Who do people say I am? Matthew 16

When Jesus puts the question to his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is, a new period in their training begins. [Jesus often referred to himself as Son of Man. It’s a reference to a vision of the prophet Daniel of one like a son of man being given all authority in heaven and on earth]. Up to now they have seen Jesus in action as a preacher, miracle worker, and interpreter of the law. Jesus is starting to look towards the final work he has to do in Jerusalem. The disciples must know who he is and what kind of messiah he is if they are to carry on his work in, and carry his name to, the world at large. And so must we, since we are also his disciples and his witnesses to the world at large.
At first the disciples give a safe answer, you might be John Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets. But safe answers to the question of discipleship are not answers at all. And that’s why Jesus probes them further. But who do YOU say I am? Now it’s getting personal and perhaps uncomfortable. Each man has to answer for himself. What do they really think, honestly and authentically? It’s a question to be put to us also, his 21^st century disciples. Who to YOU say Jesus is? What to YOU really think, honestly and authentically?

Simon answers, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. It’s a watershed answer which Jesus acknowledges has not been taught by human wisdom. It is a revealed truth. Blessed are you Simon because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. You can’t lecture someone into recognizing Jesus as Christ; and you can’t argue anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven. The truth about that is a revealed truth, taken hold of as if eyes are opened and hearts are set free. It’s not a truth that can be taught by human intervention. That’s why those to whom that truth has been given are the blessed ones.

And one other point about Simon Peter’s confession: it was made in presence of the other disciples. It wasn’t a quiet tete-a-tete on the side in private. Confession of Christ as Lord is never a private cosy affair; it’s public, and that’s what keeps you accountable to it.

Now you might ask why Jesus told his disciples not to say anything about what had just transpired between them, and he made that very clear. Why not share it on the social media of the day to the wider world? It’s because the time for that was not yet. What do you think would have happened? The general populace was expecting a messiah like King David of old who would restore the empire of Israel to its former glory, and to defeat the hated Roman occupation. Jesus would have been seen as the new David and his faithful band of fighting men. The general populace would have beaten their plowshares into swords and joined in the fight. Pontius Pilate, in turn, would have called in re-enforcements from Syria and crushed the whole thing asap. Jesus was not that kind of messiah. Remember what he said to Pilate at his trial; my kingdom is not of this world.

Peter might have grasped the divine nature of who Jesus was, but not what kind of messiah he was. The time for that was after the Lord’s death and resurrection. Only then did they begin to understand.
A common criticism of Christianity’s doctrine of a suffering saviour is that critics simply cannot fathom how on earth God can bring victory for himself and win the world by sending the Son of Man as one of us, and ending being crucified. It’s definitely not success story language, and therefore is a meaningless message to those who cannot think beyond victory-in-prosperity and success-for-the-winners. They are the ones who will answer, maybe he is one of the prophets or maybe not, who knows. They are the ditherers who won’t commit themselves to a straight answer.

Peter is given a new name, Rocky. It’s a play on words as Jesus declares that on this rock I will build my church.

What is this rock? Whatever interpretation you might like to put on it, any interpretation that minimizes the importance of faith that found expression in Peter’s statement must be rejected. The church and its mission does not depend on Peter the man himself. Peter, though he was a preeminent figure amongst the apostles, being one of Jesus’ inner circle of three, and with a significant preaching ministry, wasn’t the elected leader of the Jerusalem church. James was. So in effect, James was the first bishop of Jerusalem. But Peter is the first to confess, with divine gift of insight, that Jesus is the Christ. That is the rock on which the church is built. That, the church does depend on, people together with their declared recognition of Christ as Lord.

So when we say the creed together as the gathered church, and believe it with all heart, mind, soul and strength, that’s the heritage we have received from the Apostle Peter, the rock.

What then should we say about Peter being given keys to the kingdom, and whatever is bound or loosed on earth shall have been bound or loosed in heaven?

