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Printer Friendly VersionI love bookstores--little ones, big ones, new ones, old ones.
Where there are books to be bought, I will go. Nancy, my wife, sometimes threatens
to tie a long rope around my leg as I enter one and allow me only fifteen
minutes to browse. When the time is up she’ll yank the rope, dragging
me to safety and save our family from bankruptcy. She’s convinced there’s
something about bookstores that makes me lose all track of time and financial
control. To be honest, she’s partially correct.
I have a bookstore challenge for you. The next time you walk
by one of those large bookstore chains, go in and find the religion and spirituality
section. See how many different religions and forms of spirituality are represented
on the shelves. I’ll make it a little easier for you. Count all the books
that have something to do with Christianity as one whole section so you don’t
need to spend time trying to figure out whether the author is a Protestant,
Catholic, Orthodox, or something else. Look especially beyond the world’s
five major religions (i.e., Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism).
My guess is that you’ll find at least 25 different “spiritual”
alternatives.
When you’ve finished in the religion and spirituality section,
make you way over the self-help section and browse through those selections
to find out how to get over your past by getting in touch with your inner
child or lose your pounds by unleashing your power. Wander by the house and
garden section to discover how to build your house and arrange the furniture
so the spiritual auras are aligned. Before you leave, don’t forget the
sections on astrology and the occult. Don’t linger long there, however.
You’ll likely become depressed and have to go back to self-help section.
The bookstore is a contemporary symbol of the spiritual confusion
that has captured our day. There seems to be a widespread fascination with
the spiritualities of astrology to angels, fasting to feng shui, crystals
to Christianity, and hundreds of others from which to choose. The “spirit”
of the age encourages us to keep choosing until we find some thing that satisfies
and when we grow tired or bored with it, we move on to something else. There
is always another option out there somewhere.
Today’s text takes place in Caesarea Philippi. This ancient
city was a center of Roman and pagan influence during much of the first century.
Herod the Great, the Jewish king familiar to most of us for his paranoid power
and treachery in killing the infant boys of Bethlehem, divided up his kingdom
among his sons at the time of his death. His sons, who shared his paranoia
without his strategic smarts, schemed and negotiated their way into places
of influence as a means of holding on to their inheritance.
Philip, one of Herod’s sons, was given the northeast territory
of the kingdom. To insure his continuing alliance with Rome, Philip named
the city for Caesar Tiberius, the human ruler of the Roman Empire who elevated
himself to a god-like status above all other men and women. To distinguish
this Caesarea from the Mediterranean coastal city by the same name, Philip
included his own name, insuring that he would be eternally linked with a god
and remembered beyond his death.
Cut out of the rock at Caesarea Philippi were several pagan
temples. In March of 2000, I stood in the midst of the ruins of those temples.
I could see the altar places carved out of the hillside. The idols have been
gone for centuries, but my imagination still saw them towering over the crowd.
Augustus, Zeus, Nemesis, and Pan stood tall and awesome from their places
of pseudo immortality.
Of particular interest to me was the temple that receded into
a large cave. At the back of the cave was a deep, black hole into which animals
were thrown as sacrifices to gods of the underworld. I gazed into that hole
and imagined the pagan worship rituals that went on there, even during the
time of Christ. The longer I looked, the darker the blackness became. An eerie,
cold, dark, fearsome feeling came over me. It was no common experience and
one that I do not wish to repeat. It was if I was staring at the face of evil.
I was gazing into hell.
Caesarea Philippi, this ancient city named for a self-proclaimed
god and an insecure, egotistical ruler, this ancient city known for its spiritual
pluralism and pagan rituals, this ancient city that symbolized the spiritual
confusion that permeated the culture of first century Galilee, this ancient
city with its window into hell is the context for our text today.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah;
and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say
I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you, that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades (or “hell”) will not overcome it (or “not prove stronger than it”). I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Matthew 16:13-20
It was here that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do they
say that I am”. In the spiritual confusion and frantic, sometimes irrational,
search to find meaning, hope, power, and immortality, “what are they
saying about me”?
But Jesus is not content to know only the perspective of the
masses. He wants to probe the depth of understanding and faith of his own
disciples. He goes on to ask with penetrating directness, “Okay, here
in the shadow of Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Caesar, Zeus and all
the rest, who do you say that I am?”
In that great climactic moment of truth, Peter responds. He
powerfully proclaimed, “You are the Christ, Messiah, Deliverer, Savior,
the Son of the Living God! In you there is meaning! In you there is hope!
In you there is light! In you there is peace! In you there is truth! In you
there is life! You are the Christ of God! What we are searching for we have
found in you!” And to Peter’s confession we all add a resounding
AMEN! What a moment! And it is as true today as it was then. Jesus the Christ,
the Son of the Living God is the answer to the spiritual yearnings of all.
Jesus, acknowledging the divine source of Peter’s confession,
pronounced to Peter. “Now that you know who I am, I will tell you who
you are. You are the rock, and on this rock I will build my church and the
gates of hell will not prove stronger than you!” What Jesus said to Peter,
he says to all who make Peter’s confession. When you declare that Jesus
is the Christ, then Jesus will tell you who you are. You are no longer who
you were, you are now in Christ, a new creation, and a vital stone upon which
the church is built! It is the common declaration for every Christian.
