Scripture Text: Matthew 16:13-20
I was born in the early 70s, but I have to admit I don’t remember a whole lot about that decade. After all, I spent most of those years in diapers, but I do remember the TV. I remember disco dance contests. I remember old reruns of Star Trek (explains a lot about me). I remember cartoons and other children’s programing: Battle of the Planets, Shogun Warriors, and, of particular interest, Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds was always a bit of an odd TV program: puppets and miniature models. It was made in the 60s and was in syndication by the time I watched in the 70s. I wouldn’t have remembered all that much about it except that it had a bit of a revival about 10 years or so ago. The now-defunct cable network TechTV used to show Thunderbirds reruns every afternoon, right about the time I would wrap up my duties at my church in Davis. So I come home and prep my dinner for the evening while watching the adventures of International Rescue.
The premise was rather simple: every episode, something would go wrong. A fire on an oil platform, an airliner with no landing gear, a rocket in orbit out of control, and the heroes would jump in their super-specialized vehicles called Thunderbirds and go rescue whoever was in distress. It was action-packed, thrilling, and didn’t pull its punches much; as I said, it was made in an era long before we became so paranoid about our children. Long before TV shows where a thousand rounds of ammunition could go off, but nobody got shot, and long before parents were arrested for allowing their kids to play in public parks unattended.
It was fun and exciting and it remained so even when I watched it again as an adult. But what does all this have to do with today’s Gospel text?
Well, there are a lot of different ways I could preach on “The Confession of Peter.” I could have a joke about how no one “gets” Jesus, so much so that they confuse him with reincarnated Old Testament prophets or his dead cousin. I could talk about the foundation of the Church, whether it is built upon the faith of Peter or upon his person (one of the central debates between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism). I could talk about the context of the story, that this is all taking place in a city known for its pagan temples and shrines, which is what prompts Jesus to ask his question about his identity in the first place. But there is another piece of this story that it seems is often overlooked. It is found in the tail end of what Jesus says to Peter after his confession: “The gates of Hell will not stand against it.”
There’s a nice defiant tone to Jesus’ words. “Go ahead, Satan. Make my day.” It’s a bit like a medieval lord taunting those who would dare besiege his castle. “Do your worst. Just try to batter these walls down.” But that’s actually misreading what Jesus is saying. Think about it for a second. You don’t attack with a gate. It’s not a weapon. You don’t use a gate to besiege an enemy. The gate is what you attack. It’s what you seek to knock down when you are the one doing the besieging.
We’ve got it backwards. The Church isn’t the valiant defiant castle fending off all attackers; it’s the marauding army, taking its war to the very doorstep of Satan himself. The Church isn’t to be defended against the gates of hell; That doesn’t make any sense. The Church has instead been ordered to knock those gates down. To go on the offensive against the powers of evil.
But how is that done, Pastor? It’s not like we can get up from our pews and storm into the spiritual places. No, that’s actually Jesus’ job. He’s the one that does that. That’s the reason behind that throw-away line the Creeds about Jesus “descending into hell.” It would probably be better to translate that from the original languages as “storming into hell.” He’s marching in to set free those he finds imprisoned there. He’s going to rescue them, to set them free, and to bring them back out.
It’s a rescue mission. God swooping in to save the day.
We have our part to play in that too. Hell isn’t just the domicile of the Devil and his minions; There’s hell here on Earth too. It’s all the manifestations of sin, death, and suffering here in this world.
- A refugee family fleeing ISIS knows the power of hell, because it comes at them as beheadings and persecution and tyranny.
- The African-American community in Ferguson and elsewhere knows what hell is, because it comes to them in the form of racism, police brutality, and the all-too-frequent apathy of the rest of us.
- The people of West Africa know what hell is, because it comes in the form of a disease called Ebola.
Hell here on Earth has many names; We call it disease, bigotry, injustice, tyranny, discrimination, poverty, hunger, guilt, war, mental illness, natural disaster, you name it. These things are like demons who do the devil’s work here on Earth, sapping people of their strength, their hope, and placing them in bondage. What are we going to do about it?
Jesus calls us to go in and rescue those in bondage to these nightmares. Jesus calls us, his Church, to do something about the evils of this world here and now. Calls us to do as he does, marching on the gates of hell to rescue those inside. We do that with mercy, compassion, love. We give of our time, our energy, our resources, our presence, and our very lives. We do that by giving food to the hungry, voice to the voiceless, peace to those torn by war, aid to those oppressed by disease, welcome to those cast out, and so forth. It is not an easy thing that Jesus asks of his Church. It’s dangerous, but it’s worth it. Lives are at stake here.
Jesus asks no less of us than he has done himself. He knew the dangers of coming into this world to rescue us from our hells. And yes, I do mean “us,” because we’ve been there too. Each of us has had our own battle with the devil, a battle that is probably on-going. Each of our hells is different, but no less powerful. Evil is insidious and determined, and for that reason, Jesus came to each of us, in water and word and bread and wine, revealing his love and mercy. He came and rescued us.
He came to you and to me. He came to the leper and the lame. He came to the outcast and the tax collector, and to each of them and to us, he brought healing and liberation. But he set free those the devil didn’t want set free and there was retaliation. Retaliation that got him nailed to a cross and killed for all to see. If the devil only knew...that’s what gave Jesus his opening to take the fight to his very doorstep.
That’s what this is all about. It’s a rescue mission. To save you and me and everyone. To save those who have gone before and those yet unborn. Spreading the faith is about giving people back the hope that life’s trials has stolen from them. It’s about showing them there’s another way. That was Jesus’ whole purpose and it now passes to us, his Church.
The gates of hell cannot stand against us. It’s time to get to work. Amen.
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