Well, the metaphor of being the holder of the key to a door is obvious. It’s all about stewardship. If the church, built on its leaders’ confession and God-given insight into who Christ is, holds the keys to the kingdom, it therefore has responsibility for good stewardship of that which has been entrusted to it, that is, the people to whom it is ministering. And that means our church leaders, to whom good stewardship of the kingdom has been entrusted, must exercise that responsibility as shepherds, not as lords or barons. There is no place in the church of God for power politics. Power politic does not win people into the Kingdom of God, but the pastoral ministry of a shepherd does.

Now Jesus also said to Peter, and the other apostles who were in on the conversation of course, whatever you bind or loose on earth, shall have been bound or loosed in heaven.

Here I chose my words carefully. The Greek text does not express those words as straight forward future tense, as if what the church says somehow puts an obligation on the Kingdom to rubber stamp its decisions. Remember, our church leaders are not lords or barons, they are shepherds. And what they decide as being permitted or forbidden on earth, has already been sorted out as such in heaven. In other words, our bishops, in their God given roles of chief shepherds and stewards of the church, will have made their decisions through prayer and conversation with God first. Nothing they do should be of their own volition. Same goes for priests, the local church shepherds. Prayer is number one in the life of every church leader and minister. Father, hallowed by thy name, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus did not teach, let man’s will be done on earth, while God’s will be done in heaven.
And that’s why we need to pray for our bishops, particularly at this COVID time when ministry is difficult and many of the clergy under their charge are stressed out.

Our church is not immune from stressful times, needless to say. COVID is taking its toll on our worship life and our ability to provide pastoral care in the best possible face to face way. And of course it continues to be under threat from secular forces that would like to see the Christian faith destroyed. The attacks are sure and sinister, undermining the Christian voice at every turn. The weeds are indeed growing alongside the wheat, as I spoke about last time. But, Jesus says, the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church or our confession of Christ as Lord, and the divine gift to us which makes that possible.

So friends, stay true to your confession that Christ is Lord, the son of the living God, and the gift of knowing he is Messiah that has been given to you through the Holy Spirit. Be confident that his kingdom will prevail, and that these times of distress will pass.

Philip Starks
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Weeds and wheat. Matthew 13

The parable is one of those Kingdom of God is like parables, and is one of three that considers the fact that in a world created good by God, the bad is allowed to continue alongside the good. The story of the sower has choice seed fit for purpose scattered far and wide, but it doesn’t always fall on good soil. Then there’s story of the dragnet with its catch of both good and bad fish, and the parable of the weeds growing alongside choice wheat. The Kingdom of God is not the utopian sole domain of heavenly good yet. It’s more about God’s activity, what he is doing, and the return on investment he looks for. And these three parables spoken by Jesus explain that. It’s a common criticism of Christian belief that if God is a good god, why does he allow the good and the bad to grow side by side? Why doesn’t he simply wipe out all the bad right now? Why is it allowed to go on?

Now it’s not God’s fault that evil has grown up alongside the good, or that there are those who are likened to rocky paths and clumps of thistles who do not have ears to hear the good word sown among them. According to the story, the master sowed good seed; it’s the enemy that has sown the bad. So you can’t blame God.

Well, like the good evangelical disciples they are, off they want to go and clean it all out right now. But Jesus says no, the time is not yet, because you might pull up some of the good along with the bad. Why? Because in the early stages, the bad is not always distinguishable from the good. In the parable, the weed is darnel, which looks very much like wheat until it matures, and then is seen for what it really is.

You see, the enemy comes along and sows in our hearts and minds what at first appears harmless and benign. But as the heart and mind begin to go along with it, what is apparently harmless begins to poison the mind and harden the heart until it is so calloused that it can no longer distinguish good from evil in any shape or form. And that’s what is so dangerous about the way the enemy works.

