable, trusts us to do well with his love, to develop the gifts he gives us so that all the citizens of his kingdom may benefit from them. God has blessed you with the priceless gift of salvation. Therefore we have nothing to fear! We can love God and love life. We can take risks with what God has given to us so that others may experience God’s love and his kingdom may grow near and far. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 25:1-13

A famous teacher of the church once said: There are only two types of people in the world – fools who think they are wise, and the wise who know they are fools. What he meant was that the first step towards true godly wisdom is to know you are not wise, for there is always more to learn along the journey of faith. A person who thinks they have no more to learn is the person who still has a great deal more to learn.

In the Scriptures, to be wise does not necessarily mean having a head full of facts and figures. To be wise is not necessarily to be smart. The smart are not always wise, especially when it comes to the things of God; and the wise are not always smart, particularly when it comes to the things of this world.

In an earlier parable, Jesus describes the wise as those who build the house of their faith on the Rock (that is, on himself). He says that the wise are those who not only hear the word of God but also do it; that is, live it out in their daily lives. The fools, on the other hand, though they may hear the word of God, don’t do it; don’t live according to it. Instead they build their houses on the shifting sands of personal desires, opinion, culture, fashion.

Notice in the parable that both the wise and the foolish virgins are waiting for the Bridegroom. In other words, this is not a parable about believers and unbelievers, but about two different types of believers. The wise are wise because they have prepared for every contingency by keeping their lamps filled with oil. The foolish, on the other hand, presume that they have enough oil to get them through to the end. In this parable, oil is faith. The wise keep their faith continually replenished. The foolish think the faith they have now is sufficient until Christ returns.

It is only when the point of crisis comes – the delay of the bridegroom – that they two groups are finally distinguished. Just as the two groups of builders are distinguished only when the storm comes. So, what are we to do? Well first we are to recognise that we cannot manufacture our own oil. Faith is not something we work up in ourselves; it is God’s gift that we keep on receiving from him through the means that he has provided. That’s why true disciples are those who continue in Jesus’ Word. This means not only reading and hearing it but also doing it, for that is faith’s purpose – to shine with the light of Christ, just as the oil’s purpose is to allow the lamp to stay lit.

Wisdom, therefore, is both knowing and doing. Not only does it keep faith replenished and thus prepared for any eventuality, but it also maintains one’s spiritual health. The story is told of someone talking to an old school friend who was telling him about his mother who is dying of emphysema. He said that she now has to be hooked up to an oxygen tank for 15 hours a day, and that the doctors have given her little time left. But the really sad part of the story is that in spite of this, she still chain-smokes more than a packet of cigarettes a day, removing her mask to take another drag. Now that is foolish – not only because she knows better, but also because she is knowingly continuing in the very behaviour that has made her so sick in the first place.

We do the same in a spiritual sense when we continue in a sin, fully knowing that it is wrong and that by continuing in it we are hurting ourselves (and others) and endangering our faith. I think we all have experienced such folly. We all know the lack of peace, the joylessness, the regret, the shame, the hiding and the self-deception and the self-loathing that comes on the heels of committing a deliberate sin. And we know who it is that we abandon when we do so; for sin is not just a ‘no’ to God’s law but to God himself, who is love, and the secret of joy.

That is why true wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, with the wisdom of repentance; of knowing what to do and what to leave behind. Presbyterian minister, Frederick Speakman, tells the story of shaking hands at the door one Sunday when the service was over. As he came back down the aisle on the church after everyone had left, he noticed that some things had been left behind. A bulletin with a shopping list in the margins. In this pew, a pair of gloves; in the next, a pencil on the floor and a lolly wrapper on the seat. As he reached the altar he looked once more at the empty sanctuary and thought to himself, “I wonder what else has been left behind.”

Wouldn’t it be every pastor’s dream to come down the aisle after worship and find other items there. You know, in this pew someone’s deep grief; there, another’s bitter disappointment or sense of failure. In another section some secret sin, real or imagined, not all that important now it had been discarded. Further on, the bulkier rubbish of a badly bruised ego, or the remains of a heated argument on the way to church; or a deep, longstanding resentment between members. Anger, guilt, hurt – all this stuff that so easily beats us up and burns the oil of faith out of us – all swept up and thrown out with the rest of the leftover trash. For it is forgiveness that both replenishes our spiritual resources and greases the community of faith. “Received forgiveness – God’s grace as a renewable resource,” Speakman whispered to himself, “that’s the only thing that keeps us going, keeps our lamps burning.”

In many ways life uses us up; we get burnt out and depleted. But the message of the gospel is that there is also the possibility of replenishment. Drained, we can be refilled as we continue to draw our life from God through the forgiveness of sins. So, if you feel the flame of your faith burning low, then listen again to words the prophet Isaiah wrote so long ago, “a bruised reed [the Lord] will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.” Remember: the folly of the foolish was not that they didn’t believe that the Bridegroom was coming; it’s that they figured had enough oil to last, that they could do it on their own, without God’s ongoing help. But they couldn’t and we can’t, and it is wisdom to realise that.

Meanwhile, we wait for the Lord, and as we wait, we have the option either to stay prepared, or not. It is up to us. So let us be and remain prepared by replenishing our faith through prayer and God’s word and shining Christ’s light to others through our heartfelt works of love and Christian example. And don’t worry that you will get burned out; for Jesus not only gave himself for us on the cross, but he gives himself to us at every step of the journey. “Ask, and you shall receive.” That is his promise to each of us. Ask, and you will find that there is rest and replenishment! There is forgiveness. There is hope. And the wise still trim their lamps with the oil of his grace. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Matthew 22:15-22   

Who likes paying taxes? Who thinks paying tax is good?

