Matthew 16:1-26
The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. ’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. ’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They said to one another, “It is because we have brought no bread.” And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.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, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.From that time on, Jesus began to show 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, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “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.”Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
Today we are going to try an
experiment in dialogue. Those of
us who have studied about preaching have been taught that good preaching is not
a one-sided lecture. Good
preaching is a dialogue between the pulpit and the pew. In the tradition of black churches, we
practice that dialogue in part through a kind of call and response. When the congregation appreciates the
preaching, they speak back to the preacher. When the preacher gets a response, it affects how the sermon
continues to unfold. A quiet
congregation may be giving a message as well. Nowadays, when I go to a white congregation to preach, it’s
a bit of a struggle for me. I’ve
grown used to having you help me out.
So today I am going to ask you for some help, but in a different way
than usual.
I’m going to ask you to have a
conversation with others who are around you in the pews, considering a set of
questions relevant to the sermon.
These questions relate to our life as a congregation on mission in this
community. They also relate to our
church’s alliance with other congregations and community groups in Durham,
through the community organizing group Durham CAN. Mt. Level has been a part of Durham CAN from its very beginning,
almost 20 years ago. We want to
continue strong relationships with our friends across the city and county. We have accomplished many important
things in the past, from improving after-school care opportunities for young
people, to getting sidewalks and streetlights fixed, to promoting a living wage
for workers, to helping arrange a means for poor people to get access to
specialized medical care, to getting the schools and the local governments to
hire bilingual staff and interpreters, to pressuring the city and police to
respond and change their ways of relating to minorities in the community, and
so many other ways.
There is not a head honcho of
Durham CAN who decides what we will work on next. There is not a backroom board that sets the agenda. In organizing of this kind, the agenda
rises from the people. It happens
in listening sessions. Today, we
want to listen to one another, to have a listening dialogue in this sermon. Over the next month or so, at least a
couple thousand people in member organizations across our city, including many
congregations, will gather to discuss what is on our hearts and minds, each in
their own ways. At Mt. Level, we
are having this discussion as part of this morning’s sermon during our 7:55 am
service. Don’t think you came to
the wrong place and have ended up at the PTA meeting. No, this is still church, and I am bringing a sermon, but
you will also have a part of the sermon.
So let’s press on with it.
Not everyone gets caught up in the
latest fad story on the news or on the internet, but I would not be surprised
to find that at least some of you have heard about people arguing over the
color of a dress in the past few days.
Is it white and gold, or is it blue and black? Physicists, computer programmers, psychologists, and all
kinds of people have given expert opinions about “the dress.” I am not sure why it is such a big
deal, but I bring it up because it illustrates an aspect of what this sermon is
about. Although we all may be in
the same space and time together here and now, that does not mean that all of
us see and hear the same thing at the same time. What you and I may see as we look around us may be very
different. That’s in part because
of the way that we look at things.
Sometimes we call this having a
different perspective on things.
From my point of view, and from your point of view, the world may look
different. Sometimes we call this
our vision of reality. And part of
what Jesus, his friends, and his opponents are dealing with in this chapter
from Matthew is that they see the world differently.
There is more than just how they
see at stake in this chapter.
Also, when someone is speaking, they are not always hearing the same
thing. I can bet many of you have
been in a conversation in which one person thought she said one thing, but the
other person heard something very different. Listening to one another is often harder than we think. Husbands and wives, parents and
children, long time friends—even people who are close to one another often
struggle to agree on what is being communicated between them.
You said this.
No,
I said that.
No way! I distinctly heard
this.
Well,
you distinctly heard wrong, because that is not what I said.
If you’ve never been in one of
those conversations, I would be very surprised.
So today I want to consider the
proposition that we all need to learn to see and learn to listen. A good example of this difficulty
happened just a week ago on national television. On a program called “This Week,” hosted by George
Stephanopoulas, two authors were pitted against each other concerning the way
to overcome the wrongs of racial injustice which go back across centuries
through slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination in housing, employment, and
society in general. Ta-Nehisi Coates
argued for actual financial solutions to previous financial damages. Shelby Steele said that government
efforts to help black people had only hurt them. These two well-known intellectuals saw a different world and
heard very different things being said.
