Rev.
Debbie Cato
Psalm 19 and Matthew 16:13-20
Holy Word, for generations people have bowed their heads, prayed the Psalms, and asked for your presence in their lives. For generations people have whispered, “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable and pleasing to you, O God.” For generations we have gathered here, we have quieted our minds, we have prayed to feel your presence in our midst. So once again, just as the generations before, we turn our hearts to your Word. Still our busy minds so that we might truly understand what you have to say to us today. With joy and hope we pray, amen.
Praise the Mount
You may
have noticed that every Sunday since Lent began, we are singing “Come Thou
Fount of Every Blessing” after the sermon. That is intentional! There are phrases in the hymn that tie into
each week’s sermon theme. This week, the
sermon title is “Praise the Mount.” In
the hymn, we sing:
“Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.”
The phrase “Praise the mount” specifically refers to the concept of raising an “Ebenezer” which is the beginning of the second verse. The term “Ebenezer is of Hebrew origin and means “stone of help” or “stone of helplessness.” It comes from 1 Samuel 7:12 where the prophet Samuel sets up a stone to commemorate God’s help to the Israelites. In the hymn, raising the Ebenezer is an act of setting up a memorial or marker to acknowledge and praise God’s faithfulness and assistance in the past.
So “Praise the mount” essentially means to lift up praises and gratitude for the symbolic mount or hill where the Ebenezer stone is set, signifying God’s continual help and intervention in the singer’s life journey. The imagery emphasizes the idea of acknowledging God’s providence and grace throughout our lives.
This week, this lyric represents Peter’s mountaintop faith moment. It speaks to spiritual ecstasy and feeling the closeness of God. In our scripture passage today, Peter proclaims who Jesus is. He speaks with conviction. He doesn’t waver. Peter claims his faith. Jesus is the Messiah. The Son of God.[1] There are plenty of times that Peter doubts himself. But he never really doubts who the essence of Jesus.
If you had to speak your faith in one sentence or phrase, what would you say? When we have the courage to say, “This is what I believe…” that conviction has a ripple effect on others. When life gets rocky, we lean on our mountaintop moments and our deepest convictions; our beliefs see us through.[2]
Many of us are hesitant to talk about our faith, but conviction matters. Do you believe in forgiveness? Do you believe love has the power to change lives? Do you think the world is in need of grace? If so, people need to know about it. Tell them what you believe, but in a loving, grace-filled way. Because each of us believes a little differently. Our faith stories are personal.
But belief should not be a prerequisite for belonging to a church community – it’s not a prerequisite for belonging here. A church community is where we learn and explore and discover. Yet, beliefs do matter. Statements of faith can be powerful, as it certainly was for Peter.[3] “You are the Messiah. The Son of God.” That is why we recite a Statement of Faith or an Affirmation of Faith every Sunday. Reciting our beliefs not only proclaims what we believe, but it reminds us what we believe. It convicts us. What we believe matters.
In our scripture passage, we encounter Peter at a crucial moment in his relationship with Jesus. Peter has been found by Jesus, he was called, he was rescued when he was sinking. These pivotal moments lead him to declare who Jesus really is and the purpose behind his coming to earth.[4] Peter has a profound revelation.
Jesus’ question, “Who do people say that I am?” has been researched and studied and debated throughout time. In the 1990’s, Jesus topped the religion book charts, including several blockbusters that landed on the New York Times best-seller lists. This was the era of what was called the “Jesus Seminar,” a group of scholars who were dedicated to uncovering the historical Jesus – Jesus the human who walked on earth. They looked at Jesus in new ways: as a rabbi, as a prophet, a teacher, miracle worker, itinerant mystic, political rebel, and rabble-rousing Jewish peasant. “Who is Jesus, really?” was a powerful question as Western society drew closer toward the year 2000.[5]
Not everyone liked the Jesus of the 1990s, the Jesus stripped of glory; stripped of his divinity. Those who opposed the historical Jesus view also wrote books. They reasserted the miraculous God-Jesus, emphasizing his divinity, making sure Jesus Christ stayed on his throne in heaven; making sure that he was the One to whom all praise songs were directed. They downplayed his humanity. For them, what mattered was not Roman political history or Jewish cultural background, but the theology of the church as the infallible guide to knowing Jesus the Christ. Those books also made it to the bestseller lists.[6]
The 1990s could well be described as a battle for Jesus. The Jesus of history needed to be recovered, reclaimed, and reinterpreted as the man Jesus who had a radical ministry and life; the Christ of faith needed to be renewed, reasserted, and reembraced as the Jesus Christ of orthodox doctrine.[7]
Peter’s confession is a reminder that faith is not stagnant but dynamic. It’s a “mountaintop faith” experience, a moment of clarity, when we profess our devotion to God and acknowledge who God is in our lives. It’s a declaration that God is near, guiding us along the path of revelation.[8]
Yet does the Jesus of history or the Jesus of doctrine (the words we recite together every week in our Affirmation of Faith) really describe who Jesus is to you? When you think about who Jesus has been in your life, would you recite the Apostle’s Creed? Of course, Jesus should be your Lord and Savior. That is central to our Christian faith. But I think Jesus is the Jesus of our experience. The Jesus we each know individually by how he has touched our lives.
