Watching the news over the past couple of weeks, I notice that the world seems to be going through the terrible twos.
My
youngest grandson is going through the terrible twos; and, he is good at it. I came
home from a funeral yesterday to find him running down the street, hands in the
air, and yelling screaming as two years old will do; and my poor wife running after
him with a loving but frustrated look.
Most
people never leave the terrible twos even those who try to live a Christian
life. We strive to be Holy despite our shortcomings. Most of us have weaknesses
and sins that tempt and plague us. It can be insecurity or disobedience or as
my roommate in college called it “a wild hair.”
Despite
this, those who live in the love of Christ know God is in us. We see the face
of Christ in others. Each of us and all of us are the Church.
These
are the truth of the Gospel today. The truth taught is the ecclesiology of the
church and Christology of the Christ.
The
truth of the Church comes what Peter said about Jesus. This truth is found in Jesus
words to Peter:
“Blessed are you, Simon son of
Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly
Father.”
The Church is because of who
Jesus is.
Everything
the Church has to say begins and ends with its God-given knowledge of Christ Jesus.
It is the inexhaustible treasure of truth, which it holds in trust for the
world.
The
world doesn’t necessarily like the truth that Church reveals. The work of the
great deceiver is that the Church is irrelevant. It falsely puts forward Jesus
is a myth.
Because
of sin, people will believe evil. They fight against the reality of the truth
the Church presents to the world.
The
reason people don’t like what the Church has to say is because they don’t understand
who Jesus is. They don’t understand the Christology.
Jesus
asked the disciples “Who do the people say that I am?”
The
people who saw all the great things Jesus did tried to identify him with the
realities they knew. The disciples told Jesus the people said John the Baptist, Elijah, or even Jeremiah.”
The
Christology, the reality of Jesus requires a much greater leap in imagination
and faith. Like that leap that Peter took, "You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The
reality of Christ requires great faith.
Believing
the truth of the Church that comes from God, requires great faith
Jesus
told Peter “upon this rock I will build my church”
Friends,
we all know the story of Peter. Jesus did not call him a rock because of his
steadfastness or reliability. The Passion exposed his tendency to falter. He
ran away. He denied Jesus. He hid.
“Upon this rock” was the insight of
faith God had communicated to Peter.
“Upon this rock” the Church will survive
all attempts to destroy it.
“Upon this rock” the Church survived
Judas. It survived all the shortcomings of Peter. It survived the doubts of
Thomas. It survived the persecution of Paul. It survived the persecution of the
Roman Empire. It has survived in all the places ancient and modern that has persecuted
it, ban it, and martyr true people of faith.
The
church is built “upon this rock” of faith; “upon this rock” in each of us.
It
was founded “upon this rock” Jesus found in Peter.
It was the same Peter who love and sinned but held on to the Lord anyway.
Jesus
told us that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against this kind of love.
I looked and before me was a great multitude that no one could
count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb. (Rev 7:9)
The
Church is each one of us striving to be Holy despite our shortcomings. That is
a deeply comforting thought.
Be
good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one
another. Amen.
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