What's in a name?That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Pastor Emille's sermon on today's Gospel Lesson centered around the question Jesus asked the disciples in today's gospel starting with Matthew 16:13 and Peter's revelatory response:
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.
Unless you are familiar with biblical Greek you probably imagine, like I did, that Jesus here predicts the church being built on Peter who essentially acts as a foundation for this mighty future structure. However, the Greek text doesn't necessarily support that vision. The name Jesus gives Peter in Greek is petros. The translation to English is more like a pebble or small stone. The Greek word for a massive rock or bedrock is petra.
There is something else going on in this passage. Jesus often reprimands Peter when Peter misunderstands. When Peter says "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Peter must think of Jesus as the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible yet Jesus does not correct this misconception.
In the very next passage Jesus will rebuke Peter by saying, "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." Yet here Peter is given a blessing by Jesus.
There is also the "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" Shouldn't this be an inclusive rather than exclusive gift. Jesus does seem to be talking about Peter as a man. Jesus neither desires the church to be built on either Jesus or Peter as individuals. Instead Jesus commends God's revelation to Peter.
Pastor Emillie quoted Richard Ward from Working Preacher in her sermon. "This confession marks a turning point in the flow of Matthew’s gospel. It also marks a breaking point with the synagogue down the street. It declares that the Messiah of God has come. There is no need to wait for God to send someone else. Yes, this Jesus of Nazareth is the one that Israel has been waiting for. The messianic visions of the prophets of old have been fulfilled and have come into sharp focus in the person and ministry of Jesus."
Jesus also gives the order not to tell anyone that he was
the Messiah, Currently when we think of Jesus as messiah and we commonly use messiah as another name for name for God. The Jewish understanding at that time would be more of a man who was a deliverer king of the Jews. The anointed one would be a king, not God.
Jesus did not have the expected attributes of the Jewish messiah. Many in the synagogue continued to wait and many continue to wait for the one who the scriptures had foretold. I wonder if Peter helped Jesus understand that, despite him not appearing like the expccted messiah, he actually was the fulfillment of what was prophesied and more. We learned last week that his conception of his ministry widened after his encounter with the Canaanite woman
Before Jesus Yahweh was the principal name in the Old Testament by which God is reveals and is the most sacred, distinctive and incommunicable name of God. There are fancy words which point to a useful distinction between the Jewish and Christian traditions.
The Jewish tradition follows an “Apophatic” perspective of understanding God. Contemplation of the attributes of God means emptying the mind of words and ideas and simply resting in the presence of God. This is demonstrated with God's name given in the Old Testament as Yahweh with the sound-alike ehyeh, being a Hebrew verb usually translated, “I am” or “I will be".
In the New Testament Christians understand God by following a more “Kataphatic” way. Words, images, symbols, ideas are frequently used. For a deeper description of the “Apophatic” and “Kataphatic” ways of understanding God follow this Brian McLaren lecture from the Animate: Faith series. There is also an amazing song the band Vampire Weekend. My wife introduced me to this group. They have a contemporary perspective and reaction to God's name in their song called Ya Hey.
Creator recently had its own struggle with formal titles when we were sending out invitations to the upcoming installation. Should we refer to Emillie as pastor or, to our ears, the more formal reverend? This was am appropriate time for us to contemplate and understand the distinction between the titles we use.
There was also a quilt presentation to the Larson family's Nina and Evie in today's service. Definitely a community-knitting moment for everyone.
This was also our last Sunday for the Call Us Home liturgy that we have been following for August. The Tree Of Life liturgy together with many other events and a series coming up in September. That includes Pastor Emillie's installation.
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