A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 23 August 2020, the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Exodus 1:8-2:10; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20.
Opening prayer:
God, our Messiah,
May You touch our hearts with your love.
May the Holy Spirit inspire us to understand your word. May Jesus Christ, our redeemer and living word renew our lives and our faith with hope and courage.
May the words from my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable and pleasing to you. Amen.
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In today’s gospel reading according to Matthew, Jesus asked his disciples who he was. Peter immediately gave the answer and confessed that he is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. How about you, friends? Do you confess Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God?
Today, I would like to reflect with you on this topic: Who is the Messiah?
Is the Messiah the super power from heaven to change the world radically and drastically?
Jesus claimed himself as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
He came to the world and died for our sins. And yet, the world is still so dark and unjust. Virus, poverty, illness, abuses, discrimination, oppression, and persecution still exist in our everyday life. Suffering and pain are still part of our reality. People will ask where is the Messiah? Who is this Messiah? Does this Messiah really exist in our midst? Even Christians may be disappointed and puzzled with the world situation.
To be honest, I don't have a complete answer to the above tough questions.
But I would like to explore together with you and tried to gather insights from the scripture readings of today.
If we say and believe that the Messiah comes to save the people, I must have to say salvation is not the absence of suffering and pain.
It is exactly when there is injustice and oppression, there comes the saviour.
Let us first of all take a look at the Old Testament reading of today. In the past weeks, the Old Testament reading on Genesis told us the story about Joseph. He was Hebrew, the Israelite in origin. He was sold to Egypt by his brothers. But he managed to become a high official under the King of Egypt to rule the country, with great power and influence. In Joseph's time, the Israelite people were probably doing fine. But when time goes by, the new King in Egypt did not know Joseph. On the contrary, the King was worried about the growing number of the Israelites in his country and he regarded these people a threat to his power.
Out of fear, the King of Egypt or Pharaoh started a genocide program. He asked the midwives Shiphrah (Hebrew: שִׁפְרָה šiᵽrâ) and Puah (Hebrew: פּוּעָה) to kill the Hebrew baby boys. But Shiphrah & Puah feared God and refused to act according to the command of Pharaoh. In our terms for today, these two women were engaged in the actions of resistance. Resistance to the wicked rulers who kill innocent people or govern their people unjustly, is very biblical.
According to documentation, it is not entirely clear if Shiphrah and Puah were Hebrew or Egyptian although they both had Hebrew names. There was one notion saying that they were converts to the Israelite religion. Regardless of their race, what matters is that they were people who feared God. “Fear of God” can mean obey God's ethical imperatives (Lev 19:14; Job 28:28). They took God's commands as priority and so they refused to listen to a man with power and position, who ordered them to kill lives.
These two midwives were the first batch of bold women to prevent a genocide of Hebrew babies. They had used their soft power to resist the order of Pharaoh. They refused to obey someone who was doing evil thing with his power. These women were wise to use their knowledge and skills to save lives instead of destroy lives. When Pharaoh asked them why did they not act according to his command, they said, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them."
In the midst of terror, we see the presence of God, the Saviour. The brave and wise mid-wives had imaged God to rescue Hebrew babies who were in danger.
Wherever people embrace lives and show respect to lives, there is God, there is the Messiah!
According to the biblical account of Exodus today, Pharaoh insisted his plan to kill the Hebrew baby boys. As the midwives resisted to do the job, Pharaoh made another cruel order. He commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live." The Pharaoh mobilized more people to be killers.
It then came to another three women who played a vital role to save a child whose name was Moses. He was the great leader of ancient Israel, who led his people out of slavery from the land of Egypt. His life was redeemed by three women: his mother, his sister and Pharaoh's daughter, the princess.
Amongst these three women, I would like to highlight Pharaoh's daughter. In verse 2:6, it said, “When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, "This must be one of the Hebrews' children," she said.
The Princess knew that this child was Hebrew and yet she still saved him and not only that she gave money to the child's biological mother to raise him. She even took him as her son. Isn't it amazing? She was openly doing something against her father's order. Isn't it another resistance against an abusive ruler?
The princess of Pharaoh has demonstrated her great compassion to the weak and the vulnerable regardless of her position and political background. By using today's language, she is a person belong to pro-establishment, the blue camp because of her relationship with her father, the King. And yet, we see how God moved her and made her the saviour to Moses. It was her pity (another word for pity is compassion) on the child that gave her strength and courage to do things that would sustain humanity which was totally opposite to her father. Once again, the princess had imaged God. She acted to save.
Where there is compassion, there is God, the Messiah!
Now I would like to move to the gospel reading Mathew.
Peter confessed Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of Living God.
