Society of Saint Polycarp

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

[A homily for our upcoming Lords Day]

“THE SON OF MAN MARTYRS HIS KINGDOM TO YOU”

Saint Matthew 16. 13-20

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles: 29 June Anno + Domini 2014

Fr Jay Watson SSP

In The + Name of Jesus

The Son of Man martyrs His Kingdom to you. The King is His Kingdom. The Savior is Salvation and He gives you Himself!

To be a Christian is to follow Christ yes, but to follow as a wounded lamb—lost, impotent, and blind—means to be carried. To be a Christian means to be IN CHRIST. Jesus is I AM the God/Man. He is neither coach nor magic genii but exactly Who Holy Scripture reveals Him to be. Who is He?

One day upon the rocky mountainous region of Caesarea Philippi He told the “12.” He continues to tell His disciples by His same words and presence.

He told Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

“Whom do men say that I The Son of man am?”

Unbelievers might answer a holy and wise teacher. Pagans could retort a revolutionary or mystic healer. Men unaided by Graces revelation, using only the eyes in their head or their reason, will say: “John the Baptist, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”

But Christ Jesus is not like John a “voice.” He IS The eternally begotten Word. He is not “a” lamp to guide the way to the source. HE IS The Light of the world, light of light, the very source Himself. The Lord is not Elias, one who raised a child from the dead and who himself was ascended bodily into heaven. He IS The very Resurrection Himself Who will raise all flesh from the dust; He is The One Who first descended from heaven with flesh and blood and Who ascended with the same Body to the right hand of majesty. The Nazarene is not one of the prophets. He IS The Prophet of the Godhead.

To know these things is a gift from God. This revealed knowledge—faith—comes from The Father through The + Son by The Spirit.

He questions some of the elect on Caesarea Philippi for their benefit and for the elect gathered here today by The Spirit. “But whom say ye that I am?” Simon of Capernaum, and prince of the Apostles answers correctly: “Thou art the Christ, The Son of the living God.” This man Simon called Petros, (Peter) by Jesus is indeed the rock man for his stone-certain answer is a gift from Jesus’ Father “Who art in heaven.” This revealed faith is a gift from the God/Man standing in front of Peter’s face—the very countenance and image of The Father in the visage of Mary’s son!

This is both Who and how. This Jesus is The Son of Man Who martyrs His Kingdom to you in His Word and in His Body and Blood.

Today the Church Catholic is gathered to be fed this faith and garmented with this grace which is Jesus! The Church is both a world-wide communion of Saints but also a trans-generational (pan-chronological) Flock of all time and space. We commemorate our Brothers in Christ: Saints Peter and Paul. In these heroes you see the totality of all Jews and Gentiles gathered into Christs one body. You worship the Redeemer not only with angels and archangels but also with the fisherman and tent-making Saints.

This is salutary for “their sound is gone out into all the earth; and their words to the end of heaven.” The words, spoken by apostles, pastors, and laity, are the Words of Christ! You are family. Jesus says “I have chosen you out of the world that ye should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain.”

Do you bring forth good fruit and good works? Do you love God more than anything and is it reflected in your worship and walk? Do you love your neighbor as yourself; seeking his well being physically and spiritually? No. You don’t love perfectly; neither did Saint Paul and Saint Peter. One doubted the resurrection and rejected it. One betrayed his Master and one tried to capture and kill His followers. One had little faith on the Sea of Galilee and one knew his buffeting and thorn so well that he correctly claimed the approbation “chief of sinners.” But both were touched by hand of God in Christ and sealed by the Spirit. This is “the Spirit of Truth [Who] will guide you into all Truth,” that “ye shall be My witnesses because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

You and the Apostles have been with Him from before the beginning—In His love which is His predestination of you. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you for “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him.” But The Son of Man martyrs His Kingdom to you. His Flesh and Blood reveals to you your heritage and lineage. His Blood and Water washed you clean and placed you into His heart. His Blood was shed for your trespasses and His Body was given unto suffering and death in your stead.

“Blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah” for the greater Jonah Who burst forth from death and not just from a great fish loves you and forgives you. Blessed are you Saul of Tarsus for the real King, not Saul, not even David, is your God and Lord Who has come to you “one born out of time” and made you one of the “12” to be His ambassador to the barbarians. Blessed are you brethren for you have been chosen in The Martyr to join this host…with James and Stephen proto-martyrs; with Elias and John Baptizer martyrs from the Old to the beginning of the eternal. Blessed are all you Saints “when ye are persecuted for My + Names sake for the Kingdom of heaven is yours.”

Peters bold confession as well as his person was the rock upon which Christ built His Church. The Confession of John Baptizer “behold the Lamb of God,” and his beheading, was a confession upon which Christ built His Church. Pauls missionary zeal and evangelism to the ends of the earth was a confession upon which Christ built His Church. Your own + Baptisms and confessions of faith in word and deed are the testimonies upon which Christ builds His Church.

In Jesus—His Word and His Blood, all Christians are martyrs—i.e. “witnesses.” You at this juncture are “white martyrs” cut off from sin in Baptism (buried into death with Him). Saints Peter and Paul are “red martyrs” shedding their blood in testimony to their beloved Lord. The Church, Jesus Kingdom, is built on these pillars by and in His Holy Precious Blood. The Son of Man martyrs His Kingdom to you.

