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Exodus 1:8—2:10, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
Several years ago when I was at the cathedral, at the start of a Lenten class, we did an exercise in small groups around our names as a way of getting to know each other. We were invited to come up and explain what our names meant. I found it fascinating. It is one way of seeing the relationship between our parents and extended families. Names carry on the familial relationship into a new generation.
I am named for my father, Winston. My middle name is from my paternal
grandparents, Lee. Lee was my grandfather’s middle name and
grandmother’s family name. Shaw is from old English, a small wood,
or grove of trees. Thankfully my parents did not want a Jr.
otherwise today I would be Fr. Luther, my father’s middle name.
I think I would then go by Winston, as one friend snidley suggested.
It sounds more English, more Episcopalian!
Today we have Biblical lessons about naming. The first is that of Moses. This is one of the Bible’s best known stories, Moses in the basket in the Nile. Ironically, the fate of an entire people in slavery rests on the whims of a young woman of power and privilege bathing in the river. Even as the daughter of Pharaoh names Moses, it speaks to her relationship with the child and is symbolic of the calling Moses will have in leading his people out of slavery into freedom. She drew him out of the water. He will draw Israel out of Egypt.
In our reading from Romans, the naming takes on a different characteristic: it becomes the naming of gifts, the naming of ministries. This time the naming speaks to our relationship with the broader community of faith. How do others see us and how do we see ourselves in relationship to them through the gifts of ministry we exercise. Now we see our relationship to community through the lens of our relationships with one another in the gifts, talents, we exercise in community. This is one way all of us are bound together in one body with a variety of gifts. Again, this is naming as a means of recognizing relationships.
The strongest of these themes is in our Gospel reading. Jesus and the twelve are away from the crowds and work of ministry. They have gone up north almost as if on a retreat. This area of Israel was even used by the Roman army as an area of rest and relaxation (R&R). It is as though Jesus felt it was time to get away for a while and reflect with his friends about their ministries and relationships.
Then Jesus asks the question, But who do you say that I am?
You
can feel the tension in the air. Jesus does not want to know what others
are saying about him. He wants to know what his closest friends feel
about him: Don’t tell me rumors, tell me about you, tell me about
our relationship. I feel there was probably some silence, some looking
down at the ground or taking a keen interest in a tree far away as they
let his words sink in. Finally Peter confesses, You are the Messiah,
the Son of the living God.
Peter names the relationship and the
truth of his faith. For Peter, Jesus is the anointed one of God, the
Messiah. He is also the Son of God, the one promised from the beginning.
Peter names his relationship with Jesus and the eternal relationship
with the Divine.
But who do you say that I am?
The question is not just directed
to the disciples, but at you as well. The question then becomes, who
do you say Jesus is? What is your relationship to him? How do you see
the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God? Who do you say he is?
This would be a good place to end this homily, but there is another
angle to this question; a more personal angle. Step away from the
Gospel reading. Step into your own life, your own world. Now, turn
the question around: But, Jesus, who do you say that I am?
Jesus, who do say that I am? Who am I to you? What is my relationship with you? How do you see me? Jesus, who do you say that I am?
Do you hear, you are my beloved? Do you hear, you are marked as mine forever in the waters of baptism? Do you hear, you are my friend? I really hope so!
But again, who do you say that I am, Jesus? Do you see me as a faithful follower of your teaching, your word? Do you see me trying to love God and love my neighbor as my very self? Do you see me as a faithful steward of your blessings, giving of my money, my time, and my gifts to the building up of your kingdom on earth? Do you see me as a follower in the way? Do you see me as a slacker? Do you see me as one who gives the minimum required—financially, emotionally, spiritually—in order to be part of the group? Jesus, do you see me giving my best to you or giving the minimum I can? Jesus, do you see me giving my life to you, or only the left over pieces I feel I want to share?
These are hard questions, I know. I have thought a lot of them this past week. I invite you to think on them during the coming week. As you come up for Communion, as you drive home, as you sit at dinner with family or friends, as you go to sleep tonight, as you go about your life this week: Jesus, who do you say that I am? Jesus, how do you see me in relationship to you? Jesus, who do you say that I am?