Proper 16
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
With the text appointed for this week we come to the climax of Part Two of Matthew's Gospel. We arrive at this particular point in the lectionary having omitted 15:29-31 (the crowds glorify the God of Israel for Jesus' healing ministry); 15:32-39 (the feeding of the 4,000); and 16:1-12 (the Pharisees seek a sign and the disciples demonstrate their "little faith"). This entire section begins in 4:17 with the words, "From that time Jesus began to preach...." The first section of this material, 4:17--11:1, describes the words and deeds of Jesus' ministry to Israel. Chapters 11:2--16:20 deal primarily with questions concerning the identity of Jesus and the repudiation of Jesus by the people of Israel. In 16:21 we hear again Matthew's formulaic words, "From that time Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer...." These words mark a new stage in Matthew's story.
It is vitally important in our understanding of Matthew's Gospel that we recognize the climactic character of this week's passage which centers in Peter's confession. As we indicated above, the material in 11:2ff. deals with the theme of Jesus' identity over and over again. (See our Chapters 18 and 19 for a discussion of this theme of identity. It might be important to review this material in order to see the big picture of which Peter's confession serves as climax.)
The time has come for fresh understandings of Jesus and clarifications of the disciples' role. Jesus begins by asking his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of man is? Mark in his Gospel leads readers along until finally they are faced with the solemn declaration that Jesus is the mysterious "Son of man" (8:20) who goes to Jerusalem to suffer. For Matthew that is not the end but the beginning of the matter. He takes it for granted that readers know Jesus as Son of man. That title appears again at the end of this whole section (16:27-28) and so Son of man frames all the material between vv. 13 and 28. Matthew has constructed his narrative in such a way as to interpret that somewhat puzzling title by means of the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God (16:16), and by means of the first passion prediction (16:12).1
Jack Kingsbury also discusses the place of this narrative in Matthew's story coming as it does after many conflicting thoughts about Jesus' identity.
Matthew fashions two evaluative points of view which he juxtaposes to each other in the pericope with which he brings the entire second part of his story to its culmination, Peter's confession near Caesarea Philippi (16:13-20). The one evaluative point of view is that of the various segments making up the Jewish public. The disciples, asked by Jesus who people imagine him to be, reply, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets" (16:13-14). In other words, the evaluative point of view concerning Jesus' identity which the Jewish public takes is that he is a prophet of some stature or other.2
Kingsbury goes on to assert that the reader knows that "prophet" is not an adequate title for Jesus for at least three reasons. Firstly, Jesus cannot be John the Baptist because John is the forerunner of Jesus. Secondly, the answer that Jesus is a prophet evokes no blessing from Jesus. Thirdly, this is not the way God "thinks" about Jesus as we know from the story of Jesus' baptism: God calls Jesus, "Son."
So the evaluative point of view of the Jewish public that Jesus is a prophet of some kind is false. According to Kingsbury, there is a second evaluative point of view in this story. This is Peter's point of view. Peter says: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
This evaluative point of view is correct, for two of the same reasons the other one is false: (a) it elicits from Jesus a "blessing" (16:17); and (b) it tallies with the way God "thinks" about Jesus...although the disciples correctly understand who Jesus is, they do not as yet know that central to Jesus' divine sonship is death on the cross. Hence, they are in no position at this point to go and make disciples of all nations.3
Standard commentaries have much to say about this passage. Almost every verse touches upon important realities. We will keep our remarks brief. Peter's confession (v. 16) is the second time that the disciples, here represented by Peter, have confessed Jesus to be Son of God. See also 14:28-33. The Son of God theme is, of course, a strong theme in Matthew's Gospel. The first hint of this theme is 1:18 where we hear that Jesus will be fathered by the Holy Spirit. The whole "Emmanuel" story in 1:18-25 underscores Jesus' divine reality. The story of Jesus' birth in Matthew 2 also underscores Jesus' divinity. The climactic "Son of God" passage in the early portion of Matthew's Gospel is, of course, the story of Jesus' baptism: 3:11-17. In 8:28-34 the demoniacs seem to recognize Jesus as Son of God: v. 29. The next reference to Jesus as Son of God comes in 14:28-33. Following 16:13-20 the next important Son of God text is the story of Jesus' transfiguration: 17:1-8. In his baptism and in the transfiguration the reader of Matthew hears how God "thinks" about Jesus. Other important passages with the Son of God theme are: 26:57-68; 27:40, 45-54 (the confession of the centurion!); and the Great Commission passage in 28:16-20.