Some of the biggest political questions today are: Who should pay taxes? How much should you pay? Who should decide how your tax money is spent and what it is spent on?

If we had Jesus standing here today, and if I asked Jesus those questions, what would he say? And would you like the answers? It was a political question back then too, even more political than it is today.

When you have an election you get a say in who gets our tax money, and how they might spend our tax money. The overseer of the government in 1^st Century Palestine was a king, Herod Antipas. He wasn’t elected to this position but was the king because he had agreed to exercise his rule within the great Roman Empire.

He would remain king as long as he toed their line, which included paying plenty of tax money to Rome. Herod exercised his authority with military might and the political will of the Roman government.

So there was a lot of political feeling about this question about whether a good Jew should pay taxes to the Roman Emperor. If you paid your tax money you were supporting the enemy. If you didn’t pay your tax money you could be arrested for treason.

The Pharisees were good politicians. They resented Jesus, because he was a threat to their petty power and religious status. They wanted to embarrass Jesus, discredit Jesus, keep him quiet, or get rid of him any way they could. They knew how to play the political games.

First, they butter him up. Jesus, we know that you always tell the truth. And that you are impartial, because you don’t consider people’s status.

And then they put the question. They know how to use a question that will force him to incriminate himself or to embarrass him in front of the people.

They have made sure that they are in a crowd where there a lots of witnesses, including people who are opposed to the Romans.

But they have also made sure that there are some supporters of King Herod there as well, who will report him if he says anything against the government.

Their question: Is it right to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?

Jesus is not a politician, and he is not going to get sucked into their political games.

First, he exposes their devious motives: You hypocrites, he calls them. Why are you trying to trap me?

He knows that their respectful approach is just flattery. And he knows their question is meant to be a double-edged sword.

Their question: Is it right to pay taxes to the Emperor,
really means: is it right in God’s eyes, according to God’s will, in accordance with God’s commands of the Old Testament?

But he knows that they are not really interested in God’s will, except in using God’s commands when they suit their own purposes.

An astute politician would probably say: No comment.
Or try to evade the question. So instead of beating around the bush with their question, he gives them a much bigger picture of life, of life in their community, and life in God’s world.

He uses the question to teach the people a true God-pleasing relationship to their society. And a true God-pleasing relationship to God.

He asks someone to show him a coin. They all had coins in their pockets or purses. You all have coins and notes in your pockets or bags or wallets.

If you look at the coin, whose image is on the coin? Or the note? Queen Elizabeth, as symbolic head of state?

Whose image was on those old coins? Whose name was written there? Emperor Tiberius!

And that is significant. The government is responsible for pressing coins, and printing money. Can you print your own money? Governments tend to frown on people who print their own money.

The government has the right to print money, and if you have the right to make coins that shows that you are the government. And the government has the responsibility of maintaining the value of money.

If you have this money in your pockets, if you use this money for your daily life, then you have a responsibility to the government who provides the coins. Yes, you have a responsibility to pay your taxes.

Money was a very important invention that allowed societies to grow and become more complex. Now you produce something or provide some service, and you earn money. And you use that money to buy something that someone else has produced. That is the basis of the very complex financial systems that we have today.

But for Christians there is another dimension. Work is not just work – work is serving. Whatever you do, do it to glorify God, and to serve the needs of people.

How can you serve people who are long way away, whose needs are beyond your ability to help? Money can be a way of reaching them, as you give for their welfare according to their needs, so that they can afford to get the help they need.

This brings us back to taxes. What are taxes? You can think of taxes as a means of service. Taxes are the means of serving the community as a whole. Our taxes provide for our roads and our hospitals and our defence and our education. You are serving the people of your community, as together you are providing for your own needs.

You are also providing for the needs of people in your community who do not have the means to provide for themselves. If you have needs, you may also be benefitting from those means. So your taxes are a way of sharing, according to needs.

There are still always questions of how taxes should best be administered. But when you compare a community that has fair taxes, with a community that has no taxes, because it is has no effective government, then you can even be thankful for taxes.

You may even be able to pay your taxes with a smile. And you may be able to dedicate your taxes – God use these taxes for the benefit of many people.

So give back to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. Pay the coins that have the image of the Emperor stamped onto it.

But that is only half of Jesus’ answer. And pay to God what belongs to God.

What belongs to God? We often think that this means give some of your money to the government and give some of your money to God.

But I do not think that is what it means, and I do not think that is what Jesus intended.

Pay to the Emperor, because the Emperors image is on your coins. Pay to God, what bears the image of God.

Where do you find the image of God? Where do you look if you want to see the image of God? Look in a mirror. Look at yourself.

Think back to the story of creation. God created the world, everything in the world, and every creature in the world. Then God created human beings. In the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them. God created us, as human beings, in his own image.

What does that mean? It means that we are different to all of God’s other creatures. It means that God has put something of himself into us. Not in a physical sense, because God is beyond any physical image, but in a spiritual sense. God has breathed his Spirit of life into us.

It means that God has created us to share in his creation, and to pass on his gift of life. It means that God has created us to share a relationship with himself.

It means that God has given us a will to serve his will, to know and choose and do what is good and right and holy. It means that we have been created to live with God forever.

But we know that we have sinned against our God. As a human race, and each of us individually, we have sinned against our God.

Which means that this image of God in us has been spoiled. We have trouble seeing the image of God in one another. We have trouble seeing the image of God in ourselves.

Our sinful selfishness gets in the way. It ruins this relationship with God. It blots out life the way it should be, the life that reflects the image of God.

