Who Is the Son of Man? - August 21, 2011 - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16) - Text: Matthew 16:13-20

Last Sunday we were confronted with the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus to request healing for her demon possessed daughter. At the same time we were reminded that this event took place between the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. The feeding of the five thousand with the twelve baskets of leftovers has as its underlining message that Jesus came to “feed,” or to provide for the twelve tribes of Israel. The feeding of the four thousand with the seven baskets of leftovers has as its underlining message that Jesus came to “feed,” or to provide for the nations of the Gentiles. Our “What does this mean?” last week was that Jesus is our Savior. Jesus came to save all people, Jew and Gentile alike. By faith in Him, He is your Savior and mine. Our text for this morning follows the request of the Pharisees and the Sadducees that Jesus give them “a sign from heaven” to show that He was the promised Messiah. Ironically they missed all the signs and wonders Jesus was already performing and so Jesus declines their request. In our text for this morning Jesus finally has a little time for Himself and His disciples and He uses this time to find out how His mission is progressing and to strengthen the faith of His disciples.

There are two parts to our text this morning. The first part of our text is the question of Jesus’ identity and the second part is the giving of the Keys to the kingdom of heaven. As for the first part, Jesus gathered His disciples together and He asked them this question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” His disciples answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

If you will remember, John the Baptist had been beheaded. It was Herod’s fear that Jesus might be John brought back to life. So some thought Jesus might be John. Others thought Jesus might be Elijah. Again, you may remember that before the Messiah was to come, Elijah was expected to prepare His way. Every year when the Passover was celebrated an empty chair was always made available just in case Elijah might return. Of course, we are looking back and can clearly see that Elijah did return in the spirit of John the Baptist (as Jesus Himself tells us) and he was preparing the way for Jesus the Messiah. Still others thought that Jesus was either Jeremiah or one of the prophets, namely Moses having come back to life. I guess if you want to pull some bit of good out of these possibilities, at least all the people thought highly of Jesus, enough to think that He was one of the great people in their history.

If the question of “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” was poised today, I would offer that some people would say He was a good man. Some people would say He was a good teacher. And still others would say He was a good example. But just as almost no one recognized Him as the Messiah when He first came to earth, so, not everyone recognizes Jesus as the Messiah still today. As a matter of fact, just as His presence caused division when He came to earth, so His name still causes division today.

Anyway, having obtained these wrong answers of who He is, Jesus moves past any comments and asks His disciples directly, “But who do you say that I am?” Immediately, Peter speaks for himself and for the disciples and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” As usual, Peter speaks without thinking and in this instance this is not a bad thing, for Peter was not speaking from within himself, but he was speaking as he was moved by the Holy Spirit and by Jesus’ Father in heaven. As Jesus tells him, “. . . For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” The disciples’ time with Jesus was not wasted time. They knew who Jesus was and is and they confessed the same.

But what about us, today? What is our confession of Jesus? Do we say the same thing as Peter? Do we confess with our lips, with our hearts, with our lives, with our thoughts, words and actions that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God? And if we do confess as such, do we realize that our confession is not our own, but is given to us by the Father in heaven as well.

In the explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed we confess, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.” If we confess faith in Jesus it is not because “I chose Jesus as my personal Savior,” rather it is because He has called us and given us faith and a confession of that faith. And He calls us to faith, in particular through the means of Grace, the Word of God. He enlightens us and strengthens us with His gifts, confession and absolution as well as Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He keeps us in the true faith. Notice that this is not from within, this does not come from inside of us, but this comes from outside of us, from the Holy Spirit working in us.

Of course, we understand that in our text Jesus is speaking to His disciples who we see already have faith. The third article is speaking to us to remind us of how we are brought to, given and kept in faith. Our text presumes we understand our nature and our need for a Savior. Our text presumes that we understand that we are conceived and born in sin, that we daily sin much and add to our sinfulness, that we are destined, on our own, to eternal spiritual death, that we understand that the cost, the price, the wage of sin is eternal spiritual death, that is that blood must be shed so there might be forgiveness. And our text presumes that we understand that as we confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God that we realize that this confession recognizes that we have complete faith and trust in Jesus as our substitute, that He is the one who paid the price, who shed His blood for our sins so that we might have forgiveness of sins.

