August 24 , 2008 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Proper 16 Commentary by Bruce G. Epperly

See also: [2005] [2002]

Exodus 1:8-2:10
Psalm 124
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew’s gospel sets the stage for today’s lectionary readings. Jesus begins the dialogue with the question, “who do people say that I am?”  At first glance, this appears to be an abstract theological question that invites Matthew’s first readers as well as persons today to reflect on the many possible Christological understandings of Jesus’ life and work. Just as first and second century Christians accepted four primary and many secondary pictures of Jesus, the four gospels and the non-canonical gospels, respectively, Christians today need to recognize and affirm the wealth of theological reflection on Jesus, his relationship to God, and the ways Jesus brings salvation to humankind. Jesus as the Christ is always more than we can objectify, imagine, or contain even by our best theological reflection. In spite of popular bumpers sticker theology, there is no one way to understand Jesus’ personhood and relationship to God and humankind.

Jesus does not end his dialogue with abstract theological reflection. He personalizes the question, inviting the disciples to an existential decision, involving heart as well as mind, when he asks, “But, who do you say that I am?” This question is an invitation to authentic theological reflection – theology that transforms hearts and hands as well as minds.

The role of Jesus in our salvation and wholeness has been eclipsed by the role of God in many progressive and mainstream churches and the role of the Holy Spirit in many Pentecostal churches. Many progressive Christian sermons and liturgies contain few, if any, references to Jesus. But, Jesus is still at the heart of our faith and must be confronted existentially and theologically, since our images of Jesus and his life and work shape our ethics, politics, and spiritual formation. How we understand Jesus may be a matter of life and death in our personal health and well-being as well as our political activities. While few progressive pastors will ask their congregation this Sunday, “Do you know Jesus?,” the question is nevertheless important insofar as it calls us to reflect on the role of Jesus in shaping our personal and corporate spiritualities and lifestyles.

An insightful pastor might choose to share various images of Jesus in art, poetry, and music as a way of inviting persons to consider their understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus asks of us. These pictures also awaken congregants to the many faces of Jesus and the role of culture and theology in shaping how we view Jesus.

The controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright raised the issue of “liberation theology” for the first time for many Christians and non-Christians. Cable news pundits invoked “liberation theology” as if it were something hateful and divisive. The Exodus passage and Psalm 124 speak of God’s care for the oppressed and downtrodden. Hebraic history centers on God’s liberation of the people from slavery in Egypt. God’s mighty hand delivered the oppressed from the powerful Egyptian armies. In recent years, God’s “preferential option for the poor” has been understood to be at the heart of Christian spirituality and social activism. Good Christian theology is always liberation theology, seeking wholeness in the personal and corporate, and in this world and the next.

There is a danger, however, in dualistic understandings of liberation theology and Christian political involvement. This is the challenge of Psalm 124. “If it had not been that God was on our side,” proclaims the Psalmist. Yes, God is involved in our personal, national, and cosmic history. Yes, God seeks justice for the downtrodden and we need to be grateful for moments of historical transformation in the United States and South Africa, for example. We should give thanks for God’s care and protection for those we love. But, God’s preferential option includes all persons, both oppressed and oppressors. Proclaiming God’s universal love prevents us from absolutizing any particular political or economic doctrine. It prevents us from destroying the enemy in order to insure the realization of our own, however just, political hopes. While the oppressed often becomes the oppressor when ideology and power become idols, this same affirmation that “God is on our side” has led to the destruction of native persons in North America and Southern Africa, and has contaminated the foreign policy of the United States. Truly God blesses all persons and nations, not just our own. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln’s words during the height of the Civil War, “let us not ask that God be on our side, but that we be on God’s side.” Healthy congregational and political decision-making is grounded in the recognition that God’s aims may be wider than our own and that God is present in the lives of those we oppose just as God is present in our own lives. Discerning God’s “side” takes much prayer, contemplation, humility, and creativity. It also takes the willingness to look for traces of divine revelation and insight in every cultural milieu.

Absolutizing our own ideological or political structures leads to the draconian edict reported in Exodus 1, “if it is a boy, kill him!” How many children are being killed as a result of idolatry and hubris among political leaders in our time. While we rightly condemn the behavior of the rulers of Myanmar and their willingness to prevent foreign help, even if it means the death of countless persons, in order to hold onto political and military power, we must ask ourselves where we as a nation and in our communities are currently sacrificing innocent life for the sake of political power and economic well-being.

Christology matters, and a Christ who reveals God’s care for all creation invites us to a world of interdependence, rather than isolation. The One pronounced by Peter as the Christ, the Messiah, reveals in his suffering on the Cross God’s suffering with every starving child or victim of trauma, abuse, or war.

Romans 12 challenges every social and political structure in light of God’s transforming love. “Be not conformed to this world.” To paraphrase J.B. Philips, we must ask ourselves where is this world “squeezing us into its mold?” “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Following the way of Jesus inspires us to seek constant transformation of body, mind, and spirit. A Christology of transformation calls us not only to embrace otherness, to forgive enemies as we protect the innocent, and to seek healing for ourselves and the nations, it also calls us theological, spiritual, economic, and political agility. Transforming love calls us to constant creative transformation; but the changing and lively presence of God also brings us the joy of new life, healing, creativity, and growth. Companionship with the dynamic and healing God empowers us to rejoice in each new day and also take on our role as healing partners with the Holy One.

In this process of transformation, we are called to “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice.” In Corinthians, Paul invites his listeners to “glorify God in their bodies.” This includes, but goes beyond, physical well-being. We are one whole organism, body, mind, and spirit. As such, we are called to live holistically by caring for our bodies, minds, and spirits through appropriate diet, intellectual and emotional growth, contemplation, and movement. But, in light of Paul’s vision of the body of Christ, invoked in both Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12, we are to be equally concerned about the spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational well-being of our human and non-human companions. In an interdependent planet, our well-being is shaped by the well-being of others, and the well-being of others is influenced both by our well-being and the stewardship of our resources. We need both personal and global healing in order to be truly well. Accordingly, today’s passages call us to be God’s partners in the practice of tikkun ‘olam, mending or healing the world, in our immediate neighborhood and around the globe. A planetary Christology, embracing otherness, diversity, and transformation, becomes an inspiration to spiritually-grounded and humble social action and planetary healing.

Bruce Epperly is professor of practical theology and director of continuing education at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is author of fifteen books, including a response to The Purpose Driven Life, the forthcoming Holy Adventure: Forty-One Days of Audacious Living (Upper Room Press).

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