11 Pentecost, A p16, August 24, 2014
Exodus
1:8-2:10 Psalm 124
Romans 12:1-8 Matthew
16:13-20
There was a recent
Downton Abbey promotional picture of cast members in costumes for the upcoming
season. This picture was published on
the worldwide web with a big glaring “oops!”
Setting on the fireplace mantel behind these actors pretending to be
folks from the 1920’s, one can see a plastic water bottle.
This situation
highlights an accidental instance of anachronism whereby an article from a
later period is introduced into a presentation of events from an earlier
period. And this mistake makes for
teasing comedy and whoever pushed the post button of the unedited picture is now
saying, “My bad!”
Today’s appointed
Gospel lesson has something similar in it.
Did the church exist when Jesus walked with his disciples on earth? Of course not. The Greek word “eklesia” or church was a much later designation for the gatherings
of the followers of Christ. But we have
these famous words which are very important for the identity of the Roman
Catholic Church and what is called Petrine Primacy, the primacy of Peter. “You are Peter and on this rock I will build
my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” The confession of Peter about Jesus being the
Messiah is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but this exchange of Jesus and
Peter about him being the rock on which the church would be built is peculiar
to the Gospel of Matthew. It is even
more ironic since after Peter confesses Jesus to be the messiah, he thinks that
the Messiah is to be a conquering king and Jesus tells Peter and the disciples
that the messiah is going to be a
suffering servant. Peter openly
disagrees with Jesus about the nature of the Messiah. And next week we will read the words of Jesus
to Peter, “Get behind me Satan.” Do you
see the irony of the insertion of this anachronistic reference to Peter and the
church? Jesus tells Peter that the gates
of Hades will not prevail against the church and in the next line Jesus is
saying to Peter, “Get behind me Satan.”
One would think that Hades and Satan go together?
Now I have an
opinion about what is happening here.
Peter died a martyr’s death in Rome in the mid-60’s and scholars believe
that the Gospel of Matthew was written after the year 70 after the death of
Peter. Peter was a church leader in Rome
and he is associated more with Jewish followers of Jesus whereas Paul is
associated more with the Gentile followers of Jesus.
I think that these
words of Jesus to Peter are an insertion to rehabilitate the reputation of Peter
in light of his heroic leadership and martyrdom in the Roman churches. In other places in the Gospels Peter is made
to look as an impetuous and immature disciple of Jesus. The character of Peter is used to contrast
the life of a disciple before and after the post-resurrection appearances of
Jesus. After the resurrection, the
disciples became heroic in their witness to Christ, but while they are walking
with Jesus they are presented as oft imperfect “works in progress.” Peter denied Jesus before the
crucifixion. He did not understand the
true nature of the messiah. He is
presented as one too proud to let Jesus wash his feet. He was proud and self-confident, “I will
never deny you Jesus, he exclaimed.” He lost his faith in the walking on water
event.
You can see how
the writers of Matthew knew what had become of Peter. He had become a heroic martyred leader of the
churches in Rome. And the churches in
Rome were being inspired and built upon this heroic witness. And the Caesars who killed Peter represented
the gates of Hades and the gates of Hades did not prevail against the church of
Jesus Christ as it was led by St. Peter.
The death of Peter did not end the church, it only inspired the church.
So this insertion
in the Gospel of Matthew represents the truth of the witness of the life of
Peter. Indeed Peter’s life had been a
rock on which the churches in Rome and elsewhere had been built and prevailed
because of the heroic witness of faith.
Let us learn an
important lesson about Scripture and tradition.
Some people would argue that the New Testament writings are what formed
the traditions of the church. And I
would assert that this is backward; the traditions within the Jesus Movement
and the early churches are what caused the New Testament writings to be
written. Much later church traditions
influenced which writings were included in the New Testament. If one can appreciate this one need not get
led astray by biblical fundamentalism.
In the traditions
of the church, we understand that Peter and Paul both died martyrs’ deaths in
Rome. They were willing to die for their
faith, but Paul did not think martyrdom was the recommendable way to be a
follower of Jesus. St. Paul wrote that
followers of Jesus should present their bodies to God as “living sacrifices”
not dead ones. By being living
sacrifices it means that we live and we sacrifice the selfish ego to allow the
gifts and graces of God to become known in our lives. Paul listed some of those gifts: Prophecy or
preaching, ministering, teaching, exhorting, giving with generosity, diligent
leadership and cheerful compassion. All
of these gifts require from us to be “living sacrifices;” dying to selfishness
so that we might let the grace of God’s Holy Spirit minister through us.
St. Peter is presented
in the Gospels as an all too human follower of Jesus but he is also presented
as one who had a post-resurrection appearance of Christ which not only made him
a “living sacrifice” in his ministry, but he ultimately paid with the price of
his life. This witness of the life Peter
is the rock on which every church is built upon and the outward sign of a papacy
is less important than the actual inspiring witness of the life of Peter.
Martyrdom,
hopefully will never be asked or required of us; but let us live self inflicted
martyrdom lives of “checking our egos at the door” so as to let the ministering
grace of the gifts of the Holy Spirit be expressed through us to bless each
other and the world. Amen.
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