I am going to make some assumptions today that the church has
been true to her mission and that pastors and teachers have been faithful
to challenge you to consider who Jesus is. “Who do you say that I am?”
or “Who is Jesus to you?” must be more than simply a curious, intellectual
pursuit. If the church as been true to her mission, you have been personally
confronted with the challenge of discovering Jesus as the Christ, Savior and
Lord of the world, and Savior and Lord of your life. I will assume today that
most of you, in the midst of the contemporary sea of spiritualities, have
clearly answered that question just as Peter did. You know who Jesus is.
I am also going to make the assumption that that church has
been true to her mission and that pastors and teachers have been faithful
to challenge you to listen to Jesus the Christ, through the work of the Holy
Spirit, pronounce who you are. I am going to believe that most of you are
engaged in the task of discovering what it means for you individually and
as a congregation together to be the living stones upon which the church of
Jesus Christ is built. You who have proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ are
the church. You know who you are.
With these assumptions, I want to probe the words of Jesus that
have been often quoted but, perhaps, not clearly understood. Jesus declared
to Peter, “… and the gates of hell will not prove stronger than
you.” In order to get at these words, we must understand the difference
between leaving and going. Leaving implies a focus on the place where we have
been, i.e., the past. Going implies a focus on the place where we are headed,
i.e., the future. In a few minutes we will leave church to go to a variety
of places and activities. If we focus on leaving we remember the quality of
our worship, the depth of our Bible study, and the warmth of our fellowship.
Hopefully, these dynamics will be positive and pleasant, strong enough to
make us want to come back at the first opportunity. But all of these are dynamics
of leaving.
Going is much different. Going infers purpose, commitment, a
sense of calling, a compelling mission. Go! Go into all the world! Go into
all the world and preach the gospel! You cannot answer adequately the question
“Who is Jesus the Christ” and you cannot hear clearly the declaration
of Jesus “You are the rock upon which the church is built” and simply
leave. You must go!
It is for “going” that I want us to listen carefully
to Jesus’ words that day in Caesarea Philippi. Hear them as words for
us. “The gates of hell shall not be stronger than you!” Often we
have listened to that verse and understood it to say, “You will be protected.
Hell and the forces of darkness won’t be able to attack and conquer you.
You’ll be okay. Don’t worry. Satan is like a roaring lion, going
to a fro seeking whom he may devour, but it will be alright for greater is
he that is in you than he that is in the world.” Thank God, this is true
and we are comforted. But this is not what our text says. This understanding
is not for “going.” It is an interpretation for “staying.”
The connotation is one of defense, not compelling mission.
When was the last time you were attacked by a gate? In those
ancient cities like Caesarea Philippi, the gates were for protecting that
which was inside the fortress walls, not for protecting those charging from
the outside. Jesus wasn’t talking about the adequate protection of the
Christian fortress. He was talking about the inadequacy of the enemy’s
fortress; that fortress to which we go to declare that Jesus is the Christ
and in the midst of which we are called to live faithfully as the church.
We are called to go into all the world--and the gates of hell will not be
strong enough to keep us out!
Saint Francis of Assisi is one of my spiritual heroes. In my
office hangs a replica of the center altar panel from the Chapel of Assisi
in the Italian Cathedral of Santa Croce. The panel depicts significant events
in Francis’ life ... his conversion, his ministries of compassion, his
death. The panels tell his story. It is a story of discovery of who Christ
is, of who Francis is, and of “going” with purpose and mission.
Saint Francis captured that mission in his noted prayer,
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Throughout his life he did and he was. Among the rich and the
poor, among the sick and the healthy, among the outcasts and the privileged,
among the ignorant and the learned, he did. And the gates of hell couldn’t
keep him out.
So it is almost time to leave and go--to leave the safety and
security of gathering of Christian and go with mission and purpose to our
neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, our communities, our city, our
nation and even to the ends of the earth. And in our “going”:
Where you find darkness, shine as the light. And the gates of
hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find despair, speak words of hope. And the gates of
hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find a sense of futility, bring purpose and meaning
that is in Christ. And the gates of hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find ignorance, bring knowledge and understanding.
And the gates of hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find conflict, be an agent of reconciliation and peace.
And the gates of hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find hurt, bring healing and forgiveness. And the
gates of hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find oppression and bondage, pronounce freedom in
Jesus’ name. And the gates of hell won’t be able to keep you out!
Where you find death, proclaim that eternal life is found in
Jesus the Christ, the resurrected Lord. And the gates of hell won’t be
able to keep you out!
Go and don’t be afraid. You know who Jesus is. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Go and don’t be afraid. You know who you are. Whether you are a student, teacher, lawyer, banker, artist, nurse, homemaker, spouse, parent or child…you are the living stones of the church with a mission--to proclaim and model to a world confused in a sea of spirituality that true life, complete life, eternal life is found in Christ. So go into all the world, and the gates of hell won’t be able to keep you out.