In the gospel account according to Matthew, I would like to highlight this question. When Peter declared Jesus as the Messiah, Son of the Living God, Jesus warned his disciples not to tell others his identity as Messiah. Why? What do you think?
To address this question, we need to go back to the context of Jesus’s time. In first-century Palestine, the Jews desired to have a Messiah who was able to overthrow the rule of the Roman Empire. To them, Messiah was referring to a political saviour. But for Jesus, he knew very well his mission to the world as Messiah. He did not come to change the political structure or the power distribution on earth. He had a spiritual mission. He came to bring eternal life, a life that is eternally connected to God, not the temporary earthly matters. But he loved God's children so on earth he showed us how a redeemer lived his life and faith so his disciples can follow. In fulfilling the will of God, he was willing to suffer and sacrifice himself. Suffering and sacrifice were part of his mission. So his order to his disciples not to spread his real identity was to stop these people's incomplete expectations on him. Moreover, Jesus was wise enough to avoid any troubles from the Roman Government if he was too high profile.
Jesus’s warning to his disciples is meaningful for us to reflect on as well. Do we know who is the messiah? Do we have a complete understanding of the Messiah? Jesus the Messiah who came to suffer, die and sacrifice himself to bring eternal life so people and the creation can be reconnected again with God.
So if we are like the Jewish people or some of Jesus' disciples like Judas for example, to expect the messiah to use his super power to rule, and to redeem our broken world and broken lives of many, we may also have unrealistic expectation on Jesus.
To be honest, although Peter at this point realized Jesus as the Messiah, Son of the Living God, but immediately when Jesus foretold his death, Peter could not take it. This is the gospel account for next week, I am not going to talk too much about it.
What I would like to highlight and reflect today is: who is the Messiah?
If we confess Jesus is the Messiah, we should have to know and realize where there is suffering and pain, where there is love and sacrifice, there is Christ, the Messiah!
For today's scripture, Jesus affirmed the blessing to those who confess him as Messiah, Son of the Living God. In addition, those who declare Jesus is the Messiah is given power from Jesus to continue his journey on earth by living out the Kingdom of heaven. He has given Peter the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. I think Jesus did not only give to Peter, but he gave the keys to all who confess him as the Lord, the Messiah, the living God today. This is what we may learn from the conversation between Jesus and Peter.
By giving the calling to build the church and keys of the Kingdom of heaven, followers of Christ are also given authority and freedom to work and choose. With the promise of Jesus Christ, we are strengthened to face the trouble and imperfect world. Jesus Christ who suffered and died. He rose again. Jesus, as the incarnated God came to the world to save all humanity, I believe that His life touches and lives in the hearts of both Christians and non-Christians. But it is true indeed, Christians and the Church have been in particular called to continue the ministry of Jesus on earth more explicitly.
In my sermon two weeks ago, I encouraged sisters and brothers don't be afraid to face storms in life and in the world. Today, I invite you to confess Jesus as the Messiah, our saviour and redeemer. To echo Apostle's teaching from the Book of Romans: do not conform to the world but be transformed by God through focusing our mind, heart and soul in Christ and to discover what He has been doing in the world through him and those who follow his footsteps. Let us also receive his blessing and calling to build the Kingdom of heaven together as one body in Christ, by using the best of the gifts given to each one of us by God. Remember the Holy Spirit has given us the strength to do so.
Before I close my sermon, I would like to share this with you.
Recently I read the book written by Chan Kin Man, a former professor from the Chinese University. He was one of three core activists to launch the Occupy Central movement to strive for democracy in Hong Kong. The Movement kind of failed and Chan ended up was sentenced to jail for 16 months. He wrote a book: Letters from the Prison. In the book, he shared that he has been greatly influenced by Bonhoeffer who had also wrote a book “Letters from the Prison” as he was once put in jail. Bonhoeffer was a theologian and a pastor in Germany during the Second World War. He was killed by the regime of Hitler after his plot to assassinate Hitler had failed. Bonhoeffer took suffering as part of his mission like Jesus, for fighting for life and dignity. He has even taken the cup of suffering as an honor. To him to die is not an end, it is a new beginning. For Chan Kin Man, he has also opened his arm to the Divine and accepted the suffering like Jesus. He did not regret to what he did even though he was put in jail. He is faithful to what he is called to do.
From these two great men, I see they had imaged the suffering Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Sisters and brothers, may we learn from these great people, to live a life to reveal Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
Remember -
Where there is life, there is the Messiah.
Where there is compassion, there is the Messiah.
Where there is suffering and sacrifice, there is the Messiah.
Where people insist to seek for justice and righteousness unceasingly and tirelessly without fear, there is the Messiah.
Amen!
