Future

Some times we are constrained.  Different shapes our travels take.  We can find ourselves in darkness.  The past can constrain but is hard to surprise you.  It is not supposed to.  I heard that tornado in Cleveland last week.  I've never personally known a tornado to be in Cleveland.  I didn't believe it

To be held within bounds  It is called life.  We often think we know the boundaries.  We knew you couldn't just shut a planet down in 2019 didn't we.  Our flight envelope hard to define.  That is a term I remember learning.  It was confounding, but the airplane is capable of certain things well defined in the flight envelope.  Engineers determine what the possibilities.  

What we might go through is not something we can determine.  I don't think it will take decades for another tornado to come to Cleveland.  On the east side of Cleveland the tornado took the roof off a house of worship.  Well we have a roof here by the grace of God.  It can always be worse.  No one is ever prepared for that.

I learned this lesson the hard way July 11 1995:

I had arrived in Bosnia in April and in my three months I hadn’t learned too much language, but I think I got my points across. It was the satellite receiver the head of mission couldn’t figure out anyways that got me started. The month MTV Europe was no longer free and Srebrenica was so ethnically cleansed. 

The war was almost over or so it had to be after so many years. Sarajevo was still closed and the communal koan of peace, the street car beat, was silent. How could it be imagined, who conceived who knew this Srebrenica to come? It was the only time I spent in Bosnia and understood fully I was not Bosnian. I was not from here. I had arrived to bare witness the end. We were all there from every nation on earth and they for the most part had been no where else. I processed Srebrenica as yet one case in point that the international peace mission, which I was apart jaron, was just what Helen Keller described as the “Tragic Apology for wrong conditions.” I was a volunteer and it was different for me. I had come for a bed. That is my story. They had survived for the end. That is their story, but as I watched their faces on that day twenty eight years ago, I didn’t see anyone. Everything could be worse…no one is prepared for that, and so I continue this journey today following the path which I have followed to exhaustion. How will it come out of me? It came out of them slowly as I watched the months roll by. So shall this from me. I keep in mind two things, the words of a man my 6th great-uncle crossed the Atlantic with so long ago:

“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.” (Thomas Paine)

And that peace finally did arrive and the street cars sing Sarajevo peace today.

Getting ready to do something you know is hard.  Is different than doing something hard you don't know.  Unknown is where we always are.  Sometimes we feel different

Our scripture for today comes from Matthew 16:13-20 which I read from the Amplified Bible, Peter’s Confession of Christ

13 Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or [just] one of the prophets.”  15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Out of nowhere, it seemed, as they traveled along, Jesus asked his disciples a question of identity. “Who do you say that I am?” It’s a question we must answer again and again as we seek to become disciples of Jesus Christ.  There are things we can know about God next to thing we cannot know.

16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of the living God.” 17 Then Jesus answered him, “Blessed [happy, spiritually secure, favored by God] are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood (mortal man) did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades (death) will not overpower it [by preventing the resurrection of the Christ]. 19 I will give you the keys (authority) of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth will have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth will have [already] been loosed in heaven.”

Future perfect passive.  Will have [already] been.  The who not as important as the what.  We find not only a proclamation of faith, but a foundation upon which the Church was built.  Here, Jesus plays on words, using the name "Peter," which means "rock." He designates Peter as the foundation, the rock of faith upon which the Church would be established.  Peter became the rock upon which the Church was built, our faith serves as the bedrock of our spiritual lives. When we build our lives on the truth of Christ, we establish a strong foundation that can withstand even when everything is worse.

The most radical interpretation of Peter's confession involves viewing it as a statement not only about Jesus' divinity but also as a revolutionary call to challenge established religious and political systems. This interpretation focuses on the idea that Peter's confession was not just a declaration of faith but a subversive act that called for a complete reimagining of societal norms.

Peter and the disciples lived under Roman rule, enduring not only political subjugation but also a religious hierarchy that often aligned with those in power. In this context, Peter's confession can be perceived as a radical act of defiance.  By proclaiming Jesus as the Son of the living God, Peter implicitly rejected the divine authority claimed by the emperors and the religious elite.

While the traditional understanding of Peter's confession as a proclamation of faith remains crucial, this radical interpretation encourages us to view it through a lens of social revolution. Let us be inspired by Peter's boldness to challenge the powers that be and to work towards a world where justice, compassion, and equity prevail. In doing so, we embrace our role as agents of transformation and disciples of a revolutionary Christ.

