A Gift of Faith and a Question --- Matthew 16:13-20 - The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

 A Gift of Faith and A Question

Matthew 16:13-20 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

This reflection is an afterglow of sorts. I’m writing this after my week-long study of the passage above and after hearing the Gospel Sermon on Sunday. Sometimes, this type of reflection is just as meaningful as the reflections prior to hearing the Sunday Sermon. I must admit that as I bask in the study and worship this past Sunday, I fall into a few categories myself. I seem to fall into a category of more questions, or just standing in awe, or a final category of total dumbfounded wonder. All of the categories leave me in the realm of God’s grace and love. 

This study brought me to deal with several terms that you will see later. What pulled me in was how faith is a gift from God and God has a very personal question to ask of me. The lessons and the Psalm for this Sunday however prefaced so much of what I reflect in the Gospel.

My brief notes were as follows:

• Isaiah 51:1-6 - God’s salvation lasts forever

• Psalm 138 - God’s love is forever

• Romans 11:33-12:8 - Renew – Transform to God’s will

Now, for the Gospel…

A choice is given to us. A choice we can’t fully evade. Look at the question Jesus poses to his disciples. “… who do YOU say that I am?” --- my emphasis on the YOU. Peter answers, but Peter’s revelation is not by his human wisdom. Peter’s answer is a gift from God. God sent Jesus into this world as flesh and blood and reveals God’s own being in Jesus himself. God reveals himself in Jesus. This in itself is something to ponder hour on hour. Why? Why care? God becomes flesh and blood and human in all aspects. I’ll leave that here for now, for you to pray upon.

Now, I’ll take a second with the terms that I came up against.

• Rock – Is the rock Peter’s faith? Is the rock Peter? Peter shows the faith that God has given to him with his answer to Jesus’ direct question. So, was Peter the first chosen? Was Peter the Rock of the new Covenant?  Or… Was Peter to unify the Church? These are questions that people have wrestled with throughout these last days.

• Church – Was this the New Testament Church? If so, it didn’t exist at the time of this question and answer. Was this Church the Synagogue of the last days?

• Keys – Administration of the Church? Interpretation of Christ’s words? Power to forgive sins? All question I’ve seen posed in my research of this text. I tend to lean towards the power to forgive sins granted in scripture to disciples of Jesus.

• Powers of Death – Is this the end age?

These are a few terms from this passage that may bring you to reflect, research and fall into one or more categories mentioned above. Questions… Questions… Questions.

I can’t deny that this scripture leads me to think of the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed.

The Second Article (Concerning Redemption)

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

What does this mean? (Luther’s Explanation)

I believe that Jesus Christ — true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary — is my Lord. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, and has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil, not with silver and gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this in order that I might be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns for all eternity. This is most certainly true!

Look at the first sentence under “What does this mean?” I believe… How do I believe? God gives me faith from above. God gives me faith; he gives you faith and Peter faith. We are given the faith we need as a gift from God that we may believe. I believe in Jesus for eternity because God gives me faith to believe. We can trust in Jesus throughout all ages.

We tend to look at what Jesus says about Peter and possibly make the mistake that the Church is built upon Peter. No, Jesus is the heartbeat of the church. A church raised by faith given through Jesus alone. And this faith is not a conjured-up faith coming from man’s works. This faith is a gift from God. The Church is built on Jesus alone, who uses weak mortals as stones in his temple. The Rock is the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.

So, my take? Another question! Acknowledge Jesus. Bring the gifts Jesus gives to you to his Church and become one with Jesus with the many gifts of all Jesus’ disciples in his Church. In this Church of Jesus, discover for yourself what Peter discovered… Jesus IS God! And, the power of death cannot defeat the Church of Jesus… today… tomorrow… and forever.

So…The Questions… What do you think about Jesus? Who do you say Jesus is?

And There Was Silence - Matthew 15:21-28 - The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

 

And There Was Silence

Matthew 15:21-28 ESV

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

This is a disturbing passage for me for multiple reasons. So, here, I’ll attempt to be honest with myself and honest with the word. In my heart and from readings out of the Bible, I like to think that God accepts me and all people. I like to think that God blesses his children and is impartial. Yet, as I read this passage, I get a tinge of doubt. Unfounded doubt, for the most part, but doubt still the same. Yet, also in this passage, I witness Law and Gospel. Law and Gospel for me and for you and for this Canaanite Women.

