Proper 16 / Ordinary 21 (August 21-27)
Texts: Matthew 16:13-20;
Rom 12:1-8; Isa 51:1-6
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ss-UKCX5t7o
Sermon Take-Home Notes
JESUS’ POLITICS, PART 1: YES, JESUS DOES HAVE A POLITICS
Time Travel to 1st Century Roman Empire
I’ve shared before that I’m a Trekkie, a big fan of all the different Star Trek TV series and movies. One reason is that I’m also a fan of time travel stories, and many of their most memorable episodes involve time travel. (The beginning of the season of the latest series was another time travel episode, a good one.1) Well, I’d like to begin this sermon with us to imagining ourselves time-traveling back to the 1st Century Roman Empire.
First stop on our time travel itinerary in the 1st Century is the port city of Mira, Turkey. There’s a large inscription prominently displayed there that reads, “son of a god, imperator of land and sea, the benefactor and savior of the whole world.” Is that about Jesus already in the 1st Century? No. It’s an inscription to, “divine Augusta Caesar.” Divine Augusta Caesar. And “Augusta” basically means, “worthy of worship.” This is the kind of inscription, in our time traveling, that we will see written all over the Roman Empire, prominently displayed in cities that wanted to make sure Caesar knew they were loyal to him — so that he didn’t come with an army to destroy them! (Reminds you of King George singing to the American colonists in the musical Hamilton, “We have seen each other through it all, And when push comes to shove I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love.”2) In short, Caesar called himself “son of God” and “savior,” and expected everyone else to do the same.
Next stop in our time travel back is in the later half of the century. Jesus is ascended, the church is underway, and we are followers of Jesus in the Roman Empire. We call Jesus “Son of God,” “Savior,” and “Lord” — just like most others use those titles for Caesar. What are we doing? We’re basically risking our lives. Are you beginning to see the significance in a new way?
For the next stop, right at the beginning of the 1st Century, we first bring in another familiar word to us today, “evangelism.” It comes from the Greek word euangelion, which we translate as “Good News,” or “Gospel.” In the 1st Century Roman Empire, the word euangelion was most often reserved for an imperial decree. Caesar would send heralds throughout the empire to announce the Good News most often about his military victories and the like.
So now we are there on the First Christmas when the angel messenger (the word angel, herald, is in the word evangel!), or herald, says to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for behold — I am bringing you good news (euangelion) of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the liberating king, the Lord” — what is the angel saying? You are a shepherd listening to this — what do you hear?
One more stop on the time travel itinerary, about 30 years into the 1st Century. We are following a new rabbi, named Jesus of Nazareth, and he says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is coming near; transform your minds, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). What is he saying? Is this rabbi making his own imperial proclamation about a coming new reign of God?
New Confirmand Paul Nuechterlein Time Travels Fifty Years into the Future
I’d like to shift the gears of our time machine and use it for going into the future, this time a personal story for me. Imagine me as I’m confirmed at Faith Lutheran Church in 1970 in Livonia, Michigan. I’ve gone to church nearly every Sunday all my life, enjoying hundreds of sermons, my home pastors inspiring me with their preaching of the Gospel. Let’s say that that Paul Nuechterlein suddenly time travels fifty-six years into the future and listens to Pastor Paul preach a sermon today — putting aside, of course, the potential chaos to the time continuum that might be caused by me seeing myself.
The greater shock or chaos might be due to my hearing such a different version of the Gospel than what I grew up with. Sure, many of the basics are the same, like the emphasis on grace. But many of the emphases and focuses are new, so that even the basics are reframed. Pastor Paul has had more than fifty years to gradually change his mind; Confirmand Paul would be uncomfortable, to say the very least, and would want to know where these changes to the Gospel have come from.
This is my way of acknowledging that some of you might still be uncomfortable. My change of mind has happened gradually over more than fifty years. My preaching about politics may still be quite new for many of you. I’m encouraging you this morning to be open to the newness, for a number of reasons.
One is that our times urgently call for a new politics, the kind that require a massively new way of thinking — kind of like what St. Paul is calling for in today’s Second Reading, a transformed mind. Our opening exercise about how the early apostles used the political language of their day is the first big clue. Jesus came to usher in the reign of God with an unheard-of brand of politics that centered on nonviolence in the face of violence. That will always require a massive change of mind in any time and place, because it will always be a direct challenge to the powers that be.