“Whom say ye that He is?” Your words of the Nicene Creed are still echoing in the Kingdoms banquet room. Peter’s bold confession is yours. But, who does The Son of Man say that all of you are? “Ye are my brothers and sisters; ye are my lambs, my children; ye are my friends and my family; ye are Forgiven”---

In The Name of The Father and of The + Son and of The Holy Ghost

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About our Society

The Society of St. Polycarp is made up of Lutheran clergymen and laity committed to the confessional, liturgical, sacramental, and spiritual renewal of the Church of the Augsburg Confession. Since our Church's problems are not political, but rather spiritual, we pray God to grant us repentance, and seek no political aim. Members of the Society commit themselves to the following Rule.

The Rule
1. Members of the Society confess Holy Scripture to be "the pure, clear fountain of Israel" and also "the one true guiding principle," i.e., the sole norm or "judge, rule, and guiding principle" of the same (FC Ep. Comprehensive Summary, 7; FC SD Comprehensive Summary, 3). We rejoice in the tradition of the Holy Doctors and Fathers of the Church, in whom Christ kept His promise that "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against (My Church)" (Mt 16:18), so that the Lutheran confessors could say that "the churches among us do not dissent from the catholic church in any article of faith" (AC Preface to XXII, 1, Latin). We reject all methods of interpretation that seek to understand the meaning of Scripture apart from the guidance of the Church, through which God gave us the Scriptures.

2. Members of the Society will promote the importance of daily prayer and meditation on Holy Scripture. Members will commit themselves to praying at least one of the daily offices, keeping fellow members as well as the Church Catholic herself in their prayers. The ideal use of the offices is in the corporate setting; however, the praying of the offices in private is to be carried out if there is no alternative.

3. Valuing Holy Absolution as "a voice from heaven" (Ap. XII, 40), members of the Society will avail themselves of the benefit of this sacrament, as well as promoting its use. Members will seek out father confessors of their own for regular and frequent private Confession and Absolution.

4. Members of the Society will promote the Sacrament of the Altar as the chief parochial service in the Church of the Augsburg Confession (AC XXIV, 34). Members will receive the Sacrament of the Altar often, as well as encourage others to receive it frequently, thereby restoring the traditional Lutheran understanding of the central place of the Sacrament in Lutheran worship. As the Lutheran Symbols assume the weekly celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar (AC XXIV, 34-38; Ap. XXIV, 1), members of the Society will promote this evangelical and catholic practice in their own parishes and in the work of the Society.

5. As the Sacrament of the Altar is the true Body and Blood of Our Lord that is truly present, distributed, and received (AC X, German), members of the Society are committed to the evangelical and catholic doctrine of closed communion, i.e., not admitting to the altar to receive the Holy Communion those who have not previously been examined and absolved (AC XXV, 1-2), let alone those of a confession of the Faith contrary to that of the Church of the Augsburg Confession.

6. Members of the Society will promote the historic liturgies of the Church Catholic, since such liturgies shape pastoral practice and teaching that is consistent with the evangelical and catholic Faith as it has been handed down in Holy Scripture, the Ecumenical Creeds, and the Symbolical Books of the Church of the Augsburg Confession.

7. As the Lutheran Symbols confess the Blessed Virgin Mary to be "the pure, holy, and ever-virgin Mother of God" (Theotokos, Gottes Mutter), as well as "that the blessed Mary prays for the Church" (Ap. XXI, 27; SA I, IV, Latin; FC SD VIII, 24), it is altogether fitting, proper, and consistent with the Faith of the Church Catholic to honor the Blessed Virgin in liturgical celebration. Members of the Society will seek to restore the traditional Marian feasts of the Church of the Augsburg Confession (i.e., the Feasts of the Purification, Annunciation, and Visitation) as a testimony of the grace of God through her, that we might imitate the Blessed Virgin in word and example, and in thanksgiving for the Incarnation of the Son of God through her humble submission to the will of God. Members of the Society will also promote the observance and celebration of saints' days and commemorations. This is wholly in keeping with the evangelical and catholic tradition of the Church of the Augsburg Confession, whose Symbolical Books acknowledge the saints as fitting exemplars of the catholic Faith worthy of imitation, as well as our heavenly intercessors (AC XXI, 1; Ap. XXI, 4-9).

8. As the Church of the Augsburg Confession understands herself as a part of the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, particularly as she exists in the West, members of the Society will take seriously the commitment to the proper ecumenicity this demands. Members will pursue dialogue with:
• Fellow Lutheran Christians to foster and promote Lutheran unity.
• Our separated brethren in the Roman Church, with which the Lutherans at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 clearly sought reconciliation.
• The Eastern Orthodox Church, following the example of the exchange between the Lutheran theologians of the University of Tübingen and Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople (1573-1581).
This reflects not simply the Lutheran commitment to the unity of all Christians, but ultimately the will of Our Lord Himself (Jn 17).

9. Members of the Society will make every effort to make a retreat once a year for the purpose of disciplined prayer and study, silence and reflection, as well as the celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar.

Conclusion
Following the example of our patron, members of the Society ultimately strive to be faithful to Our Lord, recalling His words to St. John the Theologian: "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev 2:10). Members also pray God's grace that we may be able to hand over to our posterity the tradition we have received as Lutheran Christians, and that we may be able to confess with our forebears at Augsburg that "nothing has been accepted among us, in teaching and ceremonies, that is contrary to Scripture or the catholic church. For it is manifest that we have most diligently been on guard so that no new or ungodly doctrines creep into our churches" (AC Conclusion, 5, Latin).