Climbing the Rock

Matthew 16 | Liberation and Inclusion Translation

Matthew 16 in the Liberation and Inclusion Translation (LIT).

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We have walked on water.

We have fallen into those waters of death and been pulled to life by the hand of Christ.

Now we are asked to climb this rock, to traverse and scramble up this thing that the whole of faith rests upon.

But what is this foundation holding up? What is it we have built on this cornerstone?

Is it the elder’s tradition, telling us that eating with unclean hands, consuming the wrong things, or eating with the wrong people makes us unclean?

The question underneath these questions is this: what are we climbing towards? What is it that we are scrambling upwards towards?

Often times, it feels like we are climbing from one greed to another, from one den of thieves to the next. We are told to flee the world, to not conform to this world, to be transformed away from this world… but the models we are given of what it means to be transformed by the renewing of our minds look more like sin than the things we are told to leave behind.

I guess the question under these questions is who do we say Jesus is?

He is the one who pulled us out of the waters of death, turning our baptisms into resurrection. But the question is who is he, not what has he done?

This is the question that eventually undid my Christian faith. This question has haunted me for more than twenty years. Who is Jesus? Who do we say he is? And why does that matter?

Is Jesus just another—perhaps the greatest—messenger? Is he the harbinger of the end of all things? Is he a warning, serving as a living sign of the exile to come?

I don’t know.

I don’t know who you think Jesus is, who you say he is.

I was taught to say that he is the Savior and Lord, the righteous judge, the lover of my soul, and the sacrifice for sin.

I was taught the tradition of the elders about Jesus.

But these are the same elders who have fallen before us, proving nothing but their own hypocrisy.

We were told that naming Jesus as the savior was our spiritual act of worship, then the child molesters, embezzlers, and violent abusers were unmasked behind the pulpit.

Can we believe who they say Jesus is?

Their Jesus hurts the most vulnerable in society.

Their Jesus groomed children for physical and sexual abuse.

Their Jesus amassed wealth at the expense of others.

Their Jesus played power games, created schisms, and smeared other people’s names for the sake of power.

That’s who they say Jesus is, and I don’t want a goddamn thing to do with their Jesus.

So why am I climbing this rock? Why am I struggling up this mountain if this shit is what is waiting for me at the top?

Is this really the one, holy Catholic and Apostolic Church?

Tell me, how have the gates of hell not prevailed against us when the church itself has become a hell for so many people?

Make it make sense.

Let me make this plain: this blatant hypocrisy and abuse I condemn and gladly, willfully walk away from, even if that means walking away from Christ.

But Jesus walked away from it too.

Jesus was a loud voice against the traditions of the elders when it came to tradition over people.

Jesus didn’t stand for hypocrisy, abuse, or harm of the marginalized and poor.

Jesus told us that it doesn’t matter what or how we eat, but it matters what comes from our hearts. Our words, our actions: these are the things that put the defilement of the heart on display.

This is the context where Jesus now asks us, not who other people say he is, but who we say he is.

He has given bread and crumbs to the needy.

He has had compassion on and healed the un-shepherded people.

He has warned against the hypocrisy of the elders that acts like yeast and will get into every area of our lives, bloating and ruining and defiling the whole batch if we let it in at all.

So, in light of this, of what we have seen Jesus do, heard Jesus say, who do we say he is?

I can’t answer for you. I won’t presume to.

I also don’t think there is a wrong answer.

We are faced with so many versions and variants of Christ that I don’t think we always see the Jesus who is asking us this question.

It is a question that asks for an answer, but there’s not some way of getting this wrong.

I guess that speaks to my personal answer to this question.

I step back, and look at this rock we are climbing, this mountain we are strives upwards on… and I wonder if the keys to the kingdom are really hidden at the top or not.

I don’t think Jesus is holding back the fullness of himself and his call to stand against the gates of hell, waiting until we get an existential question right.

And I don’t think this cornerstone the church is built upon is something we have to or can master, know its shape, or even see where it lands.

When Jesus asks me who I think he is, all I can answer is, “Jesus, it’s you all the way down.”

Jesus is the rock, top to bottom.

I don’t have to climb to be better.

I don’t have to bushwhack my way through the abuse and hypocrisy of the church in order to stand on the sure foundation.

When people tell me to climb this mountain of faith that I spent years climbing, I want to ask why.

Why strive?

Why bloody hands as if that was some form of penance?

Why blister feet as if building calluses made us stronger people?

Here’s the truth I believe about Jesus and this rock of confession about who he is: Jesus is our cave.

Jesus is our cleft, our shelter carved out of the rock and made for us.

Jesus is the rock and the shelter.

Jesus is the one that holds us to himself.

We don’t have to walk a hundred miles or climb a thousand feet.

When we sank into the water of baptism, it is Jesus who raised us to life.

When we were hungry, Jesus fed us the bread of heaven.

When we were lost with no one to care for us, Jesus had compassion on us.

Jesus has always been there.

Jesus will always be here.

Transforming our minds with this truth is our spiritual act of worship.

This is the rock that not only holds us, but that we were carved from.

It’s Jesus all the way down.

It always has been.

It always will be.

So, let go of the rock.

Stop the climb.

Free fall…

And find whose hand already holds you.

Then tell me, who do you say Jesus is?