September 3, 2023 – Matthew 16:21–26

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Hope Lutheran Church
Manhattan, Kansas
September 3, 2023
Matthew 16:21–26
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In my opinion, one of the coolest things we get to do as a church and I get to do as your pastor happened this morning – Baptism. Baptism is this special gift that Jesus has given to his church. It’s the way that God promises us that he adopts us into his family. It’s the way God promised Ellie that she’s been adopted into his family. It’s a reminder to each of us that we belong to God and not to the world around us. It’s a reminder that the sin that used to control us has been put to death.
We actually said all of that together at the start of our service. Together we said, on page four of our service folder: Baptism means that the sinful nature in us should be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
And then a little further down the page: God saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit and united us to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Every day God forgives our sins, removes our guilt, and strengthens us to defeat Satan’s power. His promise is for you and your children, and he will never forsake us. Our sins are forgiven. We are clothed with Christ. We are at peace with God now and forever.
And then we all got to see – through simple water connected with the Word of God – Ellie was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And then one more thing happened. She received the sign of the cross on her head and on her heart to mark her as one redeemed by our crucified Christ.
The cross doesn’t just mark one person today. The cross marks each and every one of us who follows Jesus. It marks all of God’s church on earth. The church today looks to the cross. But not just any cross. The Church Looks To Jesus’ Cross. And we’re going to see two key things as we look to Jesus’ cross.
1) Human Nature Hates It
2) Our Souls Need It
1) Human Nature Hates Jesus’ Cross
The verses we’re looking at today come right on the heels of the account we looked at last week. If you forgot or weren’t here last week, Jesus had asked his disciples who they believed he was. And Simon Peter gave the most perfect answer Jesus could have hoped for. Simon Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” With that answer, Simon Peter was saying a whole lot about Jesus. He was saying that Jesus was God’s Chosen One and God’s Son sent to save the world. And to that confession, Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Peter.”
From then on, Jesus started to unpack more clearly for his disciples what it meant that he was the Messiah. He told them that as Messiah, he had to go to Jerusalem. But when he got there, he said that he wasn’t going to enter the city as a conquering king who would restore Israel and its people to glory. Even though that’s what lots of people wanted, Jesus made it clear that he wasn’t that kind of king. He wasn’t that type of Messiah. 
Instead, he would go to Jerusalem to suffer and die at the hands of the religious leaders in Israel. The crucial part, however, is that while his journey to Jerusalem would involve his death, it wouldn’t end there. It would end with him being raised to life. Simon Peter, however, didn’t agree with what Jesus was saying. Even though he had just confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, he clearly still had his own ideas about what that meant. And he let Jesus know.
“Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Peter hated the thought of Jesus’ suffering. He hated that Jesus was saying his work on earth would lead to a cross. Peter wanted Jesus, and really maybe himself, to have glory and power and control. He didn’t think there was any reason for there to be suffering and humility and death along the way. 
And how did Jesus respond to Peter’s ideas? “Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’”
I read that and I can’t help but wonder what happened to Peter. How did he go from being called “Blessed” by Jesus last week to this week being called “Satan”? Well, it’s because Peter had in mind human concerns. He thought he knew better than Jesus – better than God. He wanted glory, without the cross and death. 
You see, by explaining to Peter and all his disciples that he had to suffer and die and on the third day be raised again, Jesus was telling his disciples that there was nothing they could do to bring glory and salvation and life to the world. He would go to Jerusalem. He would suffer. He would die. He would be raised to life. Only his work, only his death, only his cross could save. First his cross, then glory for Jesus and everyone else.
When I think about Peter and his attitude a little bit, I start to wonder – Could Jesus say the same thing to me? Could I at one moment give a wonderful confession about Jesus but then the next moment find myself thinking and acting like Peter?
Because I hear what Jesus says about his cross, and my sinful human nature hates it. My sinful human nature wants to do something to make things right. Like Peter, I think that I know better than Jesus – better than God. I think that I can get glory on my own terms, without the cross and death.
And so I try to do all the right things. I try to live the best I can. I do everything I possibly can so that I can get praise and recognition from everyone without the hardships. 
But then, what happens when I hit a wall? What happens when I’m doing all the right things, but I’m not getting anywhere? What happens when I’ve been doing it all right, but then sadness and suffering and tragedy still come into my life? Where do I go from there? What do I do next? The answer is, there isn’t anything. Not really. Not on my own anyway. When I live like that, I’m a lot like Peter. I  don’t have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns
The concerns of God, though, are so much different. Because God comes in the things that don’t look impressive. God comes in a baby. God comes as a man who looks like us and talks like like us and lives like us. God comes in a man who suffers and dies in the most shameful way possible. That doesn’t look impressive, but that’s how God brings glory and salvation to all mankind and how he brings glory and salvation to you and me. It’s what our souls really need.
2) Our Souls Need Jesus’ Cross
God says that glory and healing and restoration in this world have nothing to do with you and me and what we do. It has nothing to do with our ideas of glory. In fact, he says glory and salvation come in the exact opposite way any single person could have ever dreamt up or expected.
God brings glory through his Son, his Messiah, facing ridicule and persecution. God brings glory to the world and to you and me by allowing his Son to hang on a cross and die for all the world to see. To everyone who would be watching, it would look like Jesus had lost. It would look like his life had just been wasted and the years of his ministry had been for nothing. Why? Because when he does that way, it forces us to realize that everything depends on him, and not on what we or anyone else can do to save ourselves.
Peter heard what Jesus said about suffering and death and crucifixion. But it seems like he missed out on the end of what Jesus said: “On the third day be raised to life.” Was there death on the cross? Absolutely. But Jesus' death wasn’t the end. It was the beginning of something new and better. He would be raised to life. 
For us too, there’s a death. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
What does that mean for us? It means that our ideas about salvation need to be put to death. It means that our old sinful nature has to be killed. It needs to be crucified. There’s a death, yes. But only so that Jesus can give us new life on the other side. And not just life now, but life forever.
And it gives us a whole new way to look at and live the life we have right now. It reframes and changes everything. The cross and death weren’t the end for Jesus. And it’s not the end for us either. It’s just the beginning. For him and for you and me who follow our Savior today.
Really, it’s freedom to live in the grace God has shown to each of us. Freedom that’s ours in baptism. Freedom that comes through the cross. Freedom to live as a new person who daily rises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Freedom to know that we are clothed with Christ. Freedom to believe that we are at peace with God now and forever. Amen.