I suppose the first think to note is a bit of geography. Jesus went away from there… There where? It seems from the previous chapter that the there is Gennesaret. Gennesaret is a region or town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Gennesaret was within the boundaries of Israel, but Tyre and Sidon were outside the boundaries of Israel. Jesus had left his own land and now was in the Gentile world.

I mentioned last week that Jesus was at a turning point in his ministry. And this turning point begins to play out now. Tyre and Sidon were two notoriously ungodly cities. As Jesus traveled with his disciples a Canaanite woman approached the group seeking Jesus’ help for her demon oppressed daughter.

It's in this next moment of the scripture that I am stunned, shocked, yet as I ponder and reflect now, I’m enlightened by Jesus. The moment? … Jesus did not answer her a word.

What? Why? How callous! Yet once again. In the past two weeks of reflection, Jesus, both times attempted to seek God in prayer alone. Perhaps prayer in silence. Jesus withdrew to a deserted place to pray and then to a mountain to pray. I presume he prayed in silence. Maybe or maybe not, but it makes sense to me that Jesus wanted to be alone in prayer in silence.

And here once again, I see Jesus in silence. The silence of Jesus strikes me. Perhaps, in silence Jesus searches the heart of this Canaanite woman, perhaps in silence Jesus searches my heart and your heart as well. How many times does Jesus seem to watch this world in silence? It seems silence strikes Jesus many times. In silence Jesus glances at his disciples, perhaps at his betrayal, his denial and perhaps as his death upon the cross. In silence Jesus forgives the world of sin for they know not what they do. In silence Jesus stands before his persecutors prior to his crucifixion. I can see and feel the sighs of Jesus as he sees my sinfulness. And I’m reassured that Jesus prays for me, and you and all the world in silence. Maybe I’m wrong about this… but I don’t think so.

I’m reminded of Psalm 46:10 … “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46 is the inspiration for Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress.”  Verse 10 especially leans towards our need to trust in God for salvation. And like the Canaanite woman, I too cry, “Lord, help me.” And like the Canaanite woman, I am not of God’s Chosen People from the House of Israel. I still need Jesus, just as the Canaanite woman needs Jesus, Israelite or not.

May Jesus meet my cry for help in the same way he met the Canaanite woman’s cry for help… with silence. Jesus meet my cry, I pray, with your prayer of silence. Your prayer for me as deep as eternity. Yet a silence of only a moment.

And call me what you want, but I need your help, Jesus! Maybe I am a doggie or a puppy, I still need your help. Just as Peter realized in the Tenth chapter of Acts, the Holy Spirit fell on all who hear God’s Word and believed, both Jew and Gentile. In the Gospel passage above, Jesus sees the faith of the woman right before his eyes. God gives us the faith we need to believe, and believe we must before Jesus as we seek help. The woman and myself and perhaps you too, will take help in our time of need no matter what Jesus’ attitude about her, me or you, may be.

As for me, I know my sinful heart needs Jesus. I need Jesus to live. And I am not too humble to beg as a doggie or puppy for the scraps of grace and love that only Jesus can offer. In the faith God gives to me, I’m not proud, yet I’m humble. So, the reply of the Canaanite woman comes with faith and humility.

And out of the silence of Jesus, breaks forth a resurrection of love and life. Right from the mouth of Jesus… Jesus says, “Be it done for you as you desire.”

A disturbing passage that confirms…

·       God accepts

·       God blesses

·       God’s mercy is impartial

As I stand before God, in silence, I hear the silence of Jesus resurrection to bring me and you and all God’s people to be with him. Not from our own efforts. But from the silence of God’s grace in the prayers of Jesus for each and all of us. Prayers for life for each of us as we turn toward Jesus and proclaim…

“Lord, help me.” --- today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen

 

Focus Into the Eyes of Jesus - Matthew 14:22-33 - Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost

 

Focus into the Eyes of Jesus

Matthew 14:22-33 ESV

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

What an interesting passage of scripture that is applicable today, yesterday and forever. In this passage, we find Jesus in need of prayer. This was the second time in this chapter in which Jesus attempts to draw away for prayer. Last week, Jesus withdrew into a boat for prayer, but the crowds interrupted him. This weeks account has Jesus going up to a mountain to pray. What strikes me funny hear is that Jesus MADE the disciples leave this time in a boat.

