I
think that when Jesus handed Peter the keys to the Kingdom, he slapped on the same
warning label: “Handle with care.”
In
today’s Gospel, we find Jesus is in the closest place in the Holy Land to
foreign territory, Caesarea Philippi, on the northern coast of 1st
Century Palestine.
The
place was a super-market of foreign religions! It is a place where people who
came from all over the Roman Empire, who travelled between Europe, Asia Minor,
and Africa, could come and worship, rest, and play in familiar surroundings.
Kind of like an American hotel in a faraway city, where you could get a Big
American Breakfast just like at home.
The
Jewish people in the holy land considered the place to be something like ‘sin
city.’ It was a sign of their occupation, filled with foreigners, interlopers, and the base for an invading army. So why did Jesus choose this particular place to quiz
his disciples about his Messianic identity? Well, maybe, if you fast forward to
the time when Matthew’s Gospel was written, it might make more sense because Caesarea
Philippi was also the site of one of the earliest known Christian churches.
It
is in this foreign outpost that Jesus asks his disciples “who do people say
that the son of man is?” This is more than a straw poll. Yes, knowing what
people “out there” think is important. And their answers reveal that people—including
his closest disciples-- were still trying to figure out who Jesus is. A
prophet? He’s a lot like that John the Baptist fellow... maybe him? Some said that he's Elijah,
the forerunner to the Messiah.
But
Jesus doesn’t stop there. He asks his friends and apprentices: “who do you
say that I am?” Of course, Peter (who still was known as Simon) speaks right up.
You can almost see him raising his hand like a student in class “Oh! Oh! I know
the answer! Pick me!” And like the smarty pants he is, he gets the answer right.
He says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
Jesus
gives him a gold star… and a new name. Simon is now Cephas or Peter or “Rock”
and he will be the cornerstone upon which the new church will be built. And he
is handed the keys… the keys to the kingdom of heaven. These figurative keys
will give the Church the ability to let people into the
But
to paraphrase Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben whose dying words to Peter Parker was… (say it with me now!) “with great power
comes great responsibility.”
It
takes courage to stand up and confess Jesus as the Messiah and Son of the Living
God. To stand up in the most secular of ancient cities in first century
Palestine is a taste of what the disciples would be sent to do when the Risen
Jesus sends them into all the world, proclaiming, teaching, and baptizing.
The
problem with keys is that they are used on locks. We use locks to secure
things, to keep them safe. We use locks to keep doors closed. The temptation of
holding keys to the Kingdom is that we will tend to focus more on who we want
to lock out and than on who we will let in.
It
is so easy to put conditions on God’s grace. We have all heard the stories:
People who have been refused communion because of their marital status or who they
love. People who are excluded from the fellowship of the church, or told to worship
in a separate space, because of their race. There are churches who seat men in
one place and women in another. There have been people kicked out of churches
because their pastor or church leaders didn’t approve of them, they asked pesky
questions, or are simply ‘inconvenient.’
There
is a big temptation to use this passage as permission to act as God’s chief gatekeeper.
Different traditions squabble over who really holds the keys —Rome! Constantinople!
Geneva! Canterbury! My Church here but not Yours around the corner! Why? Because
we think that the one who holds the keys gets to make the rules.
If
you’ve been around our own Episcopal Church even for a short time, you know
that we’ve not been immune to the misuse of keys. We have divided up along the
lines of worship style, what edition of the Prayer Book we like, whether we
think women and LGBT persons or people of color ought to be deacons, priests,
bishops or even communicants! Only in the last few years have we come out of a tough
period of controversy that some have called “The Anglican Wars” as we sorted these
issues out. Some people were kicked out of one parish or diocese or another,
some picked up their marbles and simply left, either because we were too strict
or not strict enough!
We
think of ourselves as very inclusive and welcoming, but getting here was neither
easy nor simple. All of this sorting is natural and very human, and every religious
tradition will go through it every few generations. This problem is that all
too often we close the lock the doors and pocket the key and justify it by saying
“hey! It’s not my fault. After all, they are Jesus’ keys!”
At
least in this country, locking someone out is mostly a matter of inconvenience
or shame. But in other places around the globe, it can kill.
Remember,
keys not only lock doors they open them, too.
What
if what Jesus wanted these figurative keys to be used to open doors instead of locking them? What if these keys are meant to
push back the power of death, not simply hold it at bay? What if we have gotten
the purpose of these keys backwards?
Which
is why we need to remember the warning label: “Handle with Care.”
I
believe that the reason this Gospel story happens in a city of outsiders and interlopers,
and the reason Jesus cares about how people understand him, is that we who
confess Jesus as Lord have a job: to open the barriers and unlock the doors to
God’s reign, just as Jesus did throughout his earthly ministry and through the
cross and resurrection.
The
keys of Jesus open the way of life to all people! We know what it looks
like to lock, bolt and chain the door against outsiders—against the threats “out
there.” But what if we used Jesus’ figurative keys to open doors that were once
locked?
In
looking back on forty years of ministry, I recall that many (most?) of the
weddings, and a lot of the baptisms, and funerals I’ve been a part of were for
people who were refused these in other churches. And, I have to admit that it took
me a while to change my own heart about this. I can’t say when it was, but at
some point I woke up and realized that I, as a Christian who functions as priest
and pastor, can easily erect hurdles and hoops that can lock people out of the
kingdom. So I have changed my practice: these days more and more I want to help
people honor their desire to be married and let go of controlling the
outcome—even if they never set foot in these four walls again, I want us to
demonstrate Christian community, to use the keys Jesus gives us to let people
in, even if it doesn’t go the way we expect or if it causes us to change our habits,
even a little.
Sometimes, I imagine putting out an ad or putting up a billboard on busy intersections that said “if you have ever been turned away, abused, beat up or tossed out of a church” because, well, life happens, we are truly sorry, and now we are opening our doors to you. Or I fantasize about doing a “y’all come as you are” baptism… no classes, no forms, not even an offering plate, just a pool of water and maybe a big feed afterwards. It’s just a thought but I fantasize about how that might look. Why? Because God once unlocked our hearts and brought us into the Kingdom.
It is said that there are only two reasons everyone is not a Christian: (1) They either do not know a Christian or (2) They do. All of us were given our own set of keys to the kingdom of God at baptism and by
our words and our actions we show people who Jesus is. But "handle with care!" Because it's on us! We can show people a Jesus who
is indifferent or a Jesus who is engaged. We can show people a Jesus who can be a bully or a Jesus who is
compassionate. We can show people a Jesus who is defensive and or we can demonstrate a Jesus who invites and embraces.
You see? What
we bind or loose everyday really does make a difference!
Jesus took his friends and apprentices to a city of strangers, interlopers and foreigners and got them to say out loud that Jesus is the messiah and the son of the living God. Jesus entrusted us with keys and invites us to do the same…with a warning. With these keys we may lock people out; or with these keys we may, with God’s grace, open up locked places of the heart and let Jesus in.
I believe that we learn and do the work of Jesus, we will invite, embrace, and graciously, humbly open doors.
We all have been handed the keys to the kingdom! ”Handle with care!”
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