Sermon on Matthew 16:21-26
Pentecost 15 – September 21, 2014
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Waukesha, WI
Pastor A. Christie
The Two Crosses in the Christian Life
1. The one Christ carried
2. The one you carry
JESU, JUVA!
“Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (v. 22)
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We love having choices in life. Remember when you went out to eat and the hostess used to ask “smoking or nonsmoking?” My family went out to dinner this past Friday. Do you want Pepsi or Coca Cola? Do you like your cod to be
baked or fried? For 13 years I ministered in the area of northern IL and southern WI. One needed to ask: Packers or Bears.
Then there was the dreaded college intramural question: shirts or skins. You call it: heads or tails.
This morning, we are faced with another two options. Not about how we like our fish, but about how we like our faith.
Which do you prefer? A Christianity of the couch or a Christianity of the cross? Do you want a human religion with
the look and feel of Christianity or Christianity with the look and feel of Christ? Make no mistake about it: Christianity of
the couch sells. Couch Christianity is the religion that appeals to the human nature - a Christianity that makes us
comfortable. Early one Sunday morning as I was staring into my cheerios in the 5:00 a.m. darkness, I watched as a teleevangelist encouraged me to pray with him through the TV to - as he put it - “name and claim great wealth and riches for
yourself.” That’s comfortable. That’s a Christianity of the couch. In a Bible information class that I once taught, I had a
student who told me that a pastor once told him that you could celebrate the Lord’s Supper with Pepsi and crackers. After
all, “it only matters what’s on the inside.” That’s comfortable. That’s a Christianity of the couch. A congregation has a
minimal doctrinal position, their pastors haven’t truly believed in the miracles of the Bible for a generation. The church
has gone along with all of society’s moral changes. After all, choice is choice and love is love! That’s comfortable. That’s
a Christianity of the couch.
Jesus this morning will have nothing to do with a Christianity of the couch - a fuzzy feel-good religion that appeals to
human appetites and desires. Instead, Jesus presents Peter and us with a Christianity of the Cross. In that Christianity of
the Cross, Jesus meets our deepest needs. This morning, let’s see that THERE ARE TWO CROSSES IN OUR LIFE:
1) THE CROSS THAT CHRIST CARRIED AND 2) THE CROSS THAT WE CARRY.
1) The Cross that Christ Carried
The Gospel Lesson began with these words: From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be
killed and on the third day be raised to life (Mat.16:21). With these words, Jesus enters into the final chapter of his earthly
ministry. For about 2-1/2 years, Jesus had concentrated on teaching the people. Some believed in him. Many simply
panned him. Why? Jesus wasn’t interested in giving the people a religion of the couch - freedom from Rome and freedom
to remain in their favorite sins. In the final 6 months of his earthly life, Jesus turned his teaching efforts to the disciples.
St. Matthew tells us that Jesus began to explain to his disciples the Christianity of the cross and empty tomb. Jesus was
preparing his disciples to be proclaimers of the cross - not peddlers of human couches and spiritual crutches!
Matthew’s words are so simple that they could roll right off us without much thought. Jesus had to go to Jerusalem...
suffer...be killed... and be raised to life. Sounds so matter of fact, doesn’t it. But think of this: Jesus knew his greatest
enemies were in Jerusalem. Jesus knew about each spit, slap, slug that he would endure. Jesus knew that crucifixion was
the most painful way the Romans could kill somebody. There was no couch waiting in Jerusalem for Jesus. There was
only the cross. He gladly went to Jerusalem - to the cross - for you and for me.
Jesus sense of timing is - well - perfect! Do you remember Jesus’ question last week to his disciples: “who do people say
the Son of Man is?” Then Jesus went a little bit further: “But what about you?... Who do you say I am?” Do you
remember Peter’s prize-winning answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Good job, Peter! Gold star for
you! Immediately after Peter’s prize-winning answer, Jesus (in this week’s lesson) begins to speak of his death and
resurrection. In other words: Jesus is the Son of God, but Son of God’s goal is to give us eternal life through his death on
the cross – not to make our earthly life cozy with his couch.
Why is the first cross in our life, the cross that Christ carried, such an important thing? Why is it that we hang crosses on
the wall? That we make them out of silver, gold, and diamonds and hang them around our neck? That we hang a 10’ cross
over our altar? That we sing the hymn “Lift High the Cross?” That many of our WELS churches literally carry in a
processional cross during the opening hymn. I know of many Lutheran churches names Holy Cross. Why? Because
Christ’s cross is the key that unlocked the gates of heaven for us! St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: "For the message of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
God could have said "O.K. I am just going to flex my almighty muscles" and recreat the sinful world. But instead, God
decided to do something that looked and still looks very foolish by human standards. God hides his saving power in
weakness - and in so doing redeemed this sinful world. His Son, who created heaven and earth, became a helpless babe crying for milk and filling his diapers in Bethlehem’s barn. The Son of God who never slumbers nor sleeps, lay exhausted
in a boat. The one who opens his hands and satisfies the desires of every living thing, felt the pains of hunger and thirst.