This was a decisive time in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was breaking away from the Jewish Law to devote himself to his disciples. Jesus needed to pray. Which reminds me of how important prayer was to the life of Jesus. Prayer is important in the life of all believers and disciples of Jesus. Prayer is a time to speak to God and to listen to God. The introduction to the Lord’s Prayer… Our Father who art in heaven. This is our beginning to prayer with God. And Jesus withdrew, as we all should withdraw to God in prayer. Why? Well, God wants us to call on him as if we were little children calling to a loving Father. A Father in which we feel confident and bold to call upon for guidance, understanding, direction and love. When we call on God, we call upon God, God listens, and also, we must pause and listen to God.

In prayer we experience the alternation of true living. Living prayers that draw us to rest and work. Prayers when we hear God’s call for our lives in our daily situations. And prayers where we live out God’s call for us in action that pleases him.  God hears the cries of his children.

Yes, in prayer, Jesus came to understand his mission for the world and all the people he has come to save. Yet, we live our life in the midst of a few storms.

The storm this early morning came as the disciples were obeying Jesus’ command to leave in the boat. Jesus sent the disciples away and into what soon became a storm on the lake. Storms come to all of us. As I recalled last week, about my feelings of being caught in the middle of the ocean all alone after the death of my brother-in-law and sister only days apart, sometimes in life, we a caught in a little boat in a vast sea of water. We find ourselves helpless and alone in need of Jesus.

In this passage, and in life, Jesus walks into the midst of our storms, even in the middle of the night, here, sometime around 3am to 6am. Jesus comes not as a ghost or something of our imagination, but as a Savior to bless us in the midst of the storm.  Jesus invades the storm, of which he may have sent us into, to declare that he IS I AM. Jesus comes to us while we are in the fear of death, to open our eyes to life, in and through him and him alone.

In this passage, Peter leaps before he looks. How we desire to escape the storms of life, and into the arms of Jesus. But it seems better to leap than to spend way too much time looking before we leap. If I look too long, I just may think that I can escape this storm with my own effort. If I think I’m so smart, guess what!  This thinking reminds me of God’s answer to Job…

Job 38:4-18 ESV

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?
It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and its features stand out like a garment.
From the wicked their light is withheld,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.

God passes through the waters. God has been passing through the waters all along. Think of the Red Sea and the passage through the waters. Think of crossing the Jordan and passing through the waters. And, pause and think of Baptism, a passing through the waters from death to new life in and with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God has been passing through all the storms of life for us and with us. The result? God gives us his Word. God gives us Jesus to walk through the storm and call us to him. As we come to Jesus God gives us the faith we need. Hearing Jesus word on the waters and in prayer are all we need.

When Peter stepped out of the boat, we step with him as well. But my sinful self and the Law that points me to my sin gets in the way. I have a love for Jesus just as Peter had a love for Jesus. But love mixed with the pride that tells me that I can walk to Jesus on my own causes me to sink. I am not able to save myself. Rather my need is to be saved fully by Jesus. I am helpless without God. And… I sink in my own selfish pride. I can’t come to Jesus a half believer.

I fail when my eyes are partly on me and partly on Jesus. My eyes must turn from my sin and turn to the eyes of Jesus fully engaged that salvation can not come partially through me but only wholly through Jesus.

And there you have it. Being terrified of ghosts in the midst of the storms of life, I must fully focus into the eyes of Jesus and worship only the great I AM… today… tomorrow… and forever.

So, I say to you. Step out of the boat. Say a prayer and go, trusting, not on yourself, no, look into the eyes of Jesus, and trust fully in his salvation from the chaotic waters of the sea.

Thanks be to God!

