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

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

Context matters…  our reading from Exodus follows on the heels of the story about Joseph sold into slavery…  and years later…  reconciling with his brothers…  and saving his family from famine by bringing them to Goshen…  and there…  they were fruitful and multiplied…  and gained many possessions…  but years later…  after Joseph and his brothers…  and those of that generation died…  a new Pharaoh arose over Egypt…  one who did not know Joseph…  or his story…   and out of fear of a rebellion… enslaved the Israelites…  and commanded the two midwives to kill newborn males…  and when they said they were unable…  Pharaoh commanded all his people to throw newborn males into the Nile…  but Moses escaped…  for he was drawn from the water…  and was given new life…

Context matters…  Caesarea Philippi is located about twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee…  it’s where a large spring emerges from a sacred cave and feeds the Jordan River……  and it became the center of pagan worship…  the site was later named Panias after the Greek god Pan… ] the frightful half-man half-goat flute-playing god…  from whose name we get the word panic…  was worshiped there…  and right next to the cave is a rocky slope with a series of carved niches…  ] on coins recovered from that time are images of statues of Pan and his consorts which were placed in those niches…  ] and beginning around the 3rd century BCE…  sacrifices were thrown into the cave…  as offerings to Pan… now there’s no record of Jesus actually entering the city…  but it’s in this context…  in this district of pagan worship…  on the road from Galilee to Jerusalem…  at this crossroads of various religions…  commerce…  and culture…  Jesus ponders his mission and wonders about himself…  and asks those two questions…  Who do people say that the Son of Man is…  and…  Who do you say that I am…

At first I didn’t want to see it…  I had no desire…  I didn’t want to go…  the movie trailers made it seem too childish… too cartoonish…  too unreal…  but apparently…  Joel knew something I didn’t…  had some insight that I didn’t…  so I relented…  and we went…  and I’m glad I did…  I’ll try not to give too much away…  but the movie Barbie wasn’t made for pre-pubescent girls…  it’s a satire made for adults…  it’s a movie which asks existential questions about our ontology…  that is…  it asks transcendent questions which deal with our existence and the nature of our being… that is…  it’s deep…  it holds a mirror up to ourselves and explores themes like beauty standards…  gender inequality and identity…  and the meaning of life…  the main Barbie…  calls herself Stereotypical Barbie…  you know…  just what you’d expect…  no more…  no less…  just run of the mill…  no one to write home about…  but she rejects the limitations imposed on her…   and in the course of the story…  wakes up to more of her potential…

It’s a movie which embodies the advice in today’s reading from Romans…  Do not be conformed to this world…  but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…   so that you may discern what is the will of God…  what is good and acceptable and perfect…  it’s the kind of waking up to which we are called…  when we break free of the trance and dysfunction of our family of origin…  when we believe in our deepest place that what we experienced as normal ought to be normative for all people…  it’s the kind of waking up which Arno Michaelis…  who had been the leader of a hate group…  experienced when he was transformed by the love of his daughter…  and wrote about in his book My Life After Hate…  it’s the kind of waking up which Saul of Tarsus had on the Damascus Road when he became the apostle Paul…  it’s the kind of waking up which The Velveteen Rabbit experienced…  when…  by being loved for a long…  long time…  he became Real…

When Jesus asks his disciples the divinely existential question of who the people…  and then who the disciples say he is…  his essential question is also all about identity…  Jesus’ identity…  Peter’s identity…  and ultimately our identity as Christians…  the disciples report that people see Jesus in the context of figures from the past…  but Peter recognizes Jesus as someone who combines the past and the future…  into the present…  ] the long-awaited Messiah…  who was…  and is to come…  has indeed arrived…  the one who…  Peter affirms…  is also the Son of the living God…

Justice is woven into the fabric of creation… but as Fr. John Meulendyk writes…  breaking our conformity to the world is a tough undertaking…  it’s like breaking an addiction…   God knows that and so provides a way…  but God doesn’t sugarcoat it…  because we need to move beyond conformity to the culture in order to find what we really seek…  which is a stable…  solid connection with God…   expressed in actions that are good…  acceptable…  and Christ-like…  and not mindless cultural responses… ]  and the only way to acquire those actions is through God renewing our mind…  but we can get stuck…  ]  instead of renewing our mind…  we’re too often quick to jump back into old ways of thinking…  we think we know what God wants…  and it’s easy for us to forget what the prophet said about God’s way of thinking…  My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways (Isaiah 55:8)…  we effectively pull God down into “our thoughts” and fool ourselves…  ] the true renewing of our minds can only be done by letting go of our preconceived notions of God and God’s nature… ] we do that by immersing ourselves in God’s Word…  and then…  led in vulnerable silence…  we encounter God’s Spirit…  freed from our preconceived notions…

Context matters…  it’s as though our country has plopped down right near the district of Caesarea Philippi…  with an approach to life which worships short-sighted and earthly values…   which creates a divisiveness which is strangling us…  and political polarization which has seen many marginalized groups under unprecedented attack…  on August 18…  Laurie Ann Carleton was murdered…  because she hung a PRIDE flag in her store window…  and an account apparently belonging to her murderer contained numerous anti-LGBTQ posts…  and posts critical of same-gender marriage and declining family values… 

Context matters…  a population’s demographics is certain to change over time…  and there is no evidence to support the idea that God favors uniformity…  and the effort that’s put into resisting that change and its diversity…  the effort at maintaining the “good old days” at any cost…  a belief that the ends justify the means…  is as evil as Pharaoh’s resistance to the Israelites was… because God’s justice is woven into the fabric of creation…  and God is concerned with very real things…  none of them are partisan though we can rightly call some of them political…  ]  we are called to a new identity and mission when we decide to participate in the divine life and achieve our potential…  creation isn’t threatened by variations in skin color…  or religious affiliation…  or sexual orientation and gender identity…  only people are…  and when we…  through our free will…  put boundaries on God’s hospitality…  the Good News of the Gospel is frustrated…  and in light of the recent rise of hate crimes and legislation against Black…  Hispanic…  Asian…  and LGBT people…  and the efforts to roll back voting rights across this country…  yesterday’s March on Washington…  was held to shine a light on these ongoing injustices…  ] the Gates of Hades may wreak some havoc in the church and in the world…  but they will not ultimately prevail against it…  because in all we face…  Jesus…  who is the One who the Creator God promised to send…  never abandons us…  is with us in all things…  and raises us to new life…

So who do we say Jesus is…  and who are we in relation to him…  are we people who think our welcome has simply become too expansive and needs to be reined in…  or do we think our welcome still isn’t as wide as Jesus would have it…  I wonder what Barbie would say…