13th Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 15:15-21 Psalm 26:1-8 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who does things the divine way. Amen Perspective matters. How we look at things influences what we see. The view from the top of a mountain and the view from the bottom are very different, even though we’re looking at the same mountain. How I see the world without my glasses is certainly a lot fuzzier than when I put in my contacts and the world springs back into focus. On a sunny day I change how I see the world by putting on sunglasses and the dark lenses allow me to focus on more than just how bright it is outside. These are all physical examples of perspective but perspective also comes into play in how we understand the world and like putting on sunglasses or climbing a mountain we can influence to a certain degree how we understand and interpret the world around us. Now some things, our past experiences, our beliefs, our place in society all impact our perspective whether we are aware of it or not and the things that are most deeply ingrained are the ones we turn to in times of stress, the ones we go to without thinking about and that can get us into trouble. That’s what happens to Peter in our gospel for today Jesus tells the disciples that “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. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, 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.’” Peter, when faced with a threat to his teacher and Lord responds from the human perspective. The perspective that holds tightly onto life at all costs, the perspective that says pain is to be avoided, the perspective that is more concerned with ourselves and our loved ones than the whole world. And Jesus scolds him. He puts him in his place, ‘get behind me’, Jesus says, ‘I am the teacher, you are the disciple, you’re getting ahead of yourself, you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ And while it is true that Peter is human, we know that he is capable of seeing from the divine perspective. Just last week in our gospel at a retreat in Caesarea Philippi Peter proclaimed the truth about Jesus, that he is the Messiah, the Son of the living God and Jesus praised him for trusting the revelations of God. There Peter had his mind set on divine things. But it only lasts a moment, and in seemingly the next breath Peter is back to human things. Jesus puts Peter in his place and turns to the disciples and spells it out for them “If any want to become my followers let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” To be a disciple of Jesus means looking at the world from the divine perspective, a way of looking at things that at times seems to be exactly the opposite of what our instincts tell us we should do what the world had taught us makes the most sense. The worldly perspective teaches us to put our lives and those of our family ahead of anyone else, the divine perspective teaches that a life well lived is one that is lived in service to others, even if that means sacrificing our own lives. It’s what Jesus did, he lived everything he taught he lived the divine way, the way that fed people because they were hungry and healed people because they were sick and forgave people because they were sinners. His living the divine way in the world so upset those in power (those who were supposed to be living and teaching the divine things) that they got together to serve out the ultimate punishment of the world, death, the thing there’s no coming back from, but Jesus did rising on the third day, and he promises that joined to him death is not the end his followers are free to live in service of others following the divine way. But Jesus realizes that living the divine way does not come naturally, that like Peter when we hear something that frightens us our instinct will be to go back to the way of the world, that we will need to be put in our places and reminded again and again that God will take care of judgment and that we are to view the world from the divine perspective. And while this is difficult, Peter shows us that it is possible, again and again Peter jumps at the chance to follow Jesus, and again and again he falls back on the human way of doing things, and yet each time Jesus puts him in his place, reminds him of the divine way, forgives him, and gives him another chance. This is what Jesus does for us, as we seek to follow him he calls us to set our mind on divine things rather than human things and sometimes, most times it flies in the face of worldly wisdom. As Paul reminds the Romans “Let love be genuine...bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep...Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” It takes practice to live in the world with our minds set on divine things, we will mess up, and when we do, Jesus will put us in our place, remind us of the divine way and give us another chance, and the more we practice the easier it becomes to look at the world from God’s point of view but always Jesus calls us to set our mind on divine things because he knows that when we are frightened or disrupted we will see the world from the human perspective once again and once again we will need to be reminded to set our minds on divine things. Dear people, right now as individuals and as a society we are frightened and disrupted and we are falling back on the human mindset, the mindset that draws those with whom we agree closer and villainizes those who are different from us, whether the difference comes in the form of politics, nationality, the color of our skin, or even how we think we should live together. To get through this we must set our mind on divine things, before we react, pause and look at the world through the eyes of Jesus, to see how we might live in service to others even though it may mean making sacrifices in our lives so that others may live. We must overcome evil with good. And yes, we will make mistakes along the way, and Jesus will put us in our places, and then he will forgive us, offering us his broken body and blood poured out, with bread and wine join us once again to him, setting our mind on divine things then sending us out to try again. This is the divine way. Amen
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AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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