The confession of Peter is a significant event recorded in multiple Gospels, specifically in Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30, and Luke 9:18-21. While the core of the confession remains consistent across the Gospels, there are some differences in how each Gospel writer presents the event. Here are the main differences

Luke's account follows a similar pattern. Jesus asks, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter responds, "The Christ of God."  In Luke's version, there's no command to keep the revelation a secret

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Mark's account is concise, focusing on Peter's response to Jesus' question, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answers, "You are the Christ."  Jesus then commands the disciples not to tell anyone about him, referred to as the "Messianic Secret."

20 Then He gave the disciples strict orders to tell no one that He was the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed).

Timing is everything with the revolution of Jesus.  Jesus' hidden messiahship was not about concealing his identity but subverting conventional expectations. By commanding silence about his miracles, he challenged people to look beyond the traditional understanding of the Messiah as a political or military leader.

Jesus aimed to shift the focus from himself to the Kingdom of God. He sought to highlight that the Kingdom was not about power in a worldly sense but about transformation, justice, and spiritual renewal. By revealing his identity too soon, he might have distracted from the essential message.

As we reflect on this radical interpretation of the Messianic Secret, let us remember that the Gospels hold layers of meaning that challenge our assumptions and inspire new perspectives. If we see Jesus' concealment not as a mere secrecy but as a deliberate invitation to seek a deeper, personal understanding of his messiahship, we unlock profound insights for our faith journey. Let us be seekers of truth, embracing the challenge to go beyond the surface and discover the radical transformation that Christ offers to those who truly seek. In this pursuit, we unveil the heart of the Messianic Secret - an invitation to a transformative encounter with the Messiah and his Kingdom.

You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5 Amplified Bible)

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In Isaiah 51 again from the Amplified Bible we find:

51 “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness (right standing with God),

Who seek and inquire of the Lord:

Look to the rock from which you were cut

And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.

Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I don’t remember. Sometimes I have no idea. How was it that I lived that way?  It seems like I am always going to Bosnia. I have a story to tell you. This indefinable you. I start here, as there is nowhere else. I have no idea what I shall write. Is it my story? Is it there story? Is it their story? This debit I owe. This task I undertake.  So patient as if it never needed to be done. I remember this night twenty eight years ago in Zenica more than I did then alone in a strange and far off land.

4 

“Listen carefully to Me [says the Lord], O My people,

And hear Me, O My nation;

For a [divine] law will go forth from Me,

And I will quickly establish My justice as a light to the peoples.

5 

“My righteousness (justice) is near, My salvation has gone forth,

And My arms will judge the peoples;

The islands and coastlands will wait for Me,

And they will wait with hope and confident expectation for My arm.

6 

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

Then look to the earth beneath;

For the heavens will be torn to pieces and vanish like smoke,

And the earth will wear out like a garment

And its inhabitants will die in like manner.

But My salvation will be forever,

And My righteousness (justice) [and faithfully fulfilled promise] will not be broken.

Interpretation is important throughout the Bible. It is interpretation that distinguishes between the ethical and trivial in biblical laws. By interpretation we see the biblical characters in proper perspective, and we see when we should follow their example and when we ought to be warned by their faults. When we claim to take the Bible "just as it is written", we are following the "common sense interpretation", that does not include thought and study. Let us be very hesitant in using the phrase, "the Bible says",---it takes careful and prayerful study to interpret correctly the message of the Bible.

And having read, studied, and interpreted the Bible----remember "it is better to be a sermon than to preach one."

       Let us pray......

Our dear Heavenly Father---  Father of all creation, whose being is from the beginning of time, speak to us.  Raise us above the storms of our generation and above the barriers with which we seek to surround ourselves.  Fill us with the love and understanding that embraces all people and is not bound by nation, race, or creed.  Forgive us our little goals and narrow visions.  Lead us to dedicate ourselves to the work of thy kingdom.  Make us willing to be disciples of Jesus Christ.  Though our minds cannot fully grasp His Call to us give us the will to follow Him,  accepting Him as the Savior of man and the hope of the world.

Amen......

Now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus, the Love of God, the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and remain with you always.

                                                     Amen.

           .........Nottingham Methodist July 1962

8/27/2023 Nottingham UMC