 

 

 

A Little Signal Goes a Long Way – Matthew 14:13-21 – The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

 

A Little Signal Goes a Long Way

Matthew 14:13-21 (ESV)

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

What a story! Is it real? Is it another parable? I’m not the one to say. I’m just a Christian Layman Disciple of God interested in God’s Word and God’s calling for me in my life. But I do have something to say. As little as it is; I do have a reflection on the Word of God as to what I hear God speaking to me in this passage.

In this passage, Jesus hears about John the Baptist’s beheading and withdraws from the crowds to be alone. I have had this very exact feeling lately. The desire to withdraw to be alone at the recent death of my brother-in-law and my sister, just over a week apart. I withdrew and felt the feeling of being in a boat in the middle of the ocean all by myself. My withdrawal, however, turned into a selfish pity for my own loss. A selfish pity of my own pain. It wasn’t until I heard the voice of Jesus calling me back to the shore, to be with him, that I began to change. You see, Jesus had compassion for me. Jesus loved me and wanted me to be with him, rather than to be alone in my little boat in the midst of the ocean.

In this Gospel passage, Jesus has compassion on the crowds. The crowds were beat down by, not only the rulers of the day, but the religious authorities as well. John the Baptist, the one crying out in the wilderness for the crowd to turn and repent, was now dead. Where were the crowds to turn now? Jesus went to be alone, but he also came to the shore to the crowds. Jesus came to the shore and was full of compassion for the people. The people were like sheep without a shepherd. They had lost John the Baptist leadership. So, Jesus had compassion for them.

And the compassion of Jesus means the power to save. Jesus has compassion so rich, so deep, that he will save the crowds in need.

Contrast the meal in this passage, a meal of compassion and love, to the party meal of Herod and the beheading of John the Baptist in the few verses earlier in Matthew 14:1-12…

Matthew 14:1-12 (ESV)

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.

Back to the current Gospel passage…

Human troubles are too great for human strength. The crowd is tired and hungry and away from civilization.

Here, Jesus takes a small amount of human resource (food) and changes it into more than is needed. Jesus compassionate grace makes all the difference. Jesus is the giver of the bread of life. Later in the Great Meal, Jesus reflects on life in him in the gifts of bread, his body, of wine, his blood and leads all to him in a salvation only in him and through him, given freely to all who believe in him. All kind of a summary of this whole passage in the Great Meal… Today… Yesterday… Forever.

Five loaves and two fish, leave the multitude helpless.

I should not fail to mention to some of the literalists out there, nowhere in the Gospels does it claim that Jesus multiplied the food. There is something much deeper happening here as Jesus gives his compassion away to the crowds. Crowds, today, yesterday and into eternity.

The bread came through human hands after all. Someone had to make the bread from the gifts God gave to them from the earth. This tiny bit of bread was given into the hands of Jesus. Jesus bids us to bring our tiny bit of troubles to him. Jesus bids and calls us to come to him, even as Jesus comes to us. Bring what we believe to be insurmountable, starving, death filled, troubles to Jesus.

And, in another sense, bring what we have to offer from our hands to Jesus to make something out of them, that is goodness for all the world.

So, now I will go off of the deep end. As some of you know, I love Ham Radio. I love to send signals out towards the ionosphere to contact friends known and unknown. Yes, I daily, for the most part, send out my small electro magnetic signal into the air through a small wire strung between a couple of trees.

My tiny signal of 100 watts or less bounces around in the ionosphere and hops across the earth to reach a multitude of other Ham Radio Operators, listening for my signal, to respond to it in kind. Some of my signal goes straight out into space in an endless quest to reach who knows who.

My signal is not really of my own effort. I put very little effort into how my signal spreads. God takes my tiny signal to all the earth and sky to spread it around. My tiny signal is spread into space as well. God takes what little I have and gives it exceedingly, to all the universe.

In this meal and in my electro magnetic signal there is an alliance between man’s little bit and God’s abundance. If we do what we can, in trust and dedication to God; God will bring about the increase.  The steadfast love and compassion of God in Jesus endures forever.

Come to the free banquet of a few fish and a little bread, out of the sure death of our very need and hear the call of Jesus. You are a Child of the Promise, a Child of God.

Take it freely, and give it freely, trusting in God to lead you, guide you, fill you, send you in his compassionate grace and love, today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen

Thanks be to God for this Great Meal of Today, Yesterday and Forever!