But along comes God’s grace and injects itself into a heart and mind that is not yet at the point of turning away to a life of the bad with no repentance. Or, the grace of God comes in and enables repentance and a turning away from the bad. And that’s the wheat that might be lost if the harvest is taken too soon. The wheat is carefully chosen and fit for purpose, and not one gram of it will be lost in the end. That’s why the timing of the Kingdom of God is what it is, and not the timing of the kingdom of earth we expect.

And the other image of letting weeds grow until later before pulling them up, is that it’s easy to pull up a weed that’s grown up, compared to small young shoots. The grown weed comes out root stock and barrel, cleanly leaving nothing behind. It’s completely gone. Whereas the young shoots just break up in the hand, leaving the root behind to grow another day.

So, when the last day of history arrives, the image illustrates how the bad that has flourished will be completely and decisively eradicated, root stock and barrel, leaving only the choice fit for purpose good and faithful wheat to be finally harvested into the Kingdom of God on the last day.

We do not have to worry and fret about why evil seems to proceed on its merry way as we speak. Don’t be consumed by anxiety over the question. The good and faithful wheat, that is those who are faithful to God in their lives, is carefully chosen and sown fit for purpose. And that’s how it will be gathered in to the Kingdom of Heaven on the last day.

It’s an absolutely guaranteed promise of God, as we read time and time again in the scriptures. Whereas those who mature as unfaithful darnel will be rooted out totally and utterly for what they are, and thrown out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So fear not tomorrow for God is already there, and he has decided the last day. It will happen. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears to hear, listen.

Philip Starks
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Conflicts of interest. Matthew 10

Peace or a sword?

Well, what a difficult passage this is. Who’d think Jesus would teach that he has come to divide and bring a sword, to be the source of family ructions and division, to upset apple carts and set cats among pigeons? Just five chapters earlier, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching that peacemakers are the blessed ones. And at his birth, angels announced to shepherds, peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind.

So what are we to make of Jesus’ words in this passage, Do not expect to think that I have come to put in place peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. The enemies of a man (or woman) are within his (her) own household. This seems contradictory to all we commonly hear about our Christian faith, and certainly there are pulpits that will ignore it because it doesn’t fit with their prosperity feel-good gospel positions. This passage, and others like it, will be relegated to the too-hard basket. But we can’t ignore it. Matthew has included the passage (and so has Luke) in his gospel for a very good reason. So we need to ask ourselves, what we are going to do with it? How are we to understand this? It’s all about choices and allegiances, commitment and conduct of life.

When the Lord calls a person into a life of discipleship, that person is called by name. You are called by name, you are his, you belong to Christ. And that means you will inevitably face a choice of allegiance, commitment and conduct of life. Christ in your life must be number one, no matter what. And anything that gets in the way presents a barrier to that and must be set aside, even if it means so far as to leave family and country behind, for example.

In Middle Eastern culture, then and now, family ties and honour are very much “blood thicker than water”. To go against the family would often mean disaster, as it does today when a Muslim leaves Islam for Christianity. I remember a now retired priest in this diocese, who left Islam for Christ. He said on the day Christ showed him the door into his life, his father showed him the door out of the family. Never spoke with his father again. So when Jesus gave the illustration that allegiance to him could cost as much as one’s own family, he knew the audience into which he spoke, and they understood what he meant. It’s radical and it’s divisive. But that’s what the cost of your call to discipleship might well be.

Most of us here in Australia will have families who, while they may not be accommodating of a Christian in their midst, won’t go to the extent of putting that Christian out of the household. But I have seen women coming to church for a while, their husbands have disapproved, and the women have left. What do you do with that? On the one hand you want to explore a relationship with Jesus and his offer to you of eternal life, but on the other hand your husband disapproves and you have to live with him. Hopefully such husbands learn to love their wives enough that they will no longer feel threatened by having a Christian wife in the marriage. Two of those ladies came to this parish. So if you think conflict of interest between a professed allegiance to one’s following of Christ and family ties is for another time and another place, it isn’t.

