August 23 ~ Who do you say that I am?

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/3ef8bd_d6da45c77804403ba719df3767b2594f/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Sermon by Pastor Nelson

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 23, 2026

Turtle Island

True North, Strong and Free

Isaiah 22:15-23, Psalm 138

Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

I will begin by making two confessions, which is always good for the soul. I started writing this sermon on June 4, 2026.

There are several versions of the lectionary. The one I am following today uses lessons from Isaiah and from Romans that are different than the ones you will find in your ‘Evangelical Lutheran Worship’ [cranberry] book.  Somebody much smarter than me made the set of the three-year lectionary - others keep fine-tuning it, and here we are. Ideally the Old Testament lesson compliments the Gospel and the second lesson adds some theology and the psalm compliments them all.

Looking at today’s Gospel lesson, it would be interesting to know why this congregation was named St. Peter’s?  I would think it was a staunch Lutheran who would have said, “We are going to name it St. Peter’s and then defend the meaning of Matthew 16:18 (part of our Gospel lesson today), versus the Roman Catholic meaning.” In the same vein, the location today on Sparks St. is great, and yet just like the name, I am sure the location also gives you some problems.

I hope you forgive an old guy who was given new life a few months ago, for digressing. So let us get back to the lessons for today. Are you old enough so that when you hear the ‘William Tell Overture’, you think of the Lone Ranger? Likewise, can you not listen to Matthew 16:18 and think of the Roman Catholic Church saying Matthew 16:18 says, “Peter was the first bishop of the Church.”  Even good Roman Catholic scholars will admit that this is a poor proof text for the papacy. By they/we using it as a papacy proof text they/we miss the real message. Have I got your attention? Now if you think I am anti Roman, two of my favourite gurus were Bishop Remi De Roo and Fr. Roger Karban Sad to say, they are now both dead.  The main problem is that we take today’s Gospel lesson out of its original context of a first century Jewish/Christian community and put it into our 21st century ideas. [Sadly something we often do with Scripture.] Remember, the writer of Matthew, as well as all the early writers of the Bible, thought/believed that Jesus would return very shortly in the ‘Parousia’; that is “Jesus would return shortly and we would hopefully all be in God’s Kingdom.”  Add the word ‘Rapture’ to that idea and it still sells lots of books. For Matthew and other such writers, they did not worry about setting up a ‘Church.’ The writers realized this former Galilean carpenter was more than just one more Jewish prophet in a long line of Jewish prophets like Elijah or Jeremiah.

I would think if we were honest, Many of us today would have similar thoughts. The Gospel of Matthew writes, Peter said, “You are the Christ, [the Messiah], the Son of the living God.” The one who we believe to be our earliest Christian author, Paul said in our second lesson. Once Jesus’ disciples discovered the uniqueness of this carpenter, they could only stand in awe of Jesus.  You see God seemed to have done things through Jesus that no person of faith could have anticipated. Paul said, “how unsearchable are Jesus’ judgements and how inscrutable are his ways.” Paul was telling the Romans that no one could have predicted what happened in Jesus’ lifetime and seemed still to be happening with the risen Jesus.  But in fact, we only have to look at our first lesson to see that the Jewish people had already felt God had worked through other people. Just look at our first lesson from Isaiah. The prophet presumes it was God and not just politics that had replaced Shebna with Eliakim. For the Hebrew people, God never hesitated to get involved in everyday Jewish life. Thus, the writer of Matthew was convinced that the same divine involvement carried over into his day and age, especially through Jesus and those who followed him. Thus, Peter’s ‘faith’ in Jesus was transformed into the rock for our faith even today. The faith, that Peter the fisherman had in God, is the “rock” on which our Church should still be operating under. As Lutherans we still should thank Martin for trying to bring this biblical faith back into our way of thinking. But the struggle continues. Jesus’ promise was/is that if we fall back on our faith in God, the forces of evil will never prevail.  Peter, just like us, did not fulfill his promises immediately or flawlessly. Peter continued to dispute Jesus’ predictions about suffering, And he also wanted to put limits on forgiveness. Peter begged and argued with the other disciples. The writers of both Matthew and Mark probably summed up Peter’s discipleship with the sentence, “Peter followed at a distance.”