Our God has given us Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God coming into our world. But now God is in a form that we can see, God with a real physical human presence. St Paul says that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, the image of the invisible God.

Jesus is God coming to us. And Jesus shows us what human life, our life, is, and what our life should be.

Not only shows us. Jesus brings us back to God. Jesus overcomes our sin. Jesus restores our life. Jesus gives us God’s Spirit anew. Jesus gives us a whole new life,
a life formed again according to the image of God.

So where is the image of God? The image of God is in you. You have been created in the image of God. As Christians, you have been re-created by the salvation of Jesus Christ into the image of God.

Now, pay to God what belongs to God. Pay to God, give to God, what has the image of God imprinted onto it. Give to God yourself. Give to God your own life.

That is the challenge that Jesus gives. To receive our life as God’s precious gift, God’s precious gift given twice over. And then to give our live to him. Because we belong to him.

To give our lives for serving him. For worshipping him. For loving him. To dedicate our lives as we trust him. And then to dedicate ourselves to serve as Jesus serves.

With a deep love that reaches out to other people, in all their needs, a love that embraces them into the love of God.

Jesus challenges us to see ourselves, and all of our lives, as an opportunity to live for our Lord, to serve and to give.

Now, it is not just how much money do I think I should give? Yes, our money belongs to God too, the money that we present as an offering, but also all the money that we need and spend for every purpose.

Now there is no room for silly political questions. Now there is just one question, one spiritual question. How can I best give myself to my God and Lord? Amen.

The Text: Matthew 21:23-32

“By whose authority are you doing these things?”

“Who said you could do that?”

“Who says so?”

These are words of protest, accusation, and doubt, but they’re also words of rebellion. The person who usually asks these questions is challenging the authority of the other person. It’s a basic question of who’s in control; who’s the boss right here, right now.

As Australians, we typically like to challenge every authority. We like to disobey or question our parents, thinking we know better than them. We like to see how much we can get away with at work, like attempting to fool our bosses by taking sickies on long weekends (unless of course we don’t trust any other bosses and want to be self-employed). We flash our lights at oncoming traffic to ‘stick it’ to the police who may have a speed camera up ahead. We like to rubbish or lampoon our Prime Minister or parliamentarians. Basically, if anyone thinks they’re above us in any way, we’ll soon cut them down to size!

But when we do these things, we’re attempting to set ourselves up as our own authority, our own boss, or even our own little god who controls our own little world.

When we complain about our parents, our boss, our Prime Minister, or our pastor, we’re really complaining about God who placed them in their position of authority in the first place. They don’t even have to be Christian for God to place them there, after all, even Jesus tells Pontius Pilate he recognises his authority to crucify him (or not) because it was given to him from above (Jn 19:10-11).

In this sense, whenever we challenge or question those in authority over us, we’re challenging or questioning God’s authority, which brings us to the gospel reading for today.

Jesus had entered Jerusalem on a donkey and overturned the marketing tables in the temple. The local authorities (which were the chief priests and elders) came to challenge Jesus by asking whose authority he was doing these things. In other words, “We’re the local authority, and we reckon you have no authority here, so you better come up with your authorised credentials quickly or you’re in big trouble!”

He, in turn, asked them a question about authority. He wanted them to answer by who’s authority had John the Baptist been baptising people? Was he doing this with heavenly authority (which meant it was authorised by God), or was it from humans (which meant it was false, unauthorised, illegitimate, and therefore possibly evil)?

Now, as the local authority experts, they had the choice to back John’s baptisms as authorised by God himself (and therefore give their theological and pastoral blessing to it), or else reject it as false and evil. Since they hadn’t acted on stopping or getting rid of John earlier, you’d think they’d side with his baptisms being authorised by heaven (which many of the lay people believed it was), but they stopped short of doing this for one reason: fear!

The local authorities were afraid of the people and their opinions. Giving up their authority to say what was of God and what wasn’t, they now disqualified themselves from their position of authority. As disqualified leaders who lacked the courage to trust the work of God, Jesus wouldn’t entrust these people with the answer to their question.

When we’re afraid of what people will think of us and our faith, we’re often too afraid to listen to, and trust, God’s authority.

Because we’re afraid of what people will say, or think, or do to us, we give others a kind of fake authority which entraps us into more fear. Instead of letting God have the final authority and the last word on a matter, we listen to the opinions of others. When we’re afraid, we don’t listen to God properly. In response God will often challenge the authority of what we’re afraid of, but we often let our fears deceive us into a false sense of security.

Jesus goes on to teach these disqualified authorities through a parable of two sons – one who said ‘no’, but later obeyed his father’s authority, and the other who said ‘yes’, but then rebelled. He compared these two sons with two groups of people – the ‘tax-collectors and prostitutes’ who will enter the kingdom of heaven and the ‘chief priests and elders of the law’ who won’t.

One group lived rebellious lives but believed John’s and Jesus’ ministry and so acted accordingly in faith, while the other group did and said all the right things on the surface (and so seemed righteous in many people’s eyes, including their own), but didn’t believe their ministry was from God and therefore wouldn’t enter the kingdom.

But notice it wasn’t just faith itself (as if only believing in our own head or heart is enough), but a faith which trusted and acted according to what he or she believed, and so participated in the life and ministry of God’s authorised representatives.

“By what authority are you doing these things?”

Well, let’s see. Pastors, as called and ordained servants of the Word forgive us all our sins. In the stead of, and by the command of, Christ, they forgive us as Christ’s personal ambassadors. Of course, we could believe our own opinions or thoughts which might want to challenge those words. We could believe others who will keep reminding us of our failures or mistakes or regrets. Or you could trust when Jesus says we’re forgiven, we’re forgiven. He has the authority to forgive us and has passed on this heavenly privilege to his church, which is enacted through its authorised servants.

