Meditation 

Message   Lectionary 21          A Worship      August 23rd, 2026

Good Morning!  Welcome to God’s House, and your house as well!

In our readings, Isaiah advises the people to look to their spiritual ancestors as the rock from which they were hewn.  Jesus declares that the church will be built on the rock of Peter’s bold confession of faith.  God’s word of reconciliation and God’s mercy are keys to the church’s mission.  Paul urges us to not be conformed to this world but to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, using our individual gifts to build up the body of Christ.
And from the table we go forth to offer our spiritual worship through word and deed.

So our theme today is, “Who is God”?

The first and second readings introduce the theme of “Who is God?”.  Isaiah offers good news: God will deliver the people and bring comfort, making wilderness places like Eden (51:3).  This was particularly good news for the original hearers, since this passage is part of Second Isaiah, which scholars say was written to the people exiled in Babylon who waited decades to return to their homes.  As God blessed the ancestors of the faith, like Abraham and Sarah, so God will again bless God’s people.

The Romans text reminds us that God gives gifts to all, which moves us from “Who is God?” into exploring “Who am I?”  It’s another easy leap, then, to “Who are we as church?”  Paul in Romans reminds us that we are all gifted with diverse blessings, and these are to be used in community with others for the sake of the gospel.  It’s as easy in our time as it was in Paul’s to get distracted by other things, or to think too highly of ourselves.  An antidote, is to remember ourselves as the body of Christ—each valued, each important, and each with work to do that will not only serve others but bring transformation to our own hearts and minds.

I once heard of a pastor who asked their elementary-age children what they thought God was like.  The kids surmised that God was up in heaven playing Minecraft and eating Doritos.  This probably says more about their children than about God!  But it reminded them of a seminary professor who said, “Tell me who you think God is, and I’ll tell you who you are.”  Their own understanding of God had varied throughout the seasons of their faith life.  God had been a mighty wind, then a compassionate friend, and then a powerful healer.  Who do you think God is?

That question is at the heart of today’s gospel from Matthew.  The disciples have varied answers, and so do we.  Like the disciples, we sometimes get it wrong.  Peter gets the right answer, but it’s not the only answer the gospels give us.  Jesus in the coming chapters will be servant, teacher, martyr, resurrected one, and finally, the one who ascends to heaven.  God has many names, and is always more than the sum of the monikers we can list.

We can also acknowledge that while we struggle with knowing who God is (and sometimes mess it up), it is not necessary that we have full knowledge of who the Almighty is, in order to be part of the family of God.  Even clever Peter goes on in the very next passage to give Jesus a “wrong” answer, and later denies Jesus three times in the Passion narrative.  Yet, Jesus doesn’t cancel the promise to build the church on the rock of Simon, now called Peter, a nickname from the Greek petros, meaning “rock” or “stone.”  The church does get built, even on an unstable rock like Peter, and on rocks like us.  But it’s crucial to note that in Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “I will build my church” (emphasis added).  It’s easy to feel like the success or failure of the church rests on our weary shoulders.  We are called to be helpers, but God brings the church into being.  God works through any flaws in our foundations.

So here are some learnings about our scriptures.  Peter’s confession marks a turning point in Jesus’ ministry, after which he declares openly what is to come in Jerusalem.  While this story appears in other gospels, Matthew alone includes reference to Jeremiah (16:14), the words “Son of the living God” (v. 16).  Here Jesus explicitly affirms Peter’s response as divine revelation (v. 17).  Roman Catholics and Protestants still disagree as to whether “this rock” refers chiefly to Peter or to his confession of faith.* “The keys of the kingdom” is biblical language for authoritative leadership (Isa. 22:22; Rev. 3:7). The notion of “binding and loosing” originally circulated in rabbinic literature for discerning whether commandments applied to specific situations. Here Jesus bestows the role of interpretive discernment to followers (see also 18:18-19; John 20:23). Leaders of early fledgling church communities likely heard these words as empowering their work, which is to be carried out with humility and a heart for restoring the lost (Matt. 18:1-35).

Have you ever heard a story told by several folks, each with their own viewpoint? 

Today’s readings remind me of the many times when Jesus tells a story, or a parable, or comments on the Pharisees and Sadducees, who don’t believe, as Peter does, that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

In those other readings, we hear three distinct viewpoints. The first and hardest for us to understand is that of Jesus, the Christ.  The other two viewpoints, with which we are probably most familiar, are (1) that of the disciples and (2) that of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  We are most familiar with these because, whether we want to admit it or not, we have played both of those roles in the narrative of our own lives.  While we try to star as the faithful disciples of Christ in the theater of our own minds, we often inadvertently put God to the test through our thoughts and actions, taking on the roles of Pharisees or Sadducees.  But why them?

The Pharisees and Sadducees were under pressure.  The growing popular public opinion of Jesus (in the view of the Pharisees and Sadducees “that renegade from Nazareth”), was becoming a more significant issue than they had thought.  The Pharisees were having problems because Jesus, by their own admission, spoke like one “with power and authority,” while the Sadducees were concerned about what he was saying.  The Sadducees were a wealthy priestly sect with authority over the Temple.  Jesus’s preaching about the poor, the injustices in the Roman Empire, and giving personhood to the lost, the last, and the least was making waves.  So, to test Jesus, they asked for a sign.  Jesus responded by saying, “Beware of the yeast.”

Yeast?  Yeast in the Bible represents falsehood or false doctrine.  Jesus warns the people about the Pharisees and Sadducees by saying, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  To the disciples, Jesus says “No, y’all don’t get it, I’m talking about the yeasty or false traditional teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 

Jesus is telling them that if their teaching is without love, or simply preserves tradition, it’s yeast.  Watch out for traditions that don’t lead with grace, or attitudes that major in negativity and judgment but are devoid of love and understanding, and for personalities and positions that posture in power without having the sensitivity and humility of Christ. Watch out for the yeast, Jesus says.  However, it took a while for the disciples to understand what he was saying. 

Have you ever been there?  Have you ever been in a season where, though you’re in a relationship with Christ, you are struggling to understand what he is saying?  This was the plight and vantage point of the disciples for most of that passage.  And much of their years together!

Back to our Gospel reading.  Jesus, possibly knowing that the disciples’ ears were in the streets, asks them a jarring question as they come to Caesarea Phillipi: “Who do people say that I am?”  After several answers from the group, Jesus asks the most important question, and I paraphrase: “Dear Ones, from your vantage point, who do you say that I am?”  Peter, as Peter does, blurts out an answer.  But it turns out to be a profound confession: “You are the Christ, Son of the living God. 

There it is.  This, I believe, is the primary concern from Jesus’s perspective regarding us.  More than anything, Jesus wants for us, based on our vantage point, to answer that question: “Who do you say that I am?”  The question has been asked; what do you say?  Peter said, “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.” 

So may it be for all of us.  God loves you, and so do I.   Amen.