We remember this day the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, missionary preachers to the Jews and Gentiles. We thank God for them. For they were men obsessed not with speculation about what Jesus would do or about how we should behave or believe. They were men inspired by God to care for nothing but the saving reality of who Jesus is. Red adorns the Altar this day not to remind us so much of the blood that they shed, but to remind us of the Blood by which they were transferred into heaven. For that Blood, shed for them and for us, by God in our Flesh, is also poured forth this day from the Chalice to cleanse your lips and inspire your confession.
For it is what men say that reveals who they are. None of us really has the ability to conceal what is in his heart. It always comes out in the end. That is why we try to cover up so much. That is why spin doctors exist, because no politician has yet been born who could keep his mouth shut. How many times have you pretended that you forgot something that you hadn't? How many times have you pretended that you didn't mean what you said, when you did? How many times have you feigned shock and hurt because you had been misinterpreted, when you hadn't? It is "what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man." Because the mouth reveals the heart. If you cannot tell the truth about the simplest things; if you always color the facts, exaggerate, and edit; if you tell other people's stories as though they were your own; if you act like you are better than you are; if all this causes you to feel deep down inside like a phony it is because your heart is black with sin. Repent.
But notice this: Our Lord did not ask St. Peter what he was doing, whether his life was in order, whether he was improving the world, whether he was trying hard and making a difference, or whether he was honest. For the Kingdom of God is not built upon the good works of men. Nor did Our Lord ask Peter what he believed, if he was rational or consistent, if his Theology was accurate. For the Kingdom of God is not built upon faith. Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter's answer was not his own. Flesh and blood did not reveal it to him. The Spirit who once hovered over the primordial chaotic waters of the universe, who lit upon the Messiah in the form of a dove, opened Peter's lips. Out came the Word of God: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon this, the Word of God, the revelation of His love in the Messiah, on the lips of men, Christ builds His Church.
This is the way God builds. What Peter could not say, God said for Him. God purified Peter from the inside out. He entered into Peter. Sure, Peter was a sinner, a terrible sinner. He was a blow-hard, an angry man, a Pietist who tried to force his dietary laws upon freed men. But still, God loves Peter. He entered into Him and opened his lips. He cleansed those lips for confession. Peter's mouth, by grace, declared God's praise: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is the way God builds. He is the actor, the architect and the builder. He even provides the material. He does for Peter what Peter could not do for himself. He gives Peter His Word.
This is how He works also in you. Do not forget that for all your sin, you are baptized. The Father has declared you well-pleasing to Him. The Spirit, Himself, has lit upon you. The Son has made you His home. You make confession like Peter. You sing God's praise, the profound reality that God has intervened in your life through grace. He has forgiven you for Jesus' sake. You are His own. You are holy, righteous, and innocent. You are free from making up your own songs, your own confessions, your own worship, your own questions and answers. God has built you into His Church through His Word.
By His grace, we can say a lot of things about who He is. He is the Prophet greater than Moses. He is our Redeemer, our Shepherd-King. He is the Mercy-Seat, the Grace-filled Cloud that leads us out of slavery. He is the Ram caught in the thicket who dies in our place. He is the Suffering Servant with pierced hands and feet surrounded by the bulls of Bashan. He is the Victor over death and the grave. He is the One who beckons us to come and eat and drink what we did not plant or earn, without cost and without money. He is the remover of Babel's curse, restoring us again to the brotherhood of humanity in the bond of the Spirit. He removes the false divisions of color, ethnicity, sex, age, and culture, all things invented by the devil. He makes us one, holy, Christian Church. He has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures of the Prophets. What St. Peter says by inspiration is not new. Nor does it belong to him. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" embodies all of the Old Testament, all of our hope and faith, all that we are in Christ. It is God's confession. He gives it to you. It rises up from your heart, made pure by grace, through clean lips. It is your confession. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God for you.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