They agreed on the wrongs of slavery. They disagreed on what has happened since that time in the
lives of blacks in the United States.
They saw different histories unfolding. They did not hear the same message when they listened to the
cries of the black community. Something
like that went on in our text from Matthew’s gospel as well.
Let’s walk through this complicated
series of events. They happen
across different geographical settings as Jesus and his followers travel and
carry on conversations on a whole range of matters. I think there is a lot to observe here about how we see and
how we listen.
It begins with an argument between
some of the community leaders and Jesus.
The Pharisees and Sadducees come with a chip on their shoulders. They don’t like Jesus. They are the ones who know “what’s
what.” They don’t approve of
Jesus’ talking to so many people and having so much influence. They don’t think he has the right
credentials. They see an
opportunist and imposter. They
come at him demanding to see a sign from heaven.
Jesus turns it all back on
them. He points out that they know
how to interpret the weather and plenty of other things around them, but they
can’t see the signs of the times. They
are supposed to be the spiritual leaders who know what’s what. But they can’t see what everyone else
seems to see. Crowds of people are
following Jesus around, listening to every word he has to say and watching
every movement he makes. These
crowds are convinced that something great is happening in the world and that
Jesus is at the heart of it all.
They believe that God is doing something momentous through Jesus. But the Pharisees and Sadducees can’t
see it. They are so fixed on what
they already see as the way of God, that is the way that they like to do
things, the way that keeps them in the dominant class of society, that they
can’t see something new happening.
Jesus says, repeating something he
said earlier recorded in chapter 12 of Matthew, that the sign they get is the
sign of Jonah. Now of course,
there is an allegorical meaning here related to Jonah’s being dead to the world
in the belly of a fish, then sort of resurrected when the fish spit him out, a
story that parallels the coming death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But the meaning of the sign for this
moment is more focused on the ability to see and hear what God is doing in the
world.
Jonah himself could not believe
that God would do something new in Ninevah. Yet when the Ninevites heard the word of God, they received
it with repentance, thanks, and joy.
God was doing something new in Ninevah, and the prophet who should have
known about it did not see it coming at all. In the same way, the people all around the countryside and
in the towns and cities can see that God is doing something great, but the
religious leaders don’t see it at all.
The crowds listen and hear the possibilities, but the leaders hear only
interference with their plans and their power.
Which are we? Are we able to see a world of
possibilities in which God is working for our good? Do we hear the words of life and respond in faith? Or do we see only the same old same
old, day after day, nothing changing, so we are just settled in to wait out
this life until its over? Do we
shut out the sounds of fresh beginnings because we have become comfortable
where we are?
This same kind of drama keeps
playing out in various ways throughout this chapter. When Jesus, upset about his encounter with the Pharisees and
Sadducees, makes comment in figurative language to the disciples, they
completely miss the point. All
they can think about is that they forgot to buy some lunch. So when Jesus mentions “yeast,” they
think he is talking about bread for lunch.
This makes Jesus even more
frustrated. They seem not to have
been listening to him at all. He
starts telling them some stories to remind them of all that has been
happening. He reminds them of days
when many thousands were fed from only a few bits of food, and all the many
baskets of leftovers that were collected.
The twelve baskets of leftovers, like the twelve tribes that make up the
whole of the nation of Israel, and the seven baskets of leftovers, like the
seven days of creation and Sabbath, represent completeness and abundance. The work that God has been doing is the
ushering in of a new age, the age of God’s reign, the Kingdom age. It is breaking into the world right
before their eyes. Don’t they
remember? Yet the Pharisees and
Sadducees “yeast” was their teaching which supported the status quo, the
existing power relations, the economic disparities and injustices of their
world. Jesus said to look out for
those who only can continue to prop up the world as it is and cannot hope for
and see a world as it should be.
What are we seeing as we go about
our lives? Are we seeing a world
that cannot change? Is it a world
of injustice that will always be bad or even keep getting worse? Or is it a world in which Jesus has put
thrones, dominions, powers, principalities, and authorities under his
feet? Can the way that power and
economic life is arranged be turned upside down? Can God bring down the mighty and lift up the lowly? Are we able to hear what Jesus is
telling us, or are we just trying to get our lunch and forget about making a
difference?