We have commented earlier on the fact that Peter plays a very strong role in these middle passages of Matthew's Gospel. Commentators tend to see Peter as the spokesman for the disciples. He voices their common convictions. Jesus blesses Peter (i.e. the disciples) for this confession. Jesus speaks forth the truth that the disciples did not come to this confession out of their own power. Flesh and blood, that is, did not enable them to confess Jesus as Christ and Son of God. Their confession is revealed to them "by my father in heaven." We have spoken about this in our recent chapters. Again we refer you to 11:25-30 and 13:10-17 as evidence that these disciples, these babes, have been privileged to have made known to them the secrets of the kingdom and the identity of their master, Jesus. A Lutheran author cannot help but be reminded here of Luther's explanation of the work of the Holy Spirit in his Small Catechism:
I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel....
Faith is always a gift of God!
Peter, or Peter's confession, is the rock on which the church is built. The Greek word for church (ekklesia) is used only here and in Matthew 18:17 in all of the Gospels. Commentators have always noted that Matthew has a distinct interest in the church.
Jesus looks at Peter, called, instructed, sometimes boldly treading the waters, and sometimes sinking like a rock (14:28-31), full of understanding and often of little faith, but nevertheless at this point knowing and confessing. Peter stands forth among the Twelve as their representative, and on behalf of all he utters the good confession. And in him Jesus sees the whole future community of disciples and confessors. Jesus looks away from the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes (15:1-20; 16:1-12) and gazing upon Peter and the Twelve, sees the church...the new community of the end times.4
The church will be built on the confession of the disciples, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We hear once more from Smith where he argues that Matthew understands his Gospel to be the successor of Peter:
Matthew's Gospel is all about Jesus and the new community, how Jesus founds it, how its fellowship is entered and its life regulated. It is all about the secrets of life, its standards, values, priorities, and style, what is permitted and what is forbidden, who is included and who excluded.... And how does Jesus instruct the community in the days after Easter? Through his words, the fullness of his teaching, deposited in the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew itself, as the treasury of the words of Jesus, addresses the community with authority, teaching how people enter the community (keys) and the standards and criteria for behavior within the community (bind and loose)...Matthew has collected the words and commands of Jesus known from the disciples and Peter, and has recorded them with loving care in his book. This book contains "all that I have commanded" (28:19).... The successor of Peter is the Gospel of Matthew.... Matthew reissued the words of Jesus because of confusion in the church resulting from the energetic and enthusiastic labors of prophets and teachers and leaders. It is Matthew's contention that anyone claiming to speak for the exalted Jesus should be tested by the norm of Jesus' own words, as enshrined in Matthew's Gospel.5
Homiletical Directions
Reference to the standard commentaries will present you with any number of ideas that could be the base of didactic sermons on this text. The narrative possibilities are also many. The first we will mention is a narrative sermon built around the theme of Jesus' identity. We have discussed this possibility in our Chapters 18 and 19. We refer you to those chapters if you have not chosen to take this narrative path in earlier weeks.
Secondly, the Son of God theme can be pursued through a number of passages in Matthew's Gospel. We have listed all these passages in the material above. The point would be to trace the Son of God motif through the eyes of this evangelist. We first raised this possibility in our discussion of Jesus' baptism in our Chapter 5. We refer you to this chapter for more detailed homiletical possibilities.
Thirdly, the theme of revelation suggests itself. We have touched upon this theme as well in recent chapters. The three passages that could be narratively tied together under this theme are those mentioned above: 11:25-30; 13:10-17; and this week's passage with a focus on the reality that "flesh and blood" did not reveal to the disciples the true identity of Jesus, Son of God: v. 17. It was "revealed to them by my father." Tell these three stories with a focus on this revealing activity of God. This same reality confronts us today. It is still true that "flesh and blood," our mortal powers, cannot lead us to confession. We can't manufacture faith out of the abyss of our sinful condition! Such is the work of the Holy Spirit--to follow Luther's thought. And we know where the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit works wherever and whenever the story of Jesus is told.
We might conclude our sermon with a challenge to our listeners to "tend" the story of Jesus in one of its many forms (cf. Word and Sacraments). There the Spirit will work. There the Spirit will take the story of Jesus on the journey from ear to heart. There the Holy Spirit will work to create faith within you--faith in Jesus, the Son of God.