When I was five years old, I was the “main” angel in our church’s Christmas pageant. Our church had a choir loft that was in the front of the church and looked down on the front of the church and the pulpit and communion table. The pulpit and communion table were moved for the Christmas pageant and a stable was built where Mary and Joseph and the Christ child, as well as the shepherds and the wise men and the other angels gathered. As the main angel, I was in the choir loft, looking down on the scene, watching over the Christ child.
The Christmas pageant was the night of Christmas Eve and so it was dark, and the sanctuary was dim. As my five-year old self stood in that choir loft and looked down on the baby Jesus, it became very real for me. That Christmas Eve, I believed I was protecting the Baby Jesus. I can’t quite explain it, but I believe that is the time that I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I was changed at five years old. It was a very holy moment. I still remember it in detail.
Over the years since I was five years old, I’ve had many experiences where Jesus has been there for me and so I have a story about who Jesus is to me. I would describe Jesus to you differently that you might describe him to me because we have had different life experiences, different Jesus’ experiences. Like Peter, I declare that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. He is my Lord and Savior. But he is much more personal than that to me.
We are all different people, with different stories, differing religious traditions and upbringings, from different places and backgrounds. All these factors affect how we see Jesus. We could learn so much from each other’s stories. My story can never be your story, but my story might inform yours, or be like yours, or maybe even add depth or another dimension to yours. And your story can never be my story, but it can inform mine, add depth and dimension. Add understanding. If nothing else, sharing our stories might lead to a greater understanding, tolerance, appreciate, and perhaps even celebration of our differences.[9]
The Apostle Paul believed because he experienced Jesus as a blinding light as he walked to Damascus. It completely stopped him in his tracks. Paul recognized Jesus as the risen Christ, as healer of his own broken soul.
In the decades that followed, Paul would reflect on his experience of Jesus – as well as his ongoing experiences of Jesus – and share those reflections and insights in letters he wrote to the churches he planted. Those letters make up a large part of the New Testament that we can read today – two thousand years later. Paul met Jesus over and over again, and Jesus was always new.[10]
When Peter made his declaration of faith, it was about halfway through Jesus’ ministry. Peter had had many interactions with Jesus; he had witnessed Jesus teach a lot of crowds of people, heal a lot of people, and exorcize demons. He was there when Jesus fed more than 5,000 people with a young boy’s small fish and loaves of bread. He was privy to the private conversations and teachings Jesus had with his disciples as they walked from town to town. Based on everything that Peter knew about Jesus, he proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Let us reflect on our own spiritual journeys and consider the seeds of revelation in our lives. They shape our understanding of God and draw us closer to Him. Let us echo Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. May our journeys be marked by the continuous growth of these seeds of revelation, leading to an unwavering devotion to our Heavenly Father. Just as Jesus affirmed Peter’s confession, may we find affirmation in our faith, as God sees the best version of ourselves and continues to plant the seeds of revelation.[11]
I’m going
to close with Rev. Sara Speed’s poem for this week.
Praise
the Mount
Rev. Sara
Speed, Sanctified Art
I have
stayed quiet before.
I have
held my tongue
while
passing mountains.
I have
slipped my hands deep into pockets,
despite
the music that invites me to dance.
I have
glimpsed a new moon and a new love
and have
acted as if it was something other than a complete, God-given miracle.
But not today.
Not
today.
Today I
will dance.
Today I
will tap my toes all the way to heaven’s gates.
Today I
will point out every shade of gold and periwinkle that we pass.
Today I
will talk about my faith like we talk about the weather—
early and
unprompted, comfortable and unashamed.
Today I
will tell you that God did such a good job with freckles, willow trees,
and your
entire being.
And I
will not be embarrassed by my own conviction.
I will
not swallow my praise.
I have
stayed quiet before,
but not
today.
Today I will sing.
May we
sing about our relationship with Jesus.
May we tell our stories that others will know who Jesus is. Amen.
[1] Sanctified Art. Third Sunday of Lent. Theme
Connections.
[2] Sanctified Art. Third Sunday of Lent. Theme
Connections.
[3] Sanctified Art. Third Sunday of Lent. Considerations
for the Week. Rev. Sara Speed.
[4] Sanctified Art. Third Sunday of Lent. Commentary. Dr, Terence Lester.
[5] Bass, Diana Butler. Freeing Jesus. Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher,
Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Harper
Collins. 2021. P.xviii.
[6] Bass, Diana Butler.
Freeing Jesus. Rediscovering
Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Harper Collins. 2021.
P.xviii – xix.
[7] Bass, Diana Butler.
Freeing Jesus. Rediscovering
Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Harper Collins. 2021.
P.xviii.
[8] Sanctified Art. Third Sunday of Lent. Commentary. Dr, Terence Lester.
[9]
Bass, Diana Butler. Freeing Jesus. Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher,
Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Harper
Collins. 2021. P.xx – xxi.
[10] Bass, Diana Butler.
Freeing Jesus. Rediscovering
Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Harper Collins. 2021.
P.xxiv
[11] Sanctified Art. Third Sunday of Lent. Commentary. Dr, Terence Lester.
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