Confession of St. Peter

People have been confused about who Jesus really is ever since he was born. In the Gospel reading for today Jesus attempts to clarify this for his disciples' sake. "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, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."         

Who do people today say that Jesus is? Some say a great prophet, like Moses or Jeremiah. Some say a guru like Gandhi, or like an online influencer. Still others would say he's a teacher—Socrates, Erasmus, Isaac Asimov. And some would call him a revolutionary and put him in with the likes of Marx or Che Guevara or some other supposed hero, fighting oppression and working for liberation.

Today is one of those days in the Church when we celebrate the clarity of Jesus' message to his disciples seen particularly in Peter's confession of who Jesus is. The word "confession" here is used in the sense of a solemn statement of truth. Not like confessing your sins, or confessing to a crime. Peter's confession is his statement that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And it's such an important statement, by such an important disciple, that it gets its own day on the church calendar.

That might seem odd to you, but really, we need this focus on Peter's confession now more than ever.  Last year, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a report which surveyed the US religious landscape. The report shocked me. I wasn't surprised- shocked. I was sort of sick-shocked. For those of you who didn't hear about this report, the major finding was that most Americans agree with the statement that many religions--not just their own--can lead to eternal life.                                                    

Now, that didn't shock me until I found out the definition of "most Americans." These weren't random people off the street, but people with a religious affiliation. People who attended worship regularly. There were only two religious groups that said their religion alone was the true faith leading to eternal life. The two were the Mormons and the Muslims. There weren't even 51 percent of Lutherans who thought Jesus was the only way to heaven! That was shocking to me. Jesus is asking his disciples the question that the Pew Forum asked their survey participants. "Who do you say that Jesus is?"         

Contrary to the opinions of the majority of American Christians, dear brothers and sisters, your answer to that question matters. Jesus asks his disciples today’s question while they were still up in Galilee before they went down into Judea and before things started getting really dicey with the ruling religious establishment, Jesus asks you his disciples within the relative safety of the walls of this church: "But you, who do you say that I am?"

There is no other answer besides Peter's answer to this question, because no other answer to this question is the saving Gospel. If Jesus is just a teacher, a prophet, a guru who gets crucified, he's dead. He had a nice run, but that's it. We can study what he said and try to live a better life and be nicer to each other but that's it. A lot of people think that's what Christianity is: be nice to each other, have a better life, do good things.  

But Peter declared, "You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God!" Peter's confession has nothing in common with those lesser statements about Jesus. Peter's Jesus asks us to believe in who he is because that is vitally important for what is about to happen next. In the very next lines, Jesus announces 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."       

It is important that Peter gets it right who Jesus is. Who Jesus is gives the content and meaning for what he does in Jerusalem. He will die on the cross as the Son of the Living God, not as a teacher or revolutionary. Jesus must do what God never asked of John the Baptist, or Elijah or Jeremiah. Jesus is going to the cross to die for the sin of the world, so it is vital that we have the correct answer to his question, "Who do you say that I am?" because that answer matters on a cosmic scale.

Our church believes, teaches and confesses that God sent Jesus and no one else to Jerusalem to die for the sins of the whole world. I want you to hear this correctly. I am not consigning to the fires of hell all those non-Lutheran people out there. You can get to heaven as a Christian without being a Lutheran. Lutherans don’t have the only truth among Christians.     

But let me be perfectly clear that we believe, teach and confess that it is nowhere revealed by God that he has made other plans for the salvation of the world other than through his own Son, Jesus Christ. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Peter was certain about his answer to Jesus and so must we be. That is why we have put so much effort into missionary work. That is why we are evangelizing here in our own country and community: because we honestly believe that God sent Jesus and no one else to Jerusalem to die for the sins of the whole world.

That is why we show up here on a Sunday morning, week after week, and bring our kids, and attend Sunday School and Confirmation and Bible study, and sit through the annual meeting to conduct the boring business of being a congregation--because either this stuff is true, or it's not. If it's not, don't bother. But if it is--if this is the house of the living God--then how can we do anything else but follow, even if we sometimes have doubts and questions!  

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This stuff isn't just mere words. In Peter's confession, is the Gospel truth of who Jesus is. "And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." These are the words of the living voice of God! When we speak these words, it is God who is speaking in our midst,  in our world, to us. These words are what make us the Church; these words are our confession. The confession of the Gospel is the foundation of the Christian Church. Jesus says it right there: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."             

A lot of folks fuss that we Lutherans are not with the times, especially those of us who are traditional, orthodox Lutherans. They say words don't mean anything; what we do is what counts. "Deeds not creeds," they say. Yeah,  I agree that deeds are very important, even necessary, because the Church is sent out to proclaim the destruction of sin and death and the devil and love our neighbors like Jesus loved us--  but all that we do is merely the continuation of what Christ has already done and completed at the cross.

We don't exist to be do-gooders. We don’t exist to push a political platform of social justice. We don’t exist to Make God Great Again. We are advance messengers of a greater King whose kingdom is not of this world, but is still intimately concerned with this world. By his dying he destroyed death and by his resurrection he overcame the power of hell. In him, sinners are washed clean and live forever. That message has to come first. That's the message that Hell cannot prevail against.           

You know, for years I had this verse backwards. It isn't Hell that is attacking the gate of the Church while we hunker down and hide. No, it is the Church of Jesus Christ which goes forth; the Church is on the offensive! It is the gates of hell that will not stand before us! We follow the banner of the One who broke the gates of hell off the hinges when he rose from the dead. By his death he destroyed the place of death, hell itself. Our confession of what Jesus has already done is the bedrock of Christian Church. And our words about him matter!        

This confession is what Peter handed on to those who heard his and the other apostles’ preaching and wanted to become Christians. Together with the whole Christian Church on earth, we give thanks to God for Peter through whom God revealed the truth--the saving and cross-shaped truth--of the Gospel that all people are saved from their sin on account of Jesus Christ. 

On this day of our annual meeting, I pray that we here at Grace Lutheran might be a witness to the truth of the Gospel to all those who do not know God. I pray that we would be a strong anchor for those whose foundations have been weakened by the weakening of their confession of Jesus through fear of death, or accommodation to our culture, or just laziness and apathy. I want us to be Christian, without shame and without fear. People who know in their bones, believe with their hearts and confess with their lips that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, come to save sinners. Amen.