Close your sermon with a prayer that the Holy Spirit might, indeed, make faith happen in our hearts of "flesh and blood."
_____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), pp. 197-198.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), pp. 74-75.
3. Ibid.
4. Smith, op. cit., p. 201.
5. Ibid., pp. 202-203.
It is vitally important in our understanding of Matthew's Gospel that we recognize the climactic character of this week's passage which centers in Peter's confession. As we indicated above, the material in 11:2ff. deals with the theme of Jesus' identity over and over again. (See our Chapters 18 and 19 for a discussion of this theme of identity. It might be important to review this material in order to see the big picture of which Peter's confession serves as climax.)
The time has come for fresh understandings of Jesus and clarifications of the disciples' role. Jesus begins by asking his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of man is? Mark in his Gospel leads readers along until finally they are faced with the solemn declaration that Jesus is the mysterious "Son of man" (8:20) who goes to Jerusalem to suffer. For Matthew that is not the end but the beginning of the matter. He takes it for granted that readers know Jesus as Son of man. That title appears again at the end of this whole section (16:27-28) and so Son of man frames all the material between vv. 13 and 28. Matthew has constructed his narrative in such a way as to interpret that somewhat puzzling title by means of the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God (16:16), and by means of the first passion prediction (16:12).1
Jack Kingsbury also discusses the place of this narrative in Matthew's story coming as it does after many conflicting thoughts about Jesus' identity.
Matthew fashions two evaluative points of view which he juxtaposes to each other in the pericope with which he brings the entire second part of his story to its culmination, Peter's confession near Caesarea Philippi (16:13-20). The one evaluative point of view is that of the various segments making up the Jewish public. The disciples, asked by Jesus who people imagine him to be, reply, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets" (16:13-14). In other words, the evaluative point of view concerning Jesus' identity which the Jewish public takes is that he is a prophet of some stature or other.2
Kingsbury goes on to assert that the reader knows that "prophet" is not an adequate title for Jesus for at least three reasons. Firstly, Jesus cannot be John the Baptist because John is the forerunner of Jesus. Secondly, the answer that Jesus is a prophet evokes no blessing from Jesus. Thirdly, this is not the way God "thinks" about Jesus as we know from the story of Jesus' baptism: God calls Jesus, "Son."
So the evaluative point of view of the Jewish public that Jesus is a prophet of some kind is false. According to Kingsbury, there is a second evaluative point of view in this story. This is Peter's point of view. Peter says: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
This evaluative point of view is correct, for two of the same reasons the other one is false: (a) it elicits from Jesus a "blessing" (16:17); and (b) it tallies with the way God "thinks" about Jesus...although the disciples correctly understand who Jesus is, they do not as yet know that central to Jesus' divine sonship is death on the cross. Hence, they are in no position at this point to go and make disciples of all nations.3
Standard commentaries have much to say about this passage. Almost every verse touches upon important realities. We will keep our remarks brief. Peter's confession (v. 16) is the second time that the disciples, here represented by Peter, have confessed Jesus to be Son of God. See also 14:28-33. The Son of God theme is, of course, a strong theme in Matthew's Gospel. The first hint of this theme is 1:18 where we hear that Jesus will be fathered by the Holy Spirit. The whole "Emmanuel" story in 1:18-25 underscores Jesus' divine reality. The story of Jesus' birth in Matthew 2 also underscores Jesus' divinity. The climactic "Son of God" passage in the early portion of Matthew's Gospel is, of course, the story of Jesus' baptism: 3:11-17. In 8:28-34 the demoniacs seem to recognize Jesus as Son of God: v. 29. The next reference to Jesus as Son of God comes in 14:28-33. Following 16:13-20 the next important Son of God text is the story of Jesus' transfiguration: 17:1-8. In his baptism and in the transfiguration the reader of Matthew hears how God "thinks" about Jesus. Other important passages with the Son of God theme are: 26:57-68; 27:40, 45-54 (the confession of the centurion!); and the Great Commission passage in 28:16-20.
