A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ” (Matthew 16:13–20). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen....

Click here to listen to this sermon. The text for today is our Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:21-28. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The time has come for Jesus to speak frankly to His disciples about His imminent suffering and death. He surely has spoken of these things before, but the disciples have not understood. They do not grasp what Jesus tells them here either. In fact, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him: “Far be it from You, Lord!” Peter says. “This shall never happen to You!” Peter’s intentions are good., but He speaks without considering the implications. The man who just acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, now contradicts Jesus. Jesus must go to Jerusalem. Jesus must suffer many things. Jesus must be killed. Jesus must be raised on the third day. Jesus had commended Peter’s confession of faith, which came directly from the Father. Now He rebukes him sternly, even addressing him as Satan. Peter essentiall...

"The Protestations of St. Peter" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! It’s a short step from “Rock” to “Stumbling Block,” from “blessed” to “Satan.” Just ask St. Peter. In last week’s reading, Peter spoke for the rest of the disciples by confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus commended this confession, identifying the Father as its source and its truth as the foundation of the Church’s endurance. In other words, Peter got Jesus right. Jesus pronounced Peter blessed and called him Petros , “Rock.” But now, just five verses later Jesus calls him Satan, and says he is a skandalon , a stumbling block to Jesus and His ministry. What changed? To find out, let’s review the narrative. ...

  "The Protestations of St. Peter" by James Tissot Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus said:] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! It may be the case, that as Jesus meets with His disciples near Caesarea Philippi, He is geographically farther away from Jerusalem than at any other time in His earthly ministry. The town was about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee, at the base of Mount Hermon. That’s around 100 miles from Jerusalem, a long trip in the day when just about every land journey was completed on foot. Whether or not Matthew intends the geographical perspective of distance and separation to highlight how far apart the religious establishment in Jerusalem is from Jesus, the comparison is certainly applicable. It is also true that the religious leaders of Jerusalem would hav...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Are you familiar with the term “bucket list”? It was coined by Justin Zachman, a screenwriter, who created his own list, which he first called “Justin’s List of Things to Do Before I Kick the Bucket.” The first item on his own bucket list was to have a screenplay produced at a major Hollywood studio. Realizing that a “bucket list” could itself be fodder for a film, he wrote a screenplay about two dying men racing to complete their own bucket list. The film, “The Bucket List” was released in 2007, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Since that time, a lot of people have created their own bucket lists. Maybe you have one yourself. Visit Paris. Run with th...