Jesus who is life, died. The one who fills the highest heavens was contained in a tomb. In weakness, God has shown his
saving power. Jesus suffered and died for our sin on the cross. We will be in heaven someday because of what Jesus
accomplished on the cross. The symbol of our religion and the source of our life is the cross - not the couch!
And still today, God hides his saving power in seemingly insignificant things. The One who created the world’s oceans
hides his forgiveness in a handful of water and a mouthful of words. The One whose body and blood is the most precious
of gifts, hides them in the most common of meals. The One who is truth, quietly hides his truth in a simple-looking book.
Jesus hid his saving glory in the cross and then turns around and hides his cross for all to see in Baptism, and Supper, and
Word. Hear me: Jesus has never dazzled or razzmatazzed a single soul into heaven. But millions of souls have been
preached and taught and baptized and communed into heaven!
2) The Cross that We carry
Christ has saved us by the humility of his cross. We LOVE the cross that Christ carried. But when it comes to the second
cross in our lives - the cross that we carry - we quickly begin to crave a couch instead. Just ask Peter: “22 Peter took him
aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!”he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to
Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things
of men” (Mat. 16:22-23).
Peter had just made a stellar confession about Jesus. He now reaches for the couch instead of the cross. Peter discreetly
took Jesus aside so that the other disciples couldn’t hear what he had to say. Peter then proceeded to give Jesus a lecture –
that’s right, the Greek word actually connotes a good, firm, finger-in-your face talking to - on why Jesus shouldn’t be
crucified, why Jesus had it all wrong, and why Peter’s plans for Jesus were better than God the Father’s plans for Jesus!
Peter was uncomfortable with the cross - so much would have to be given up! No thank you. Peter wanted the couch - a
comfy/cozy life of glory and fame. After all, Jesus was the Son of God and Peter was his groupie. Peter wanted to keep it
that way! Forget the cross Jesus. There must be an easier way. A way that will keep you from harm and keep me
comfortable at your side.
Jesus said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God,
but the things of men” (Mat. 16:23) Isn’t Jesus being just a little bit harsh? Isn’t he overacting a bit? All Peter said was
that he didn’t want to see Jesus die! Peter’s words may have been well-intentioned, but Peter’s words were actually a
source of temptation for Christ - a temptation to forsake the cross and his Father’s will and opt for the easy route! Because
Peter’s words were a temptation for Jesus, Jesus dealt decisively with Peter. The bottom line lesson to take home this
morning: God’s religion, the religion of the cross, trumps the religion of man, the religion of the couch.
After stopping Peter in his tracks, Jesus says some hash sounding words - no cushions or couches are to be found - only
the brass tacks path of following Christ: 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a
man give in exchange for his soul? (Mat. 16:24-26)
Be ready to bear your own crosses - cross #2 in life. Don't expect that life will be hunky-dory if you believe in Jesus - the
devil won't allow that. If people crucified Christ back then, don’t think for a second that they will make life comfy for you
now. Jesus' enemies crowned him with thorns, so don't think that the world will crown you with roses because you love
him. The soldiers mocked and spit in Jesus' face, so why even act surprised when our Christian faith is portrayed as a big
joke on TV. They hated Christ first. The world still hates those who bear Christ's name today.
But these hardships, these crosses that we carry are a hidden blessing: they keep us focused on the glory that will one day
be ours in heaven. They help warn us to NOT be the rich man that Jesus told us about in Luke’s Gospel: lots of money,
bumper crops, and big barns. He did pretty well for himself. But in the end, penniless, he lost his soul! No creature
comforts dare ever be placed above Jesus’ cross! No sin that we crave - likes a sweet tooth craves sugar - dare ever
become more dear than the cross that saved us from that sin. No thought that we think dare ever become more true than
the truth of Christ that sets us free. These are the struggles that happens when Christ’s cross meets with sinful flesh and
fallen minds.
We will continually struggle to carry life’s crosses here. But remember: in Christ’s cross, you have the ultimate victory.
Together, we are heading toward a heavenly goal. A perfect place where Christ’s humility is only strength, and Christ’s
death is eternal life, and Christ’s cross - a symbol of earthly defeat - is the ultimate symbol of cosmic victory. There, we
will praise Christ for his cross. There, Christ will graciously remove every one of yours! So until then: lift high the cross,
the love of Christ proclaim! Amen.