Which brings us to the second part of our text, the giving of the Church and the Keys of the Church. Unfortunately there has been some misunderstanding in this text and the question of on who or on what is the church built. After Peter’s confession, Jesus says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, . . .” One understanding of this text, or I should say, one misunderstanding of this text, is that the church is built on Peter. However, a closer look at the words of this text will reveal that the church is built, not on Peter, but on Peter’s confession.

Jesus is making a pun. The name Peter is a masculine name and basically means a pebble. Jesus tells Peter that his flesh and blood confession is important and would be a confession proclaimed in a church building built by flesh and blood people. But, Jesus goes on to say, on this rock, which is petra, the feminine form of the word petros, or the feminine form of the word Peter, which means a solid rock or a foundation stone, on this solid foundation, which is Peter’s confession, He will build His Church, the Holy Christian Church, the invisible Church. In other words, our church building is built by human hands but our Church body of believers is built on the confession that Jesus is the Christ, that is on the Word of God, not on a human person.

We know about keys. Keys are those things which we need to give us access to the buildings and to the various rooms in the buildings. Keys are those things which are used to open doors and to lock doors. It does not surprise us, then, when Jesus gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The keys of the kingdom are for opening and locking the kingdom of heaven. They are for the preaching of the Gospel, the administering of the Sacraments, and the forgiving and retaining of the forgiveness of sins.

Of course, we understand that with keys comes duty, responsibility and privilege. We have the duty, the responsibility and the privilege to proclaim the Word of God in all its truth and purity, to rightly administer the Sacraments, the privilege of forgiving sins and the toughest responsibility of retaining sins when there is no confession or change in behavior to reflect repentance.

We can forgive sins. We can say, “Your sins are forgiven.” This privilege, above all others, is our because Jesus came to give His life for ours. He earned forgiveness for us on the cross. He gives us the privilege of sharing this forgiveness with others, but only as we confess with Peter, with the disciples and with all the saints, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, that He is true God and true man, that He is the Savior of the world.

The world today is still confused concerning the identity of Jesus. Some say He was a good man, a good teacher, a good example and yes, He was all those things and more. Others say He was a fictional character. Others say that He is a crutch for weak people to lean on. Still others outright refuse and reject Him and want nothing to do with Him. But what about us? Who do we say He is? We say He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and we say this, not of our own ability. We say this because this has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel, working through the Words of Holy Scripture, working through our Baptism, working through the Lord’s Supper. We say this as we are moved by the Holy Spirit. And because this is our confession, the Holy Spirit, also, continues to stir in our hearts the joy to confess our faith to others through our thoughts, words and actions so that still others might have a part in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So what does this mean? In his letter to the Romans, that is, in our Epistle lesson for today, Paul reminds us of just how “big” God is, that is that He is so much bigger than we might think or imagine. He is so big that He is unsearchable and inscrutable. All things come from Him and through Him. It is important that we know who Jesus is, because it is by faith in Him alone which brings eternal salvation and it is only as we confess His name that we have a part in His kingdom. And as a part of His Kingdom He gives us the right, the duty, the privilege and the responsibility to rightly use the Keys of the Kingdom, which we do only with His help. And He does help. As we make regular and diligent use of His means of grace, remembering our Baptism, reading the Bible, having personal and family devotions, spending time in prayer, being in divine service and Bible class, as often as possible and coming to the Lord’s Table to partake of His body and blood. Through these means our Lord shows Himself to us so that we might be strengthened in our faith and so that we may boldly and rightly confess who Jesus is and not be confused in our confession. May the Lord stir in your heart to be diligent in making use of His means of grace so that you might be strengthened in your own faith and confession and so that you might be better prepared to give a witness to the hope that is in you so that still others might join with us in proclaiming, to God be the glory. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