Mark 14:54, Matthew 26:58. Now being “good” Lutherans does not mean we come down hard on Peter. You see, for Peter to have been following Jesus even at a “distance,” Would have meant Peter was continually risking his life. Peter had said Jesus was the Christ and he/Peter would strive to live that commitment for the rest of his life.  When Jesus responded to Peter’s words with, ‘How blessed you are, Peter!” “You could not have figured this out on your own.”, Jesus recognized, ”It takes a village to raise a believer.” Too often we have thought ‘this faith thing’ was personal. If you were to read the lesson for the semicontinuous reading for today, my least favourite, you would find it took five women to help deliver Moses at his birth, and then they had to hide Moses because the ruler wanted to kill him.  Yes, we often give credit to someone like a Moses or Peter but we fail to recognize the number of people who help us in our faith. I personally will never forget Viola Ness, a Sunday school teacher, and Pastor Peter Onstad - both at Grace Lutheran, Erskine, MN. Peter, like us, did not figure out this idea of Jesus by himself, and he could not have lived it by himself. Peter’s religious heritage, his relationship with Jesus, his praying, his companionship with the other disciples – All these people and experiences were included in God’s revelation to him/Peter. All of them enabled Peter to keep growing into the commitment he had professed.

All of the above and much more is what we need in order to continue to have faith in someone beyond ourselves. So we get back to Ron’s favourite word, ‘Metanoia’, Peter did not have the wisdom or the strength to believe in God, Peter had metanoia. That is, Peter was willing to change and learn, Peter was willing to cultivate an even-larger vision.  Peter was able to grow into his commitment. That ability, that willingness/metanoia to change, is what becomes the rock of our faith. Peter’s faith allowed him to weep for betraying Jesus.

When I was ordained into the Church we were told we were to be “the keepers of the keys of the Kingdom”.  The ‘keys’ are the keys for forgiveness. Matthew 16:19. The ‘keys’ are the authority of the word of God to forgive sins. We heard it in our first lesson, and we heard it in the Gospel. All of today’s lessons and the words “Do this in memory of me,” that we hear at communion, are said to shake us up.  Today we find ourselves called to answer Jesus’ question for ourselves. We do not need to figure it out alone, we do not need to live it alone. God’s revelation comes through a community, a village, a congregation, through the word and sacrament. This is the awesome faith we have.  Incidentally, the word for “Church” occurs many times in the epistles but it only occurs here and in Matthew 18:17 in the gospels. Look around you and see things being bound and others being loosened. Where do you see freedom and liberation emerging, Even in small and seemingly insignificant ways?  How does this community fight the forces of death that seek to engulf us? In every thoughtful gesture; in every supportive word; in every prophetic denunciation of injustice; in every meal cooked; in every day of work, we might just catch in this community, a glimpse of the power Jesus promised in our Gospel today.  Lives will speak louder and more truthfully, and more effectively than words. On this rock we shall not build a prison nation, a nation where millions of children are homeless and hungry. On this rock we shall not build churches where the poor and women are oppressed.  Yes, if we do it right, in all that happens here, we might just find the answer to that awe-inspiring question, “Who do you say that I am?”.  On this rock, let us build congregations that demonstrate belief in a living, and speaking God; a God of freedom and not of oppression; a God of justice, love, and peace.

But you see on that day, Peter’s mind was not on a new testament Messiah who would be arrested, tortured and killed. Instead, Peter saw Jesus as a political, exclusive Messiah, one who would put an end to the Roman occupation and fully establish the glory of God’s people.  Even though that was a clear misunderstanding, Is that not what we would all want? For me it is like good news. Despite all the information I have access to today, I still do not truly comprehend who God is. Though I surely will fall short of any declaration about God that will do God justice, God patiently continues to uplift me - as long as I sincerely continue to seek more of the nature of God.  In my life as a believer, I hear God say, who do you say that I am? And as incomplete and tainted as it is, I hear God say, you did not come up with an answer on your own. You are just one rock in my living Church or, as Grundtvig said a few years ago in his hymn “Built on a Rock.” [652 In our red book.]  “This is the ‘rock’ the Church shall stand on, even when the steeples are falling.”

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God

And its righteousness,

And all these things shall be

Added unto you.

Ask and it shall be given unto you,

Seek and you shall find,

Knock and the door shall be

Opened unto you.

Alleluia,

Alleluia.

[W & p 122]

Amen.