Year A

Matthew 16:13-20

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Times They Are A-Changing

American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in his song ‘The Times They Are A-Changin sang, “The line it is drawn…the slow one now will later be fast and the present now will later be past. The order is rapidly fading. And the first one now will later be last, for the times, they are a changing.’ It does seem that Isaiah, the psalmist, Paul and Jesus all echo these words of Bob Dylan today in the lessons. The story of the whole bible declares the good news that times, they are a changing, that God is indeed making all things new. God transforms the world through lives of individuals and events and calls and empowers all who inhabit it.

We see the answer of God’s transforming call upon the lives of his followers in the texts today. This call requires the sacrifice of former identities, the willingness to give up one’s life as it is in exchange for the life of God’s will. God called the prophet Isaiah to this empowered and transformed life. He was to comfort the people of Jerusalem and to announce the good news that the times they were a changing, the exile was over. Going forward they were to find their confidence in God’s promises by “looking” to their past, and “looking” intensely to their ancestors who are the rock of their hope.

Rediscovering their past would provide energy for their present and future lives, transforming “waste places and wilderness” into Eden…and joy will be the song of the people. My salvation will be forever and my deliverance will never be ended.” The salvation the Lord promises goes far beyond the immediate deliverance from exile, for unlike the heavens and earth itself, the salvation the Lord will accomplish will be forever. God’s promises flow through time, through changing times. The psalmist reaffirms God’s providence today by giving thanks to God for God’s steadfast love, faithfulness, increasing strength, deliverance and for fulfilling God’s promises and purpose for humanity.

We see the continued fulfilling of God’s purpose and promises, today in Peter’s historic confession of faith which Matthew records in his gospel. People are saying various things about Jesus, trying to understand what is going on in their encounters with him. They think Jesus is John the Baptist, Elijah returned in his fiery chariot, or one of the prophets like Isaiah that have come back to life. But we hear today the life changing news that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. The salvation the Lord promises. This eye opening revelation which comes at the conclusion of a long section before it in Matthew’s gospel about Jesus’ public ministry comes as a wallop. The times, they are a changing.

As Jesus and his disciples come into the district of Caesarea Philippi in the midst of Roman territory, trailing behind them are miracles: the feeding of the five thousand or more, the calming of the storm at sea, the curing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter and many others. Along with the miracles of healing, Jesus has been teaching about obedience to the law, about the difference between words and deeds and about reading the signs of the times. He warns them to be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He then opens the discussion about his own identity by asking what the people are saying about him: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Jesus does not seem satisfied with the response of the disciples so he probes deeper. “But who do you say that I am? Peter steps forward to answer. We have to love Peter because he is the disciple who never quite gets it, but this is Peter’s hour of glory, for he says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” His answer is the one Jesus is looking for, because he immediately pronounces Peter blessed and the rock upon which the church will be built. But with a position of authority, with the keys to the kingdom of heaven comes responsibility. For Peter and for all who have followed him in professing Jesus as Lord, the responsibility of pasturing the sheep, the people of God, is great. It is a responsibility which can never be taken lightly or without the help of God’s Spirit.

For, it is nothing that Peter says or does all by himself that wins the keys to the kingdom. He is blessed because his confession was a gift of God. The faith to know who Jesus is comes as a gift from God who reveals through the Holy Spirit the Christ, the Messiah. Peter professed faith in Jesus and led the church through those very difficult early years after the Lord’s ascension. Like Peter, our confession of faith changes everything about who we are and what we do. This transformation is what Paul calls on the Christians in Rome to have when he says, “present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds so that you may discern what is the will of God –what is good and acceptable and perfect.”    

Paul calls on believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, to discern and live into the will of God. To be a living sacrifice is a total offering of self that leaves nothing out. What we do day to day in our lives expresses God’s will. We are called Paul tells us each according to our gifts to use our bodies as prophets, ministers, teachers, exhorters, givers, leaders, and in acts of cheerful compassion. Yet, Paul reminds us that it’s not about us but dedication to the will and the work of God that results in the use of gifts through the body. Paul then expands the body metaphor to describe the church as “one body in Christ.” The gifts of each member are to be used for the common good. 

In just eight verses, Paul gives us useful truth about what we must do in order not to be conformed to this world but transformed as we journey together in the changing times toward God’s future. There is hope for the church in God’s future, for all of us, because Peter is one of us and he shows us that blessedness is about our willingness to go ahead and try. The important thing is to not only to say what we believe but also to live what we believe-knowing that Peter is the rock to which the church looks to as our hope and example. 

After Jesus’ exchange with Peter he “sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone he was the “Messiah” as they were headed to Jerusalem into those dangerous days. It will be after Pentecost, that proclaiming the gospel becomes the main work of Jesus’ church. If this forgiving and retaining, binding and loosing, belongs to all of us as Spirit-led disciples of the risen Lord, then we have a great responsibility to seek reconciliation and peace, and to spread the good news of God’s love for all God’s children. Just as Jesus applies the teaching of the Torah in fresh and creative ways, the church must be emboldened to interpret the teachings of Jesus in new and inspired ways, attempting to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus and to be open to the voice of Jesus that speaks through the church to new situations and problems. For the times they are always a changing.