Similarly, at the end of Matthew’s gospel account we hear Jesus has been given all authority and now hands this authority to the church to baptise and teach. We enact this heavenly authority whenever we baptise people.

Whenever we celebrate the Lord’s Supper Christ’s words are repeated and Christ’s authority is enacted. Here again God’s word does what it says so that the bread and wine we eat and drink is also the very body and blood of Christ himself given for us for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of our faith.

Of course we could believe our own opinions about this meal and think it only a symbolic reenactment, or on the other hand we could trust Jesus’ authority to share with us his very own body and blood for us, which means heaven itself, in all its fullness, touches us here.

You see, it’s not just by whose authority we’re doing all these things, but how this authority is enacted. In the reading from Philippians this morning we hear how Jesus didn’t use his authority to lord it over you and me, but he emptied himself and became a suffering servant to do his Father’s will.

He trusted and obeyed his Father’s authority by enduring the cruel cross and dying for you and me. You could say he’s unlike the sons in the parable. He’s never changed his mind – his answer has always been, and always will be, a ‘yes’ for you and me – both in intention and in action.

Jesus Christ always exercises his heavenly rule and authority according to the upside-down ways of God’s kingdom for us. He comes as a servant for our sake. He serves us by forgiving us, washing us clean, adopting us as his brothers and sisters, feeding us with his own body and blood, teaching us his ways, and blesses us in order that we may also serve as his own authorized, humble servants wherever he’s placed us.

He’s given us the authority to serve – to faithfully serve as a child, a parent, a citizen, or a boss, under the authority of God. Like Christ himself, we don’t use this authority to rule, but to serve humbly in such a way we don’t think of ourselves as better than anyone else, but as if others are better than us. Because we’re united with the suffering Servant, we don’t look for ways to serve our own interests, but we instead serve the interest of others.

This means, instead of thinking ‘What’s in it for me?’ we may instead think ‘How may I best serve you today?’ 

Don’t be like those who grumble about those in authority above them, or like those who seek to deceive out of fear, but let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’ as we all submit ourselves under the authority of God to serve each other in humbleness and grace. And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, which will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 50:15-21 Joseph forgives his brothers  (NRSV)
Romans 14:1-12 The strong and the weak in faith (NRSV)
Matthew 18:21-35 Parable of the unforgiving servant (NRSV)

The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Paul writes to us this morning, ‘Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”’  So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.’  

As we join together, united in fellowship this morning, let’s also join in a word of prayer:  Loving Lord Jesus, as we share this time of worship, joined together in your presence, strengthen our resolve to withhold judgement and actively accept each other for who we are, children of God.  Help us gain a new perspective of peace, confidence, and joyful fellowship as you fill us with your Spirit, and feed us with your word.  Gracious Lord Jesus, hear our prayer for your name’s sake, Amen.

Most Christians agree on everything.  Right? 

When we do disagree, isn’t it true that sometimes we, as Christians, are quick to judge others.  Even in judging other Christians.  The way they live or the way they express their relationship with God.   

We know there’s a lot of false teaching around, and a lot of casual Christianity in this broken world.   And we certainly don’t want to get taken in by it.  So we learn to judge as wisely as we can, and test everything against the precious Word of God. 

At the same time, the basis for our judgment isn’t always the best it could be. It’s sometimes easy for us to filter what the Bible teaches with our personal bias.

A story is told about a Catholic priest who was walking down a lane behind his church when a thief jumped out from behind some bushes and pressed the muzzle of his gun into the priest’s ribs.

The thief said, “Give me your wallet!”  Without hesitation, the priest reached gently for his wallet in the breast pocket of his coat. It was then the thief caught a glimpse of his collar.  “Are you a priest,” the thief asked?  “Yes I am, my son” said the priest.  “Well, put your wallet back,” the thief said. “I don’t rob priests. I may not be Catholic, but I am a Christian.”  At that point, the relieved priest put his wallet away and pulled out two cigars with shaky fingers.  He offered one to the thief. 

The thief responded with indignation, “Oh no, I couldn’t do that. Smoking is so wrong.  I can’t believe you would do such an evil thing!”

Sometimes people have convictions about certain things, but fail to deal with other things that really matter in their lives and their relationship with our Saviour Christ Jesus. ^{(Observation by Scott Kircher 6/19/2012)}

So, Paul seems to echo the words of Christ, recorded in Matthew Chapter 7: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.  For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you receive.” (Matthew 7:1–2 NRSV)

When we stand before our God in heaven, Scripture reveals that we will need to give an account of ourselves.  I have a sense that we will not be standing in judgement, because Jesus took all our wrong actions, attitudes, and words to the cross.  But instead, this will be a recognition for us of all that was wrong, and all that we are turning over to God to leave behind, to be part of a perfect eternity.

When Paul asks the question ‘Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?’ I suspect he says this to encourage us to respect each other in the Christian Community, whether we agree with each other or not.  And not just to avoid judgment ourselves. 

With this epiphany rising up in our spirit every time we are tempted to condemn someone, we can take hold of the words of Jesus to us today.  When Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven.”   A response that was intended to indicate we shouldn’t limit our forgiveness.  In just the same way we want God’s forgiveness never to be limited.

We will certainly encounter situations where our intuitions and our passions drive us in different directions, even as Christian brothers and sisters.  Keeping in mind that we are not to condemn others as we all try to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We should rather try to understand others with compassion, over the attitudes we perceive, the words we often misunderstand, and the ideas that are at times difficult for us to accept.