You Have Great Faith - August 14, 2011 - Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15) - Text: Matthew 15:21-28

Last week Jesus showed Himself to us, again, as truly human and truly divine, that is that He is true man and true God, or another way of saying this fact is that He is God in flesh. We were reminded of the importance of Jesus being God in flesh, that is, that Jesus is truly human so that He might be our substitute and that He is truly God so that He might be born sinless, perfect and holy and so that He might be able to overcome sin, death and the power of the devil. Our text for this week moves us past Jesus’ explanation to His disciples that what makes a person unclean is what is in a person’s heart, not what a person eats. Our text for this morning focuses our attention on the reason Jesus came to earth.

We have all been raised to believe that God answers prayer with “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” We have been told that when we pray we are to believe what we pray. And we have been taught by Jesus Himself to be persistent in our prayers. In our Bible reading for this morning it would appear that our learning is still missing one element, that element of, “What do we do when Jesus ignores our prayers and when He even suggests that we are not worthy to be listened to?” Well, that is how this story seems to play out.

Jesus had been discussing what makes a person clean or unclean, that is, spiritually clean or spiritually unclean. It is not what you eat that makes you clean or unclean, because what you eat simply passes through your body. What makes you clean or unclean, in God’s eyes, is what comes out of your heart, either faith or unbelief. Moving on in our text, leaving from that place and that discussion, our text says that Jesus withdrew privately to go to a place near the region of Tyre and Sidon. Here, again, we see Jesus as a human in need of some time alone for rest and relaxation, for reflection and time for strengthening through prayer with His Father in heaven. As He comes near to this place, this Gentile town, He is met by a Canaanite woman. Matthew makes sure that we understand that this is not a Jewish woman, but a Gentile woman, a foreigner, because that fact is an important fact to know, because we know how Jews, good Jews, good practicing Jews, are not allowed to associate or even speak with foreigners. Anyway, this foreigner, and a woman at that, comes crying out, yelling and hollering to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” Her’s is not a cry for self pity or for self help. Her’s is a painful cry of a loving mother for her daughter.

We know what it is like when one of our children is sick and we pray and expect God to hear our prayers and to answer them. We do not come to Him expecting Him to turn away or even to turn a deaf ear. What kind of a God would we be worshiping if we believed He would turn away? Yes, Jesus is Jewish and the woman in our story is a Gentile or we might imagine even worse, a Samaritan, but we would certainly think that Jesus, who is God, who is love, who came to save the world, would make an exception and have mercy on her. Certainly, if anyone would listen to her and help her it would be Jesus, at least that is what we think and I believe what she thinks. But . . . “[Jesus] did not answer a word.” Can you believe it? Jesus, loving God, loving Savior, cold heartedly does not answer her, not even a word. It just does not make sense, not to us and not to this Canaanite woman. And it was not just Jesus alone who turned away from her, it was His disciples as well, but we might expect that from His disciples. Remember these are the same disciples who turned children away from Jesus as well. However, this woman would not take “no” for an answer and instead continued to hound Jesus and His disciples. “[So] his disciples came and begged him saying, ‘Send her away, for she is crying out after us.’” It is really rather embarrassing.

I do not know about you, but I never really looked at this text in this way. It does not look so good for Jesus. We are raised to see Him as kind and loving. We are told that He is our best friend. We are told that He always answers our prayers. We are told that He came to save all people, but here we have it, right here in the pages of the Bible, right here in black and white. Jesus is refusing service, even refusing to speak to this foreigner. Certainly we must be mistaken. Certainly He has to listen and answer her.

And yet, we seem to be confirmed in our suspicions, that Jesus is cold hearted when “He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’”

Well what does that mean? I thought Jesus was sent to save all people of all places of all times. What does He mean, “only”? What does He mean, “lost sheep”? What does He mean, “Israel”? Can things get any worse? Today we would approach Jesus and we might cry out, “But I am an American. I am entitled to Your hearing me.” Or even, “But I am a Lutheran.” “You have to listen to me.”