In the next part of the story, we
read that they arrive at their destination of Caesarea Philippi, a place
bearing the names of the current and previous empires that have dominated
Judea, the Roman Caesar and the Greek Emperor Phillip. In this place, Jesus decides to have a
listening session of his own. He
has a set of questions for the disciples to discuss. The first one asks them what they have heard and what they
know. “Who do people say that the
Son of Man is?” They had a range
of answers. At least two important
findings emerge from this conversation.
The first important finding is that
many people think that Jesus may be John the Baptist. That is a dangerous political idea. What has happened to John the Baptist,
who was once the same kind of popular traveling preacher that Jesus is
now? John has been arrested,
imprisoned, and executed by beheading—that’s what happened to him. So if powerful people believe that
somehow John the Baptist, or someone just like him, is still out there, they
may be soon on their way to arrest, imprison, and execute Jesus, too. What else did the first question bring
out? They say that people compare
Jesus to the great prophets. They
recognized that he is bringing the same kinds of preaching today that the
prophets did of old. They believe
Jesus is calling Israel back to faithfulness to God. They see him as challenging injustice and demanding a change
in the way the powerful and wealthy treat the poor, the widows, the orphans,
and the immigrants. So the
disciples report that Jesus’ message rooted in the prophets of old is getting
through. People recognize that he
is bringing God’s word and the possibility of a new age.
Then the second question asks for
the disciples’ own judgments, their own heartfelt answers. “Who do you say that I am?” We don’t know what all of them said,
but I suspect this was a long and interesting conversation. Different disciples must have shed
different light on how they had come to understand who Jesus was. We only get the report of Peter’s
answer in the gospel text. Peter
gives a great answer for which Jesus commends him. Peter has expressed, perhaps in summary of what all the
group had to say, that Jesus is the Messiah. To say in his day that Jesus is the Son of God was not the
same as we use that term in the post-resurrection, post-Pentecost era of the
church. Peter’s saying he was the
Son of God was pretty much the same as saying he was the Messiah. For the Jewish monotheistic faith, Son
of God did not mean that Jesus was a divine being. That would be blasphemy to them. Son of God in the Old Testament generally means something
like calling someone a messenger directly from God. An angel, for instance, might be called the Son of God for
delivering a vital word directly from heaven to earth. So Peter says in two different ways that
we believe God sent you and that what you bring to us comes from the very heart
of God. Jesus was so happy to hear
that answer. He was not, to his
disciples, just a magic show, a gravy train, a crackpot orator, a charismatic
figure. To them, he was from God
and doing God’s work.
It was a high point, followed by a
very low point in the career of Jesus.
Because they acknowledge this valuable understanding of who he is and in
doing so express their willingness to follow him further into his mission from
God, Jesus starts having a strategy session with the disciples. He begins to talk to them about what he
needs to do. In the tradition of
the prophets, he needs to speak the truth to power. He needs to confront the powerful and the oppressors, to
challenge them for their injustices, and to press for them to change their
ways. Because he has already heard
his enemies talk about wanting to get rid of him, and because of what has
happened to John the Baptist, he realizes that what he needs to do next will be
risky. In fact, he does not
believe he will survive it. He is,
in fact, expecting that he will help get the movement started, but that when he
gets arrested and executed, his followers will have to continue the work. God will vindicate their sacrifice, and
he is confident that even if he dies, God will raise him up again.
Hearing this, but not really
listening, Peter jumps in and contradicts Jesus. Wait a minute, Jesus.
Let’s not rush into anything.
There are other possibilities.
Like you reminded us, there were lots of baskets of food left over
before. You can afford to wait
awhile. Maybe we don’t need to go
to Jerusalem just now. Let things
calm down a bit. Take another lap
around Galilee. Let’s build up the
base of support a little more. Don’t go inviting disaster when things are going so
well. You don’t have to say
everything you know to people who don’t want to hear it. There’s lots of work to do besides
confronting the powerful. Go heal
someone else’s mother-in-law. That
went over well before.