Rome in the days of Paul’s letter, was a very different place than we experience today in Australia.  A place where Gentile and Jewish converts to Christianity mixed together, sharing in both their faith in the Lord Jesus, and their persecution as followers of Jesus.  A place where Christians needed to let go of both pagan and ritualized Jewish practices.  A place where Christians needed to hear a voice speaking the Good News of Jesus Christ.   Paul became the voice speaking the clear message of the Gospel.

Paul wrote in Romans to the Church of his day, and to all Christians, throughout time.  The early Christians were in dispute over eating food that could be purchased in the market place, especially meat.  As Christians, they were not required to observe kosher.  Even so, they would be purchasing meat and other foods in the markets that most likely would have been presented first at the altar of some false god or goddess.  So to eat it would remind them of their previous life and practice of pagan worship.  And this would burden their conscience. 

Many of these early Christians preferred to eat only vegetables, rather than take a chance of eating sacrificed meat.  Others celebrated their freedom in Christ Jesus to accept the purchased food to be eaten with joy.  When Paul writes about weak faith, I am sure it was not their faith in Christ Jesus that was weak, but weak faith in themselves.

In the same way, the Jewish Christians disputed with the Gentile Christians about days of worship.  The Jewish Christians worshipped on the Sabbath, and again on the Lord’s Day, while the Gentile Christians saw no obligation to worship on the Sabbath.  And they saw no obligation to observe the Jewish holy days throughout the year.

I suspect that the Church at Rome must have been the fertile ground where the idea of ‘adiaphora’ took root.   The Greek word ‘adiaphora’ is translated literally as ‘things indifferent’.  It  is used to label those things which are not necessarily agreed upon, but which can be tolerated in the unity of Christians.  Those practices and attitudes which have no consequence for our salvation.  Areas of theology and tradition that can be compromised to promote unity, without sacrificing the core of our belief.

Paul encouraged the freedom of the choices that the early Christians made, and warned against condemning each other, which would have fractured their Christian unity.  Paul was most passionate about proclaiming Christ Jesus and the Kingdom of God with the Good News of Salvation.  Salvation found in the cross and empty grave that confronts every Christian.

It is said that in Lutheran circles there are not 52 different messages a year.  There is one message that is shared in 52 different ways each year.  A message of God’s grace, of his love for us, of his presence in our lives by his Holy Spirit.  A message of living in the fullness of our wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Unity in the fullness of our faith is the prevailing virtue of people of Christ Jesus.  The sustaining love between Christians has held us together in unity through the generations.  With an uncanny ability to discuss the things that would condemn, and to bring forgiveness and understanding where misunderstanding would have brought division.  Through every cross word and angry thought, the light of the Gospel has been shining with the love of Christ Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

As Paul encourages us, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.  If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

It reminds me of a poem by  Annie Johnson Flint:

“God has not promised Skies ever blue, flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God has not promised days without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

“But God has promised strength for the day, rest for the weary, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.”

As we share in God’s blessings today, may the grace and peace of God keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   AMEN.
Rev David Thompson

The Text: Matthew 18:15-20

 Imagine in your minds a picture of your classic sofa. Now I am interested to know from you, what things come into your mind when you imagine it? What things do you associate with the classic sofa? Obviously, there are very many things we use the sofa for such as watching TV, gaming, iPads, and phones, reading, lounging on, sleeping on when tired, eating on it, talking, sharing with a loved one. It has all the associations with comfort doesn’t it? But it also has another very useful function which can be both good and bad, depending on what you are going through. Young people might really love the sofa for some other interesting reasons especially when Mum or Dad ask you to do some chores; like the dishes, or dishwasher, tidying your room and all those things.

It’s other very important function is escape! It is the place where we want to stay when we don’t wish to go somewhere else. It is the place of comfort to get away from everything, we don’t like. It is the classic place to go to if we’ve had an argument with a loved one, coupled with the famous TV remote to truly hide ourselves away from our problems. It also curiously has that mesmerising effect on both adults and children where you just cannot seem to get up from it when someone asked you to do something, to which we cry: ‘Oh, do I have to?!  And of course, for men and especially older men, the sofa is can also be the classic ‘grandpa snoring’ chair. Once he’s sat down, he‘s fast asleep in no time.

Now friends, if the sofa has some strong associations with the need for ‘escape’ or withdrawing ourselves away for things we don’t like, then today’s Gospel reading in Matthew 18 is going to be quite a challenge to that. Today’s reading is Jesus’ instructions on how to reconcile and make peace with people who’ve wronged us, or we have wronged.

You see, the sofa or comfy chair is a symbolic place we tend to lounge around on, when there is a long-term problem with someone else. So when we have had a bad argument with a friend, spouse, family member or loved one, to comfort ourselves we try and find an emotional sofa for comfort and protection from all the pain of the fall out that we’ve suffered. Now that is okay at the start to find forms of comfort and strength to cope with something traumatic, but you know sometimes we can stay just a little too long on our emotional sofas, feeling the initial comfort and protection but then choosing not to get up from them. We may know people who have stayed put on their sofa’s for over thirty years, holding a grudge, always feeling like the poor victim who needs special treatment. They distract themselves with all sorts of comforts and treats, but they never feel the need to get off the chair to go and speak to someone they love deep down, but who they just can’t forgive.

Jesus knows our human nature very well and indeed the hurt we can inflict on others as well as the hurt we receive. He knows our tendency to sweep sin under the carpet, so we don’t have to face anything too difficult. Which is why he gives in today’s text a helpful step-by-step process for reconciliation.