It is obvious that the woman either did not believe Jesus, that He was cold hearted and uncaring, or she did not believe the words He spoke, or maybe she had a different understanding than we seem to be getting from the reading. We are told that she came and knelt before him. Actually she fell prostrate, that is she fell with her face to the ground, in the dirt, before Him and she said, “Lord, help me!” She recognized her unworthiness, that she was not worthy to have Him listen to her or answer her prayer, yet, she comes to Him anyway. And this time she gets a reaction. This time Jesus turns and speaks to her, but He still seems to be pretty cold hearted. He says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Let me say that it is true, Jesus did come only for the lost sheep of Israel. That was His primary purpose, His first reason for coming to earth, to save the lost sheep of Israel. But now it seems worse. Jesus stoops to calling her a dog. She is one who falls into the spiritually unclean group. It is as if everything is against her. Well, maybe we can pull some shred of decency out of this text because the type of dog of which Jesus was speaking was at least a house pet. So the woman has now moved from being ignored to being a house pet.

And just as you and I would not give up when praying for our sick child, so she does not give up. She searches for and finds some bit of hope in Jesus’ words. She clings to that hope and turns His words back to Him. “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 word of Scripture falls between Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand and His feeding of the four thousand. The feeding of the five thousand with the twelve baskets left over is considered God’s providing for the children of Israel, the twelve tribes. The feeding of the four thousand and the seven baskets of leftovers is considered God’s providing for the Gentiles. This Canaanite woman is not a part of the lost sheep of Israel. She is merely a gentile who happened to be at the right place at the right time, the place where Jesus is, the place where he brings faith and where faith brings life.

Faith is possible among others, even those we might not see or think. We cannot look into the hearts of others, only God can. Faith is not dependent on birth, on ethnic origin, or even on us, but faith is possible only with Christ. Jesus is drawing the faith, which He has given to her, out in this woman. He alone draws faith, which He gives to us, out of us.

Jesus was sent only to save the lost sheep of Israel, that was His main goal and objective. The woman had no right to come begging for help. In a very real way, we are very much like the Gentile woman. We are sinful human beings, conceived and born in sin, daily sinning much, and we have no right coming to Jesus to ask for anything. Martin Luther goes so far as to say that we are sinful worms. Thanks be to God that not only is He a just God who condemns sins, but He is also a merciful God who sent His Son to save the world.

What does this mean? Our Old Testament Lesson reminds us of the Lord’s promise to us foreigners, that by faith in Jesus, we too will have a part in His kingdom. It is not something to which we are entitled, it is a gift from God. Isaiah reminds us that it is “the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel” and He “declares, ‘I will gather yet others [to him] besides those already gathered.” In other words, Jesus did come to save all people, you and I included. What this means is that Jesus did come to save you and me.

In our Epistle lesson Paul shows us the ultimate conclusion of Jesus coming to earth, that is that Jesus, who came only for Israel, was rejected by Israel. Their rejection opened up the kingdom of heaven for all believers. Thus, by faith, the Gentile woman is a part of the lost sheep of Israel. Thus, by faith, we, you and I, are a part of the lost sheep of Israel. So it is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, faith given to us through the means of grace, either at our Baptism as a baby or through the means of the Word of God as an adult, it is by this faith that we have a part in God’s kingdom. Jesus is not the bad guy He seems to be portrayed as in this reading. He did come to seek and to save the lost. He did come to give His life to save all people of all places of all times. He did come to give His life, to suffer the eternal spiritual death penalty, the cost, the wage, the price for our sin, for us. He came to give us faith to believe in Him and to share in His glory in heaven. The Good News of our text is that we have great faith because Jesus gives us that great faith which clings to Him, who gives us life, even eternal life and He stirs in our heart joy to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.