August 30, 2026 "An Open Loving Hand"

14th Sunday after Pentecost

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 26:1-8

Romans 12:9-21

Matthew 16:21-28

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you

from the one who overcomes evil with good. Amen

Our readings for today

feel very much like part 2 of a two part episode

 they continue directly on from where we left off last week,

 so cut to the “last week on ‘the sermon’” montage,

in Matthew Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi

 and asked them what they say about him,

 and Simon Peter, with the help of God,

 confessed that Jesus is the messiah the son of the living God.

Jesus affirmed his confession

and promised that Simon, now named Peter,

would be the rock upon which he would build his church.

 Meanwhile in our section from Paul’s letter to the Romans,

 we heard Paul exhort the community

 to not be conformed to this age

 but transformed by the renewing of their minds

so that they can discern the will of God-

 and knowing the will of God is important

 because we, all together,

 make up the body of Christ,

 each with different gifts that work together to do the will of God. 

Last week was about identity,

 identity oriented toward God

 and the will and ways of God.

This week then continues with how to live out that identity,

what it looks like to live a life turned toward God

and spoiler alert it’s not necessarily going to look like what we think it should.

Picking up where we left off,

 the disciples now know that Jesus is the Messiah,

but what does that mean to them?

Messiah literally means ‘anointed one’

 referring to the sacred oil

poured over the head of the king in ancient Israel,

like Samuel did when God revealed to him that David

 would be the next King of Israel.

 While David was king

God made him a promise,

 that through his offspring his kingdom and throne would endure forever.

A promise the prophets recall to the people

 in the midst of hard times,

 painting the picture of this son of David

upon whom the Spirit of God will rest,

everyone will acknowledge his power,

 and he will restore the Kingdom of Israel forever

bringing salvation to the people.

Think of all the readings from Isaiah in Advent,

those are messianic prophesies,

and while Isaiah does imagine the messiah as a suffering servant

 by the time of Jesus

the common view or hope of the messiah

 was of a political ruler

who would deliver them from their Roman oppressors

 and reestablish self-governance,

and how does one overthrow oppressors?

Usually with violence.

This is what Peter and the other disciples think of

when they think Messiah.

So it’s completely contrary to the image Peter has in his head

when Jesus begins to show the disciples

that his way of being the messiah

means that he must go to Jerusalem

 and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes

and be killed and on the third day be raised.

It’s so crazy that Peter thinks that Jesus has been possessed

 and tries to perform an exorcism on him

and Jesus turns and rebukes him.

The one who had just gave the right answer

 now gets it completely wrong

 and Jesus diagnoses the problem

- Peter is not setting his mind on divine things,

 but on human things.

 Human things which stand in direct contrast to the way of God.

 Human ways that again and again have led to violence and wars

 for the sake of exercising power over others

 for the benefit of the one person or people.

It’s time to turn this around Jesus says,

 and I’m going to do it as one person setting aside power for the welfare of all.

 It is the difference between a king that brutally overpowers

versus one that vulnerably serves.

The opposite of a grasping violent fist

 after all is an open loving hand (https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2020/8/25/what-does-messiah-mean-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-thirteenth-week-after-pentecost) 

And Jesus knows that while it seems like the grasping fist

 is the way to hold things

especially if we want to keep them for ourselves,

it is actually the hand that is open

with potential for sharing

that holds more.

 Luther defined sin as being curved in on oneself.

If we look at our hands we see that when we make a fist

all of our fingers are pointed towards ourselves,

 open our hands and our fingers point away

 toward our neighbor, toward God.

 This is the essence of a life lived towards God,

 one that is lived openly,

 loosely held, offered to others.

 This is how Jesus will be the messiah,

as one who holds his life out

 gently extended in his open palm

and teaches his disciples to do the same.

Actually, some of this shouldn’t have been such surprise to Peter,

 Jesus has been teaching this contrasting way of living all along,

 look at the blessings of the sermon on the mount,

and Jesus’ teaching “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44)

A lesson Jesus teaches

because he knows that the world will take advantage

 of lives lived openly toward God and neighbor.

The world will confuse openness with powerlessness,

and try to control the open life

and initially there will be suffering at the hands of the world,

but in the end

 it is far more powerful to live openly toward God,

because to be open to God is to be open to true life.

This is what Jesus is getting at when he tells the disciples

that in losing their lives, they will find them.

And while suffering- the cross will be placed in our open hands

if we carry it while following Jesus

we will follow him through the suffering to the new life on the other side.

But if we make our lives about resisting the suffering

 then we turn in on ourselves,

 and life in God is lost.

 Now a quick note here,

Jesus isn’t glorifying suffering,

we are not to seek it out,

 suffering is the consequence of the conflict between the way of God

 and the way of the world

 but it’s in how we respond to suffering

that transforms the world

This is why Paul tells the Romans

 not to be conformed to this age, to the world,

but transformed turned toward God

 living like this looks like meeting what comes head on with love,

even enemies,

it looks like not being overcome by evil,

 but overcoming evil with good.

And ultimately This is what Jesus is doing,

 he is overcoming evil with good.

He knows that fighting evil with evil will not work,

and so he comes at it with love,

and in the end love wins. Amen