The good news is that it starts small and simple but has potential for stumbles along the way. Jesus first says: ‘If your brother (or sister) sins against you, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you’. In other words, keep it private, in person and it is recommended to do it quickly. I strongly recommend not to write an email or send a text message. In most cases they can backfire and cause more hurt. In the isolation of our own private world we can too easily become fixated upon our own thoughts and prejudices and fail to see the neighbour for whom Christ was crucified to save.

No one can see your face when you write, and so your words, although carefully worded, can still get misunderstood and taken the wrong way. So go to the unreconciled brother or sister in person, rather than ‘stewing’  or mulling over it from the comfy sofa.

Now if the one-to-one experience goes wrong, and nothing you say seems to be taken the right way, then get one or two others to help mediate your discussion. Third parties can hear and see things that the heat of argument blinds you from seeing, and often it can be very helpful and make both hurt parties to feel safer to discuss things. 

Each of these steps so far has the potential for forgiveness and the matter to be over with, but occasionally you’ll argue with people who always have to be right about everything, who can’t tolerate any form of negative feedback. These types of people need Jesus’ third step; the church or the ‘ekklesia’ or wider gathering of believers to help sort the problem. In this setting the stubbornness to resolve things in someone who does not even listen to his pastor or his/her church elders, is now verging on something much bigger and more problematic. For if the person despises the counsel and advice of elders and pastors of the faith who have spiritual authority and giftings to discipline and reconcile people who become so bitter and enraged, then the person needs ‘time out’. Jesus says: ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

The translation here isn’t the clearest in English because Jesus is definitely not saying to intentionally be unkind, reject or persecute someone just like a pagan or Gentile, but he is using the analogy to say that sometimes we need to put people in ‘time out’ (put someone outside our social circles) so that we cannot not be continually hurt by someone trapped in bitterness. Also, it is done this way, so the other person has space to come to their senses and repent. In these situations, the door is always open for an angry brother or sister to come back, as the church is certainly not in the business of excluding people unless a person is a distinct threat to themselves or others. But in these times too it gives the wider church time and focus to pray for the person and break the power of the enemy.

The procedure in Matthew 18 is wonderfully helpful and truly healing when we wish to abide by it. We have a spiritual tool to sort out our problems as they arise, but the power of the emotional sofa of avoidance can stifle the process from its very beginning. It can make something, that could have been solved in a matter of hours, to sadly last all of one’s lifetime. And sadly too, many people die without resolving issues with their friends and loved ones, and these will be some key matters that Jesus will address with them when they meet him at the end of time face to face. 

But the comfort through all of this is that we do have access to God’s help! It’s not a situation of sinful human beings trying to find their own way through it all, but often a case of a spiritual battle taking place too. The benefit of having others involved in reconciliation is that the matter can attract powerful prayer. Jesus says this in verse 19:  “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Some powerful things can happen when people agree on something in prayer. The original word here is ‘symphoneo’ meaning to resound together in agreement or ‘singing the same tune together’.  So when there is a serious argument between two people our prayers can resound with the song of healing and repair, and we pray for the hurt parties to pick up the tune and pray too for their bitterness to fade away. In these moments of prayer and repair, Jesus says he is there among them.

Finally friends, we remember also, that Jesus did not offer himself the comfy chair or sofa to cope with us as human beings. He took on our horrible treatment of turning against him head on. He sacrificed himself on the cross to reconcile the world, even though the world was not willing to reconcile with him. As it says in Romans 5:8: ‘Whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us’. Christ died for us even though we as human beings were sitting there bitter on our sofas scoffing at him and hating him.

No longer do we remain isolated from each other in sin, or isolated from God in his judgement against our mistreatment of our neighbour. The Good News is that Christ has come to mend broken relationships and put back together again our messed-up lives. Through the church, his body of baptised believers, he comes to us in his absolving word which declares to the broken-hearted and the sorrowful that you are forgiven, you are free. For those locked up in their sin, not desiring forgiveness, they remain bound to their sin because they refuse the victory that Jesus has won for them. If we distant ourselves from God and his love it is not God’s fault but our own.

Jesus knows those here today or those you know who have a humble and forgiving heart who are still receiving the hurts, isolation, rejection of someone unwilling to get off their sofas and make peace with you.

The only thing you feel able to do is pray. Prayer is the thing to do to make doors open, and even if it takes a long time for someone’s heart to soften, we pray too for patience for that to happen.

We pray for our amazing and Holy God to encourage anyone of us be reconciled with that brother or sister we have hurt or who has caused hurt. For we not only have a God who helps us and gives us his power to heal and repair we have a Holy God who will help us to give unconditional love even if we don’t receive it in return. 

Jesus says, ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (John 13:34). 

Amen.   

The Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Paul writes to us

and the Church at Rome: ‘Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.’ 

Let’s join in a word of prayer:   Filled with a sense of your love for us, we come before you this morning, Lord God our Father.  We thank you for the fellowship we share, filled with both challenge and blessing for us as Christians joined together in love.  As we come together in fellowship, visit us with the presence and power of your Holy Spirit.  Create in us compassionate hearts, and spirits in tune with your grace and mercy. Turn our attention from every distraction, that we may be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Hear our prayer for the sake of our risen Lord.   Amen.

A young husband comes home one evening to a table set for an elaborate dinner.  He thinks, “something is up.  It’s not my birthday, or our anniversary.  But something is going on.  I just better keep quiet.”  His wife serves his favourite meal, beaming all the time, and he eats with a smile, but not a word. 