We have commented earlier on the fact that Peter plays a very strong role in these middle passages of Matthew's Gospel. Commentators tend to see Peter as the spokesman for the disciples. He voices their common convictions. Jesus blesses Peter (i.e. the disciples) for this confession. Jesus speaks forth the truth that the disciples did not come to this confession out of their own power. Flesh and blood, that is, did not enable them to confess Jesus as Christ and Son of God. Their confession is revealed to them "by my father in heaven." We have spoken about this in our recent chapters. Again we refer you to 11:25-30 and 13:10-17 as evidence that these disciples, these babes, have been privileged to have made known to them the secrets of the kingdom and the identity of their master, Jesus. A Lutheran author cannot help but be reminded here of Luther's explanation of the work of the Holy Spirit in his Small Catechism:
I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel....
Faith is always a gift of God!
Peter, or Peter's confession, is the rock on which the church is built. The Greek word for church (ekklesia) is used only here and in Matthew 18:17 in all of the Gospels. Commentators have always noted that Matthew has a distinct interest in the church.
Jesus looks at Peter, called, instructed, sometimes boldly treading the waters, and sometimes sinking like a rock (14:28-31), full of understanding and often of little faith, but nevertheless at this point knowing and confessing. Peter stands forth among the Twelve as their representative, and on behalf of all he utters the good confession. And in him Jesus sees the whole future community of disciples and confessors. Jesus looks away from the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes (15:1-20; 16:1-12) and gazing upon Peter and the Twelve, sees the church...the new community of the end times.4
The church will be built on the confession of the disciples, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We hear once more from Smith where he argues that Matthew understands his Gospel to be the successor of Peter:
Matthew's Gospel is all about Jesus and the new community, how Jesus founds it, how its fellowship is entered and its life regulated. It is all about the secrets of life, its standards, values, priorities, and style, what is permitted and what is forbidden, who is included and who excluded.... And how does Jesus instruct the community in the days after Easter? Through his words, the fullness of his teaching, deposited in the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew itself, as the treasury of the words of Jesus, addresses the community with authority, teaching how people enter the community (keys) and the standards and criteria for behavior within the community (bind and loose)...Matthew has collected the words and commands of Jesus known from the disciples and Peter, and has recorded them with loving care in his book. This book contains "all that I have commanded" (28:19).... The successor of Peter is the Gospel of Matthew.... Matthew reissued the words of Jesus because of confusion in the church resulting from the energetic and enthusiastic labors of prophets and teachers and leaders. It is Matthew's contention that anyone claiming to speak for the exalted Jesus should be tested by the norm of Jesus' own words, as enshrined in Matthew's Gospel.5
Homiletical Directions
Reference to the standard commentaries will present you with any number of ideas that could be the base of didactic sermons on this text. The narrative possibilities are also many. The first we will mention is a narrative sermon built around the theme of Jesus' identity. We have discussed this possibility in our Chapters 18 and 19. We refer you to those chapters if you have not chosen to take this narrative path in earlier weeks.
Secondly, the Son of God theme can be pursued through a number of passages in Matthew's Gospel. We have listed all these passages in the material above. The point would be to trace the Son of God motif through the eyes of this evangelist. We first raised this possibility in our discussion of Jesus' baptism in our Chapter 5. We refer you to this chapter for more detailed homiletical possibilities.
Thirdly, the theme of revelation suggests itself. We have touched upon this theme as well in recent chapters. The three passages that could be narratively tied together under this theme are those mentioned above: 11:25-30; 13:10-17; and this week's passage with a focus on the reality that "flesh and blood" did not reveal to the disciples the true identity of Jesus, Son of God: v. 17. It was "revealed to them by my father." Tell these three stories with a focus on this revealing activity of God. This same reality confronts us today. It is still true that "flesh and blood," our mortal powers, cannot lead us to confession. We can't manufacture faith out of the abyss of our sinful condition! Such is the work of the Holy Spirit--to follow Luther's thought. And we know where the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit works wherever and whenever the story of Jesus is told.
We might conclude our sermon with a challenge to our listeners to "tend" the story of Jesus in one of its many forms (cf. Word and Sacraments). There the Spirit will work. There the Spirit will take the story of Jesus on the journey from ear to heart. There the Holy Spirit will work to create faith within you--faith in Jesus, the Son of God.
Close your sermon with a prayer that the Holy Spirit might, indeed, make faith happen in our hearts of "flesh and blood."
_____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), pp. 197-198.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), pp. 74-75.
3. Ibid.
4. Smith, op. cit., p. 201.
5. Ibid., pp. 202-203.
