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St Matthew 16:13-20
“Who Do You Say That I Am?”
or, “The Father Gives us the Gift of Confessing Jesus is Lord”
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost, 2005
Divine Service
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, Colorado
Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear People of God,
Listen to what Jesus says to Peter in our Gospel text:
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.
Now that is something. It's as if heaven opens and all its gifts and treasures are poured out on Peter. Jesus' joy at whatever Peter did is obvious. He proclaims Peter's blessedness; He says that what Peter did Jesus will build His church upon, and then gives us this wonderful promise that the gates of Hades, of Hell, will not prevail against the church, and then, even more, Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the authority to bind and loose sins. Whatever Peter said or did, it must have been amazing. What did He do to deserve such great praise from Jesus and receive from Him such awesome gifts?
What great and wonderful work did Peter do?
Did he find a way to bring peace between the Roman empire and the Jews?
Did he build a city? Conquer a country?
We try to think of the greatest good and mighty work we can.
Did Peter find the cure for cancer? A way to stop aging? Feed the hungry? Heal the sick?
Whatever Peter did it must have been a great and wonderful work, a work great enough to turn the world upside down. So what was it? What did Peter do?
The text reads: [Jesus] said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
That's it? All Peter did was say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Isn't that just words? Anyone could say that, right? What's the big deal about confessing that Jesus is the Christ?
It might seem to be a small thing in the eyes of the world, really like nothing at all, but the confession that Jesus is the Christ is great in the eyes of the Lord. So great, in fact, that flesh and blood and all the power of man cannot accomplish it. This confession can only be accomplished by the working of God. As Jesus said to Peter, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Or St Paul to the Corinthians, “No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' but by the Holy Spirit.” [1 Corinthians 12:3] The Father gives Peter the gift of confessing Jesus as Lord.
And on this gift, the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus is pleased to build His church. Throughout all the ages, the Lord Jesus builds His church on the confession of Jesus, for the confession of Jesus is the preaching of the Gospel, the promise of the forgiveness of all sins. The church was, is and will always be built on this confession. To the world, this confession seems like a weak foundation, just words and teaching, this seems like a house built on shifting sand, but according to Jesus this confession is so rock solid that even the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The church will always stand, by the power of God the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father, the church will always confess that Jesus is Lord, the Christ of God, will always have the keys to heaven, to open heaven to repentant sinners and rejoice with them in the Lord's gifts.
These keys to the kingdom of heaven, we call this the office of the keys, “the peculiar church power which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of penitent sinners, but to retain the sins of impenitent sinners as long as they do not repent.” [Luther, Small Catechism] And so the door to heaven is found here on earth, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the baptismal washing of regeneration, in the blessed sacrament of the Lord's body and blood, here are found the keys to heaven, the opening of the door and entering in; here are found the Lord's gifts of life, salvation and the forgiveness of all sins. All built upon the gift from the Father to Peter, the gift of the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
This gift of confessing Jesus that God the Father granted Peter, He also grants us. It might seem like a small thing, that we all gather here every Sunday, and say together, “I believe.” We confess our faith, on Sundays with a Baptism or without the Lord's Supper we use the words of the Apostle's Creed. On Sundays like today, when we have the wonderful privilege of partaking of the Lord's Supper and receiving the Lord's very body and blood for our forgiveness, we use the words of the Nicene Creed. It might seem like a small thing that we say the creed together, but it is cause for great joy and rejoicing in the Lord. These words are given to us to confess as a gift of God. Flesh and blood cannot reveal these truths to us, but only our Father who is in heaven.
It may seem like a small thing when we confess that Jesus is Lord to each other, and encourage one another with the Lord's forgiveness, this is no small thing. On this speaking of Jesus love for each other, the church is built, and then we forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven us, and bear with each other, helping each other.
It may seem like a small thing when we speak the name of Jesus to our friends and neighbors, and we tell them of the love of Jesus and the forgiveness that flows from His cross and is found in His church, but it is not small thing. This, indeed, it the Gospel, the very power of God to convert the soul and make the unrighteous holy and righteous through the forgiveness of all of their sins.
On all of this, the gift of the confession of Jesus as Christ and Lord and God, the Lord is still pleased to build His church. Yes, even this church, all of us here, Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, Colorado, thousands of miles and thousand of years away from Peter's confession, the Lord Jesus has established and built us into His church by this confession, that Jesus is Lord, the Christ, the Son of God, very God of very God. The Father gives us, too, the gift of confessing Jesus as Lord.
We have the privilege of making that confession now. Please rise as we confess together the Lord's name with the words of the Nicene Creed (LW p. 166)...
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, be whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate be the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Blessed are you, dear people of God, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but our Father who is in heaven. And I say to you, that on this rock Jesus will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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