Over desert, she says “aren’t you going to ask me what’s new in my day?”  And the young husband confesses his confusion over their special dinner together, to which his wife replies quietly, “well, you see, your going to be a father.”  The combination of excitement and confusion overwhelms both of them as they just hold each other with the intimacy of shared amazement. 

Over the next nine months, this husband sees the changes in his wife and in their routines, as they adjust to the pregnancy, and the expectation of new life.  On the day, after rushing to get things ready, and make the journey to the hospital, this same husband stands beside the gurney as his wife suffers through the birth.  When their son is delivered, this young husband suddenly comes to realise all that being a father is about.  With sudden clarity, he receives the epiphany of the joys, responsibilities, sorrows, and satisfactions that will be part of his life from that moment on.  Because now he isn’t just a son, a man, and a husband.  He is now a father. 

When that father left his wife to rest after the birth, and his son to be cared for at the hospital, he returned home to an empty house for one last time. As he sat in his easy chair, he caught sight of their bible on the stand. 

He opened it for a bit of solace from the combined sense of love for his family, joy of the day, and anxiety over the future. 

The Bible almost opens itself to the readings of Matthew 16.  The reading we shared last week, with the wondrous excitement of the epiphany of Jesus as the Christ, Son of the Living God.  Followed by today’s reading, with Jesus explaining just what it would mean for them, as Jesus fulfilled his role as Saviour, by suffering, dying and rising again in victory over sin and  death.

How appropriate for this young father.  He saw in this scripture a picture of Peter, called to be a fisher of men.  Following Jesus as a Disciple and Apostle.  Witnessing the authority of Jesus as the Christ.  Authority over sickness, over nature, over demons and even death.   And finally, Peter himself is given a revelation by God of who Jesus is.  The Saviour and Son of God.  But it becomes clear in Peter’s life, that every watershed moment received from God, brings out the devil trying to stalk in God’s footsteps. 

When Jesus explained what it meant to be the Saviour, it was impossible for Peter to accept that a Saviour with such authority could ever submit to the punishment and death of a criminal.  The devil used Peter’s hesitation as an opening to try and corrupt God’s plan for humanity’s salvation.  With a bit of coaxing, Peter pleads with Christ Jesus, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”

Much like this young father, I can never forget the response of Jesus, “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.”  I struggled with this response for some time, before I received an epiphany of my own to look at this verse in a different way.  I saw in this event the devil working his worst to pervert the plan of God, and instead, Jesus taking authority over the devil.  That Jesus was speaking directly to the devil when he said, “Get behind me, Satan!” 

Jesus was placing himself between the devil and Peter. Just as he does for us in the midst of our temptations and challenges of life.  Later on, the devil would again ask to test Peter, when Peter denied knowing Jesus when he suffered. But Jesus restored Peter after his resurrection.  Just as Jesus does for us in repentance and forgiveness. 

For now in the reading, Jesus addressed the fears of Peter, “You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  Just like us, Jesus reminds us from time to time to look at things through the faith we have in Jesus, rather than through the lens of the world. 

And then this young father started to relate all this to his own experience of the past year, and especially the day.  How he was told he would become a father.  How he tended to his beloved wife as she nurtured the unborn child in her womb.  How he faced the excited realisation that it was really happening.  And the fears of what that would mean in his life.  At one point he almost wanted to cry out, “No, it shouldn’t work that way.”  Much like Peter cried out. 

Now, as this young father recalls the response of Jesus, how just as Jesus intervened between Peter and the devil, Jesus the Christ intervened between this young father, and the dread that began to plague him. 

With faith in Jesus Christ, every father can look at his life, his family, and especially his children, with an awareness of the responsibility of being a parent.  But still hold onto hope that overcomes fear.  With the love of God our Father that overshadows the challenge of being a parent. With faith in Jesus Christ that overcomes apprehension.

 In typical fashion, Christ Jesus didn’t leave it there.  Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me.”  And so this young father, following the plan of God our Father, and the advice of Jesus Christ our Saviour, resolved to be the best father he could be, setting aside his concern for himself, and living now for his family.

Paul shares with us what that means for every parent, especially fathers.  That love must be completely sincere.  Showing love depends on having a clear understanding of what being a father is all about.

When Jesus invites us to ‘forget ourselves, carry our cross, and follow him’, he was inviting us to let go of all that hinders us from carrying the cross of sincere love for our families. 

It takes personal discipline to avoid selfish motives for the things that we do for Jesus and for our children. 

As I consider the words of Jesus today, I am reminded that Jesus carried his cross from the day he was baptized.  The cross that he carried right up to the day he pulled a wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem.   

It was the cross of knowing he was the sacrifice for the sin that broke our relationship with God our Father.  It was the cross of rejection by people he loved so much. As Jesus showed ‘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’.

Jesus set aside so much that was precious, to take up that cross.  He left his divine presence in heaven to enter humanity.  He set aside his divine power to become one of us, and experience humanity.

This morning, I feel Jesus asking us what we are willing to set aside to carry our cross and follow him.  So that we can serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion, and let our hope keep us joyful. 

I acknowledge that those of us who are here today are certainly counted among the disciples who have a desire to follow Christ Jesus. 

As Paul encourages us, we can ask God to fill us with his Holy Spirit to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn, and live in harmony with one another.’ To ‘have the same concern for everyone’, especially our children.

Not to ‘be proud, but accept humble duties’. Not to ‘think of ourselves as wise’, but to seek the wisdom of God our Father to be faithful parents, husbands, and wives.  Leading our families with compassion of Christ Jesus, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We take great comfort that Jesus is Lord.  And so, we carry our cross and follow Jesus, day by day, taking note of our mistakes and mis-steps.  While celebrating the love of Christ Jesus that speaks forgiveness and acceptance even in face of our vulnerability, as children, couples, and parents.

