In Caesarea Philippi there was a great temple of white marble built to the godhead of Caesar -- it had been built by Herod the Great. " King Herod erected there a temple of white marble to his patron Caesar, King of Rome. Following the example of his father, Philip built the first city at Panias, naming it Caesarea Philippi to honor the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus.
Caesarea Philippi became a center of Greek-Roman culture, its prestigious status as the capital city of Herod Philip’s domain, and its significant Gentile population. References to "the district of Caesarea Philippi" (Matt 16:13) and "the villages of Caesarea Philippi" (Mark 8:27) reflect the city’s status as the power center of Philip’s territory.
Jesus made four historic predictions at Caesarea Philippi. There are many words of Jesus where the Gospel writers do not indicate where he was when he spoke. In the passage you will hear today, Matthew starts by telling us where Jesus was speaking. In the imperial city, Jesus asks who do people say that I am?
The United States is in a time of crisis and in the midst of our imperial power, the words of Jesus are exactly the same. We are living in an extraordinary moment. The war in Iraq and the loose regulation of mortgages at home have bankrupted our nation. The war is a trillion and the housing crisis is five trillion. It all could have been avoided but we are a nation that promotes that American dream and then gets shocked when sharp people game the system.
This fall, you will have to decide what your Christian faith means – does it speak to questions such as should every person have decent health care or does the current system basically work? Should we turn off the engine of war in Iraq or does it make sense to keep pouring money in when the Iraqis don’t want us? Does life begin at conception and can you point to a Bible verse that makes that claim?
These questions are completely political to some and moral to others and a mixture to yet others. It is such an unusual moment in American history that even mainline pastors are making public endorsements. We have all read that some evangelical churches turned over their mailing lists to the Republican party in Pennsylvania in the last election. Black churches have traditionally supported a candidate. One of my friends had Bill Clinton at his church in Brooklyn before his first election. John Hagee endorsed McCain in late winter and James Dobson makes public comments about other elections. I tried to find the Hagee endorsement on Youtube but it is mysteriously absent. I discovered that the Hagee operation got YOutube to remove 120 videos that showed him making the endorsement or his other famous comments about Catholics, Jews, gays, or Iran.
What I have never seen is moderate evangelicals or mainline pastors make endorsements. And in the Matthew25.org ad for Obama, the main speakers are the copastors of the largest United Methodist Church in North America. Furthermore, Jon Kirby Caldwell is also the pastor that George Bush invited to give the invocation both times during the swearing in ceremonies.
Friends, what I hope to impress on you in that we are living in unusual times. We are in one of those national moments like the dark days just before the Civil War, the days after the Crash of 1929, the days in 1960 when we learned that nuclear weapons were about to arrive in Cuba. We live in the most powerful government in the world just as Rome was the most powerful government from Spain to Iraq.
Who do people say that I am?
Jesus deliberately uses Caesarea Philippi to make four announcements: They concerned:
1) The Church: (Matt 16:18) For the first time, Jesus announced His purpose to build an ekklesia (Church), a community of the redeemed, called out to be His Body on earth, to witness to Him while He was absent.
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus appoints the 12 disciples in a way that suggests that he will replace the government of the 12 tribes with a new kingdom, based on reconciliation and justice. In the centuries that have followed, we have found that developing Christian nations has not worked. Some of the worst human rights abuses have happened in Guatemala where the Catholic Church has enormous influence. Fighting Christians in Europe over 70 years left a secular world as their legacy. The separation of church and state seems like a wise compromise, given the troubles of other ways.
So Jesus is announcing the formation of a sign community in Caesarea – churches of faith that will be living pictures of what the world could be if reconciled to God. These churches will be inclusive, neither just male nor female, neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. These churches will be prophetic and speak truth to power. O that Caesarea would have listened. The tremendous battle that ended that city was a slaughter. Many were taken to fight each other to the death in the colosseums. In the United States, we feel that the troubles of the world are the troubles of others. 9/11 shocked us and yet its violence does not begin to compare to the insecurity of much of the world.
2) The Keys of the Kingdom: (Matt 16:19) The keys refer to authority in the ekklesia. This power would also be shared by the other apostles (Matt 18:18; John 20:20-23). This authority was given to the apostles to enable them to lead the first generation of believers after Pentecost until the epistles were written, that revealed Jesus’ standards and provisions for His ekklesia.
The church is the faithful voice for justice in society. The binding and loosing is an Aramaic proverb which exaggerates our power in heaven. The point is that in a world of tax codes, building new schools, laws about who can be married, when war is declared – the church has the keys of binding and loosing. For example, the United Methodist church has declared the war in Iraq to be without a moral foundation. The leaders have bound the moral teachings of scripture to this particular situation.
This text suggests that our leaders of this church, small group discussions – we should be looking at the work of our city, state, nation and world, and asking what does Christ want in our society. Wesley offered four guidelines, the Wesley quadrilateral. Scripture, reason, spirit, and tradition.
3) Jesus’ coming death and resurrection: (Matt 16:21-23) Jesus announced His death and resurrection, the events that would provide the redemption essential for the Church to come into existence.
The centerpiece of salvation and the new kingdom, the focal point of our hope is the sentence of justice for all the blood ever shed. Has anyone here had a family member killed violently? There is no law, there is no war payment that brings back one person. God, who counts every hair on your head, still counted the payment of his own sons life sufficient that violence can be forgiven. Who is violent? Anyone who hates, as Jesus binds the commandment against murder to hatred in Matthew 5. We have all sinned, there is none righteous, no not one.
4) Jesus’ call to discipleship: (Matt 16:24-27) Jesus used the example of His own obedience to the Father, even to death, as He taught His followers this basic definition of a disciple. After His return to the Father, Jesus’ Body on earth would be composed of those who would deny themselves and follow Him.
Friends, the reason Jesus was killed and his followers persecuted is that they threatened the normal order of society and someone would lose power under their ideas. Whether you vote for Obama I am not going to try to bind. But if you are voting for the safest choice instead of the right choice, you are not being a Christian. The truth of this nation is that the rich are getting richer. They have to be taxed and the church has to protect politicians who are willing to tax people who are immensely rich – immensely. The rich paid 90% of their income in taxes in World War 2 and did not much complain. George Bush forgot to tax us at all for Iraq so your grandchildren will pay.
But I will guarantee that we speak for justice and speak the truth to society, rich people will do whatever they have to do to take down that message. John McCain could not remember this week how many houses he has. I liked the commentator who replied, I wish I could say that I have one house, but the bank still mostly owns it. Like many people, I’ve dreamed of owning three homes. I know that Bloomberg owns more and I generally respect him. But to be so casually rich that you don’t know – I never even imagined that – and it hurt. I’ll tell you this. John McCain may have the endorsement of John Hagee and Rod Parsley but handling his wealth the way he’s doing – that not Christian and I’ll bind that comment.
Honoring Christ and being willing to follow the preacher at Caeserea is simply loving others as much as we love ourselves.