Jesus was crestfallen. He was so disappointed. And apparently he was troubled. He knew what Peter was saying. Those thoughts had probably passed
through his own mind. Maybe he
didn’t have to face down the people in power. Maybe he could just keep things straight in his own
backyard, his own household. This
is what we call temptation, and Jesus was tempted just as we are. It’s like the first temptation he
experienced in the wilderness, linked to his conversation about the baskets of
leftover food.
That’s why he responds to Peter’s
words with the command, “Get behind me, Satan!” He’s not calling Peter Satan. He’s calling out the tempter. He’s saying like the song, “Get out of my way! Get out of my way!” Get out of my way, Satan. I’ve got a job to do. So he tells his disciples not to be a
stumbling block. They need to
understand the mission. They need
to do the power analysis. If God’s
mission is to be fulfilled, then the fight has to be taken to those who are in
the way of God’s work. They need
to believe that change is needed and that it is possible. They need to listen to what they are
saying to one another and listen to what Jesus is saying to them.
Do we really believe that God has a
better way for our world? Can we
let the joy of knowing God, the hope of God’s will being done on earth, the
love of one another to stir our passion to take on the challenges of our
time? Is the Messiah God has sent
to us the one who leads us into a more livable, loving, just world? That’s what the first invitation is
today.
I want you to get a partner, just
two or three of you together at the most, and talk about the questions on the
half sheet of paper that you received from the ushers. Open yourselves up and be willing to
have this holy conversation. What
has made you proud to be part of this church? What pressures are bearing down on you and your family? On what matters should our church take
a stand? As you carry on this
blessed conversation, talk about what really matters to you. You are in the presence of God and of
brothers and sisters in the family of God. When you get to the last question, jot down in a few words
what each of you would believe to be priorities to continue the work of God
that Jesus was starting and that we are continuing even today. We want to collect your notes on that
last question especially to begin this process of listening to one another,
right here in our congregation and all across Durham. So start now to talk with one another. I’ll be doing the same thing right here
in the room with you. After a few
minutes, we will come back together to finish this sermon. Don’t be timid. Start right away.
[Conversations began all over the
sanctuary using the following listening guide.
Mount Level Listening Sessions:
Contributing to a Common Agenda
for
Durham CAN
Tell a story about
one time when you were most proud to be part of Mt. Level Missionary Baptist
Church.
What are the
greatest pressures that you and your family are having to face at this
time? Can you give an example of
how this has affected you?
If there was one
issue that Mount Level should stand up for and strive to make a difference in
now, what would that be? Why is
that such an important issue for us to take on?
After giving a reminder and a few
minutes to complete the conversations, we returned to the more traditional part
of the sermon.]
All right. I hope that most of you were able to
talk through the three steps of this conversation. If you are still jotting down what you heard from listening
to one another, finish that up.
Jesus went on to explain to his
disciples how important the work they were about to do would be. He said, in anticipation of his confrontation
in Jerusalem, that following him would be like taking up a cross. That means being willing to be
mistreated and suffer because you stood up for the weak, the oppressed, the
poor, and the outcast. He said if
we are not willing to do that, it is as if we are throwing our own lives away. Clinging to our own comfort and
selfishness rather than giving of ourselves for brothers and sisters means that
we lose the true meaning of life, the true joy of fellowship, the true
communion with God. But if we can put
aside our self-centeredness and count the lives of others as of infinite value
to God, then we can find what God has made us for, what God has made us to
be. What is the profit of winning
a pointless, worthless life?
Nothing is worth throwing away what God wants for us just to get a
moment of comfort. Nothing is
worth a life without knowing God.
Have you met the Lord Jesus? Have you seen the world Jesus offers to
us? Have you heard his call to
loving community and mutual service?
Today is the day to follow Jesus with your life. If you have never taken the step to
join Jesus on the road to victory over sin, oppression, and death, there is not
better time than now to join yourself to him.
Are you in Durham and not united to a congregation? We at Mt Level want to be a people who
follow our Lord wherever he may lead.
If the Spirit is telling you that this is the place, that these are the
people, that this is the mission to which you should join your life, come and
become part of this congregation.
Follow Jesus with us. Help
us become what God would have us to be, as we offer to you our friendship and
fellowship along the way.
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