And we rely upon the grace and mercy of our God to keep our hearts and minds set on Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen  

Rev David Thompson

The Text: Matthew 16:13-20

Stories that feature a person with an unknown identity seem to be quite popular.  We might think of Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Zorro, and the Lone Ranger.  The other characters in those stories are left to wonder, ‘Who is that masked man?’

Even though Jesus didn’t wear a mask, his identity was often in question. For example, when Jesus was arrested and put on trial, one of the problems for his accusers was to try and work out who Jesus was. Herod, Pilate and the religious leaders all knew that Jesus was the man called Jesus of Nazareth, who went around teaching and healing. But who was he really? They saw him as a threat, a blasphemer, a law-breaker, a pretend king.

As we heard in the gospel lesson, at one time Jesus himself had asked his disciples what people were saying about him. ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ he asked them. There were a lot of answers to that question. The disciples reported that people were saying that he was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. It seems that the people noticed that Jesus was some kind of godly person.

Then Jesus made the question personal. It was no longer about what others might think. He said to his disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ As we heard, Peter answered with his confession, answering for them all, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Peter answered for all Christians really. The church believes and teaches that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. However, the question is also personal for each one of us. ‘Who do you yourself believe and say that he is?’

This question about who Jesus is can never really go unanswered. Even if people avoid answering or refuse to answer, then that is also in fact an answer to the question. People might want to leave their options open or offer a variety of different alternatives, but ultimately the question comes down to this: Is Jesus the Son of God or not? That’s a decisive question for the Christian faith. Is Jesus my Lord or not?

The world has no shortage of different ideas about who Jesus is. Some might only see Jesus as a godly man, a good man, a good teacher, a good guide for a morally upstanding life. For them, Jesus existed in the past to show people the way they should live. This is a weakness with the ‘What would Jesus do?’ approach to life choices. In that approach Jesus can be regarded as an example in the past, rather than known as the Lord who lives with us now and calls us to trust him and follow him. A Jesus who is left in the past can’t bring us into a living relationship with God, where we are forgiven and set free to serve. Then the Christian faith stops being life and salvation, and becomes another moralistic way of living, coloured by guilt or pride. 

Who do you say that I am? asks Jesus.

Another fairly popular idea is to see Jesus as the supplier of our needs. He becomes the supplier of perceived needs, someone who will keep us comfortable and our stomachs full. When Jesus fed the crowds, they wanted to make him king. They saw Jesus as someone who would solve their problems, perhaps freeing them from the Romans, feeding them and keeping them happy. Today, some people see Jesus in a similar way. They turn to him with their wants. They think that his main role is to keep them happy and comfortable, supplying the new house they want, or the new job which would let them know that they enjoy God’s favour. That’s not a living faith, a living relationship with God, and is really an outpouring of selfish human whims and desires.

Who do you say that I am? asks Jesus. There is indeed no shortage of wrong answers to that question.

It was Peter who answered for the other disciples, for the church and for us. We say, with Peter, Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus told Peter that his answer was the work of God. God the Father had revealed the true nature of Jesus to him. It always was and is God’s work to create faith. This is what God continually does in the church. God brings us to faith in Jesus, letting us trust him and confess him as God’s Son, the Saviour he has sent us.

The name Peter means rock. This was the name Jesus gave to Simon, the son of John. Jesus cleverly used that name for emphasis. Jesus declared that he would build his church on the God given faith articulated by Peter. This God given faith is a solid foundation. Not even death will stand against the church. That’s because the church isn’t built on a fallible human, like rocky Peter. No, the church is built on the One whom Peter confessed. There is one foundation upon which the church is built by God. That foundation is the Crucified Jesus, God’s Son, who lovingly gave His life away so that the world might be drawn from death into life with God forever.

Jesus promised to build his church solidly and securely. Jesus promised Peter that he would be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was promising that the doors of heaven and hell would be unlocked and thrown open for people through the proclamation of Jesus the Saviour. We live in that promise. We can all declare Christ’s forgiving presence to each other, showing one another the open doors of heaven. The presence of the living Lord Jesus forgives sin and throws open the doors of heaven. 

We are invited to live in Jesus’ promises, and his question is in the present tense for us: “Who do you say that I am?”

God’s Spirit has shown us that Jesus is God’s Son, our Saviour. God’s Spirit moves us to joyfully declare to one another that Jesus is with us, that he forgives sin, that he has smashed open the prison of death and that he has thrown open the gates of heaven. Yet the disciples were sternly ordered not to tell anyone that Jesus was the Messiah. That might confuse us at first. 

The difference, between us now and the disciples then, is that Jesus has died and risen again. The danger then was that if the disciples said that Jesus was the Messiah, then the people would want him to be the Messiah of their expectations.  It finally became clear what sort of Messiah Jesus is when he willingly allowed himself to be killed in order to save the world. Once sin and death had been defeated, then Jesus sent the disciples out with the promise of his eternal presence.

Who do you say Jesus is? Luther gives us a good simple answer in the Small Catechism. “I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord. He is truly God – he has always been the Son of the Father. He is also a real human being, the Virgin Mary’s son.  Jesus rescued me when I was lost and sentenced to death. He set me free from all my sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. It cost him more than gold or silver; it cost him his life. Even though he was holy and innocent, he suffered and died for me. Jesus did this so that I can belong to him, and he can rule over me as my king. I can live under him and serve him, innocent and happy forever, just as he was raised to life, and lives and rules forever. This is certainly true.”(Second part of the Apostles’ Creed.)

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.