That’s why the early church, and even Jesus himself, used titles like son of God, Savior, and Lord — titles that Caesar used. It’s what got Jesus killed in the end. And his early followers followed his lead by using these titles to directly challenge Caesar’s lordship! They were putting their faith in a new reign, a new kingdom, a totally new kind of politics. A politics we urgently need today. In this moment, I believe it might be a matter of our survival.
The Acted-Out Parable of a ‘Nominating Convention’ at Caesarea Philippi
It seemed natural to introduce this emphasis on politics today because the Gospel Reading for these next two weeks is a case in point — Act 1 this week and Act 2 next week. It’s basically Jesus staging a nominating convention of sorts to lay out his candidacy as the Messiah, namely, as the promised liberating king.
First of all, he carefully chooses the site. Caesarea Philippi was the regional capital for the Roman Empire. It was thirty-five miles north of Galilee, and this was the only time Jesus took his disciples this far north. Caesarea Philippi was also next to a high escarpment, a rock face, that had many niche carved out of the rock displaying statues of Greek and Roman gods — kind of a Mt. Rushmore and Madison rolled into one. There is no reason for Jesus to take his disciples there except for the political and religious significance of the place.
So once there, Jesus pops the question, seeking their nomination, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Now, the title son of Man refers to Book of Daniel chapter 7, where Daniel has this wild vision of all these terrifying beasts who represent the violent empires who have oppressed the Jewish people over many centuries. And then a “son of Man” (the “next generation of being human”) appears, facing down these beastly empires and representing one who is truly human. God gives rulership over to the “Son of Man” — symbolizing the Jewish hope of a liberating king.
After some disappointing answers from his disciples, Jesus gets more direct: “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Bingo! Right answer! ‘Blessed are you, Peter, you can be Vice Messiah, the rock on which I build my church, and even the Gates of Hades will not prevail against you.’
Which is the final clue, “Gates of Hades.” Hades was the name of the underworld in Greek culture, the place below the earth where people went when they die. Not necessarily a hellish place (our depiction of “hell”), but like so much else it was a symbol of Roman power. Rome had the power to send you to Hades before your time. Maybe even something like proclaiming a Jewish rabbi as “Lord,” or “savior,” of “son of God.” And it just so happens that one of the places they considered to be a gate to Hades was in Caesarea Philippi, a large cave opening in the rock face that purportedly led down to Hades. I have a picture in your Sermon Notes of an artist’s rendering of what Jesus and disciples were looking at, as Jesus prompted them to proclaim him as the Messiah, the new king whose people, the church, would prevail in a long struggle with the politics of empire.
With so many clues that Matthew gives us, I hope you can appreciate how political this acted-out parable is. Peter nominates Jesus as the Messiah. And if Caesar thinks he’s the son of a god, Jesus is the son of the living God, the true God. Peter’s basically saying, “I get it. Caesar isn’t Lord, you are. Caesar’s not the Son of God, you are. Caesar is not the authority under whom we should organize our lives; you are. You’re not just inviting us into a religion on the sidelines of Caesar’s empire; you’re inviting us into a new empire.” Jesus is giving him — and us — a choice between Lord Caesar and Lord Jesus. Peter is choosing Jesus.
I said that this morning is only Act 1. Next week, we have Jesus’ nominating speech where he tells the disciples just how different his politics are. Peter’s great moment in the spotlight will fade as he goes on to completely misunderstand Jesus’ politics. But here’s the clear thing for today: It’s not that Jesus doesn’t have a politics we’re supposed to follow. It’s that they are completely different — in other words, easy for us to misunderstand like Peter will next week, or even to miss seeing altogether, without the transformed mind that St. Paul says we need. We’ll begin to see just how different next week. Done with time travel, we will ask what God’s politics means for us today, as humankind continues its struggle with the deadly politics of nationalistic empire. Amen
Paul J. Nuechterlein
Bethania Lutheran Church,
Racine, WI, August 23, 2026
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ss-UKCX5t7o
Sermon Take-Home Notes
Notes
1. The latest Star Trek TV series is called Strange New Worlds and recently began (July 23) its fourth season with an episode titled “Valles Marineris,” a time travel episode that takes the Enterprise to earth 65 million years in the past, near the end of the dinosaur age, discovering that Mars has a thriving civilization of humans and that there’s a fifth planet between Mars and Jupiter. Will the Enterprise take part in changing that history to what we know now? Mars as a dead planet and an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter?
2. King George sings the song “You’ll Be Back.”