Now this idea of barriers extends not just to family relationships – if it comes to that, but to all spheres of one’s life. It may be that you have a strong attachment to your career, for example. You work hard, climb the promotional ladder, getting ahead, and it’s what you live for. And while there’s nothing wrong with a career and the promotional ladder per se, the danger is that it could take over as your number one allegiance, and you end up relegating church and relationship with God to number two. Busyness can be another barrier. I’ve got so much to do, interests here and there, people to meet, tasks to keep up with. No time for church, far too busy. Busyness becomes number one and Jesus recedes into the background.

And so rings true the scriptures, The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life for my sake will find it. You cannot serve two masters. Anyone who denies me before others in this life, I will deny him before my Father in heaven. But on the other hand, Jesus also said, anyone who acknowledges me before others in this life, I also will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.

Once again, we are taught that Kingdom of Heaven values are often the reverse of Kingdom of Earth values. If you value your life by this world, all you’ll get is this world’s transitory and temporal pleasures. But if you value your allegiance to Christ and his Kingdom of Heaven first, you will discover that the Kingdom of Heaven puts you first, along with the blessings and fruitfulness that comes with it. First principle of seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, then the things you need shall be given to you, is indeed true.

Now, I want us all to be encouraged at this point. If the call of discipleship and its commitment to Christ as number one is paramount, and is honoured in a God-fearing way, that in turn will be honoured in heaven. Remember, nothing passes God’s watchful eye over us unless it is for our own good and our place in eternity. And if he points something out to you that is proving to be an obstacle, or a barrier, to your relationship with him, I’d be giving that some very serious thought and prayer. It’ll be your choice what to about it. God never forces anything on us, although he might push some of our buttons to encourage us to respond one way or another.

So how can we be helped in this? If prayer seems to be dry, if God’s voice is silent, if there is something in your life for which you lack that settled peace of God which surpasses all understanding, one of two things may be happening. Either, God wants you to experience that position for some unfathomable reason (it’s known as a desert experience), and that is a legitimate position to be in. The psalms of lament are replete with the cry, How long O Lord, why don’t you answer me. And I have no doubt that God will honour a desert experience and your prayers of lament, if that’s where he has you for time being. Or, it may be that there is indeed a barrier of some sort in your life, which needs to be addressed so that God is number one, and that barrier has to learn it needs to be number two.

Friends, we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we do not have to be afraid of anything about our Christian lives and our call to be followers in that. Many times in the gospel stories Jesus re-assured those who encountered him to not be afraid. If you sense there is indeed some allegiance in your life that is claiming number one, do something about it. Don’t be afraid of letting it go.

As baptised Christians, we all have the gift of the Holy Spirit. So the first step would be to take your situation to him in prayer. After that, talk it over with a trusted spiritual director. You will be shown what you must do and the things you must set aside as being of lesser importance than your relationship with Jesus and his claim on you. For as it is written, The Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you.

There may well be divisions and opposition to your call which arise from quarters where you least expect them come from, even to deeply held number one allegiances. Hence Jesus’ illustrative point about enemies being found within one’s own household. And we need to be on the watch for that.

All of us in the parish, at both worship centres, need to consider our positions and to call on the Lord to examine our lives and where we are at with him right now. Is Christ really number one in our personal and corporate lives? And if not, what should be done about that?

I’ll leave you with this quote from psalm 63, which aptly expresses why God is number one in the life of faith:

O God, you are my God;

eagerly will I seek you.

My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you;

as a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

So it was when I beheld you in the sanctuary;

and saw your power and your glory.

For your unchanging goodness is better than life;

therefore my lips shall praise you.

And so I will bless you as long as I live;

and in your name will I lift my hands on high.

Philip Starks
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By the rivers of Babylon. Psalm 137

Good Friday

By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there are captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy. How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land?

In the year 587 BCE, Jerusalem was sacked and Israel sent into exile to Babylon. It was a complete disaster. Israel had lost the marks of her national identity, the land, the temple, the king, and psalm 137 expresses deep sorrow and lament. It’s not that God had abandoned Israel, but that Israel had abandoned her covenant with God, as the prophets warned over and over and over again. The prophet Isaiah in chapter 65, for example, spoke God’s word this way: All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in ways not good, a people who continually provoke me to my very face.

