{"id":11555,"date":"2026-08-24T14:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11555"},"modified":"2026-08-24T14:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:39:27","slug":"peter-the-typical-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11555","title":{"rendered":"Peter, the typical Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 16:13-20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, the account in Matthew 16 about Peter is taken up as one story which begins with his confession: \u201cYou are the Christ\u201d and then ends with Jesus\u2019 rebuke of him (Matthew 16:16) and ends with Jesus\u2019 rebuke of him, saying: \u201cGet behind me, Satan!\u201d (Matthew 16:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the lectionary committee cut this account in half! They assigned the first half for last week and the second half for today. It\u2019s not right, and therefore, we\u2019re going to take up the story as a whole so you can see what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Jesus asked the disciples: \u201cWho do you say that am I?\u201d and Peter answered: \u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d (Matthew 16:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Jesus says: \u201cYou are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,\u201d etc. etc. (These words are written inside the dome of St. Peter\u2019s in the Vatican.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s going on? This is one of the most disputed texts in the New Testament. Some people will say: \u201cIt\u2019s really about Christ.\u201d Others say: \u201cIt\u2019s really about Peter\u2019s faith.\u201d And still others say: \u201cIt\u2019s really about the confession that Peter made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you study it, you find it\u2019s inescapable that when it says: \u201cYou are Peter\u201d it means \u201cYou are the Rock.\u201d If you take this text and put it back into the original language that Jesus used, it\u2019s you are \u201cKephas\u201d and on this \u201cKephas\u201d I will build my church.\u201d There\u2019s no way to escape that. That\u2019s what it says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, we ask: What is the text about? What does it do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get at that, let\u2019s look at Peter because that\u2019s what it\u2019s about. Remember a few chapters ago in Matthew 14, how Peter walks on the water, that is, as long as he looks at Christ, he walks on the water. But when he takes his eyes away from Christ, he sinks. In Matthew 14:30 Peter says: \u201cLord, help me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this text for today in Matthew 16 after Peter\u2019s confession, Jesus says: \u201cI\u2019m going to suffer, die, and rise again.\u201d And Peter rebukes him, saying: \u201cNo, no, no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Jesus rebukes him, saying: \u201cGet behind me Satan. You are an offense, a scandal,\u201d which is also a play on the word, \u201crock.\u201d In other words, you are the wrong kind of rock. You are an impediment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This highly charged exchange between Peter and Jesus in Matthew 16 is followed in Matthew 17 by the Transfiguration in which Peter, James, and John go with Jesus up the mountain, and there they have this striking mountain top sense of who Jesus is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And not long after that, when Jesus is faced with his arrest and trial in Jerusalem, Peter denies him three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then comes the crucifixion and resurrection. Although the first resurrection appearance is to one of the women, it says in Luke 24 that Peter was the first one of the official people to see Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on in Antioch there\u2019s conflict among the apostles, and Paul says of Peter: \u201cI had to tell him that he had fallen away from the truth of the gospel\u201d (Galatians 2:11-14). That\u2019s serious business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do we say about Peter? Although he was often the spokesman for the apostles, he\u2019s basically the typical Christian. He\u2019s with it and he\u2019s wrong. He\u2019s up and he\u2019s down. He does some things that are fine, and he also fails totally. That\u2019s the reason that we say that he is rocky, unstable, just like us. Broken, not only before the resurrection, but broken afterwards, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this account mean then for us now? It means three things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first one has to do with the church because it says: \u201cOn this rock I will build my church.\u201d What is that about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally we get caught in thinking that the church is or should be visible. There are those who say that Christians around the world shouldn\u2019t be divided but they all should strive to have a unified priesthood with the Pope in Rome as its visible head and spokesman for all Christianity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are others who say: \u201cNo, the church is invisible, it\u2019s a matter of the heart, of my faith.\u201d Of course, the church isn\u2019t a building, but the church has to do with some kind of spiritual reality, and who knows what it is. Moreover, they say you can\u2019t depend on institutions anyway because there\u2019s a lot of corruption in churches, just as elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we Lutherans have said and want to say is that it\u2019s neither of these options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church is not visible nor invisible. It\u2019s rather hidden and revealed. The church is hidden and revealed under the cross. This is quite different than either visible or invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is the church? At the time of the Reformation Lutherans said the church is wherever the gospel is preached purely and the sacraments administered according to the gospel. (Augsburg Confession, Article 7: \u201cFor the true unity of the church, it is enough that the gospel is preached purely.\u201d See also the Apology to the Augsburg Confession 7 and 8.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key word there is \u201cpurely.\u201d It means to proclaim salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. It\u2019s a way of overthrowing all authorities (a necessary priesthood, required good works, required conversion experience) that appeal to something else in addition to faith alone in Christ alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know where the church is. It\u2019s wherever the gospel is preached purely and the sacraments celebrated accordingly. That\u2019s visible and audible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, it\u2019s under the cross, and under the cross means the brokenness of this world. The brokenness which God then has taken care of, but on this side of eternity, it\u2019s the brokenness. And so, the church is broken, and it\u2019s only what it is through Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second place, this account of Peter tells us something important about the Christian life. A common mistake is to think: \u201cWell, in the Christian life God gives us a kick start in baptism, and then we better do what we should do to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that: \u201cAll our righteous deeds are filthy rags.\u201d The Christian life is really that which the Lord accomplishes through the Holy Spirit. As the Small Catechism says: \u201cThe Holy Spirit is the one who calls, gathers, and enlightens.\u201d And it\u2019s not our doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day we begin again at our baptism. What happened at our baptism? The Lord made us his own totally. He didn\u2019t give us a kick start. He made us his own. That\u2019s very different from a kick start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther put it this way: He says the Lord snatches us over against our own will, our own bent (Large Catechism 4:83). He makes us his own, and we can depend on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third place, this account of Peter says something about what it means to believe. Again, we easily get caught in modern psychology in which \u201cbelieving\u201d is something psychological that we activate within us and make happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or we get caught in the idea that we go as far as we can by \u201cbelieving,\u201d but if you could have some sight, that would be better. Then we\u2019d have something we could grab onto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in fact, \u201cfaith alone\u201d is always about the promise. It\u2019s always what God does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re tempted to say: \u201cWe\u2019re going to get beyond that,\u201d when as a matter of fact, it\u2019s always in him and in his promise. Of course, that\u2019s what great about it because it\u2019s absolutely sure and doesn\u2019t depend on us, on how smart we are, or how sincere we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He does it. He makes us his own in baptism and he continues to do that. Thank God. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 16:13-20<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

Ideally, the account in Matthew 16 about Peter is taken up as one story which begins with his confession: \u201cYou are the Christ\u201d and then ends with Jesus\u2019 rebuke of him (Matthew 16:16) and ends with Jesus\u2019 rebuke of him, saying: \u201cGet behind me, Satan!\u201d (Matthew 16:23).<\/p>\n

But the lectionary committee cut this account in half! They assigned the first half for last week and the second half for today. It\u2019s not right, and therefore, we\u2019re going to take up the story as a whole so you can see what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

First, Jesus asked the disciples: \u201cWho do you say that am I?\u201d and Peter answered: \u201cYou are the Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d (Matthew 16:16).<\/p>\n

Then Jesus says: \u201cYou are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,\u201d etc. etc. (These words are written inside the dome of St. Peter\u2019s in the Vatican.)<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11555"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11562,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11555\/revisions\/11562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}