Do you not think this makes God weep? If psalm 137 cries lament to God over the disaster, I should think God cries lament towards Israel over that disaster. Perhaps it might be expressed this way: By the river of Babylon God sat down and wept when he remembered Zion. There on the cross he hung his harp, for there his executioners demanded a sign. They shook their heads in disbelief, he saved others but he can’t save himself.

The cross was God’s cry of lament and sorrow over his people. Mankind in general does not express godly sorry for sin, does not care about a relationship with God, and wants to replace God with himself as God. And that is the essence of sin by which mankind crosses the boundary of his own limitations, grasping for all knowledge of good and evil, grasping for all moral discernment without reference to God, mankind’s creator.

How terrible it was when the creature turned in disobedience against his creator, as told to us in Genesis chapter three where Adam and Eve coveted God’s place for themselves so that they could be like God. And the act of rebellious disobedience was done. The horror and blasphemy of it is unbelievable! That’s why sin is so dreadful. It cannot be glossed over as if she’ll be right mate. God is holy. His holiness is provoked by sin, and it must confront sin until it is destroyed. Otherwise God is not a god of justice, and is in contradiction with his own nature. God is holy equals God is love, and love has no truck with sweeping sin under the carpet as if doesn’t matter.

Now having set forth the seriousness of sin, and noted that God, in his holiness, must confront it for what it is, we are also given a picture of God as a waiting father. God has not abandoned his creation, as some might think. He waits with outstretched hands. All day long I have held out my hands. And the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus spoke epitomizes the waiting father. God waits; God longs for us to return to him in faith, trust and obedience. Let’s look at this a little closer in the context of Good Friday and the cross.

  

The cross is the place of exchange where the awfulness of sin is dealt with in a way that allows God to judge and condemn it as he must, yet at one and the same time to save and forgive because he so loves his world. It’s a beautiful solution to an otherwise impossible conundrum. And so long as a person looks at that by faith and says yes Lord it’s my sin that is judged and condemned for what it is, then blessed is that person whose sins are covered and atoned for. By faith the merits of Christ are transferred to him or her.

The logic of the cross, the beautiful solution, will never be understood by those who cannot say, Woe is me for I am lost. I am a person of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a world of unclean lips and unclean hearts; for my eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts! Or as St Peter exclaimed when his eyes saw the Lord of Hosts, depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man. In other words, the logic of the cross will never be understood by those who are righteous in their own eyes. Only when we see ourselves for who we really are before a holy god, will Christ’s acceptable and perfect offering of himself touch our lips and set us free. Only then will we hear those wonderful words, be not afraid, for I have overcome the world.

I mentioned earlier that God is a god who weeps and laments for his people. A god who cannot bear pain and shed tears over lost humanity is a god who cannot love, and is not a god I want to believe in. But a god who I see grieving for my return to him as a long-lost son, is indeed a god who I want to believe in.

I am also encouraged by these words from the letter to the Hebrews:

We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

What this means is that we have a God who knows what it is to be human. He knows what social isolation is; to cry tears of grief over the death of a loved one – Lazarus. He knows our weakness when confronted with temptation – Jesus didn’t succumb to it himself, but he was nevertheless confronted with its power and subversiveness; and he understands our worries and anxieties, often speaking to his disciples about it.

Therefore, let us approach his throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. And don’t we all need help at this time. At the outset of creation, God paused and reflected on his work saying, it is not good for man to be alone. And that not only means man and women sharing a life together, but people needing people, and especially people needing God.

So can I encourage you all this morning to reflect on your own need for God and approach his throne of grace, which is the cross, with confidence, knowing that God loves you, and by the merits of his son’s death (and only by those merits), are your sins forgiven.

Philip Starks

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