Joining the Greatest Confession of All Time :: Matthew 16:13-18 :: Funeral of Eddie Roth

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Dear Carol, Mary, Lane, and Levi ... dear friends and family ... dear brothers and sisters in Christ ... Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 


In our Gospel reading, Matthew’s description of the disciples’ encounter with our Lord Jesus is familiar to most of us. That’s in large part because it is the greatest confession of all time. Jesus was in the region of Caesarea Philippi, late in his ministry. Caesarea Philippi is well north of Jerusalem ... about 120 miles ... and 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had withdrawn here with twelve disciples to prepare for his final journey to the cross. The region they’ve retired to is a beautiful place ... lush ... full of life. It sat in the foothills of Mount Hermon, which rises about 7,000 feet above sea level. Just about everywhere they would’ve gone, the disciples likely would have seen statues of pagan gods, most notably Pan, the Greek god of nature. 

Matthew writes, Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea of Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do men say the Son of Man is? (v 13) The disciples responded with a variety of titles and names: John the Baptizer. Elijah. Jeremiah. One of the other Prophets (v 14). But who do you say I am, Jesus then asks (v 15).

This question ... Who do you say I am? ... leads us to one of the greatest confessions of Christian faith ever spoken. 

Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God! (v 16) 

Saint Peter was the first to give voice to this great confession. But he certainly wasn’t the last. This was and still is the confession of our beloved husband, father, brother, elder ... Edgar Wilmer Roth III. And Eddie prayed often that this would be ... is ... and will be your confession, too. 

Blessed are you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when you too confess that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. Blessed are you, Jesus said, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, the one in the heavens. Now I also say to you that upon this rock ... that is, upon your confession ... Christ is building his church, and ... the gates of Hades will not overpower it (v 18).

1.

We don’t know the exact date Eddie first gave this confession ... that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The cancer that so quickly overpowered the rock of a man Eddie was never did give us time to find his baptism or confirmation dates. ... No matter. ... As Saint Paul tells us in Romans 10: When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rm 10:9). 

And so Eddie was saved. 

God had given Eddie this promise. And God cannot change his promise. He cannot revoke it.

In the short time I knew him, Eddie confessed this truth regularly with me. His confidence in this confession was as sure as the concrete foundations he poured in his life. God proved Eddie to be a rock of a man ... with the heart that is as soft as God himself. It was clear to everyone who ever met Eddie ... that his stature ... not only physically ... but his stature within the church, within his community, within the world was one of immeasurable godliness. 

The man had a heart for God that was bigger than his life. And more importantly, God had a heart for Eddie that gave him eternal life. Eddie was a loving husband of Mary. He was a supportive father of two sons ... Lane and Levi. He was a family-first gentleman, who hardly ever raised his voice. He was calming and trustworthy. Children were drawn to him, precisely because his God-given heart belied his physical presence. Blessed he was and is because flesh and blood had not revealed [that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God] ... but our Father who is in heaven. You are saved by God’s grace through this faith ... and it is not of yourselves so that no one can boast (Eph 2:8).

2.

It is this confession that gave Eddie strength. Christ’s church, the true Israel, is being built on this confession ... and built by the One whom Eddie confessed. It is a confession that comes to us only by the Holy Spirit. It is a confession that arises and shines because our light has come ... in Jesus. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But Yahweh will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus was anointed ... set apart ... in the flesh ... for this very reason ... to give rise to the great confession. Jesus ... who was born without sin and lived without sin, died for all sin ... including Eddie’s. Jesus literally took all our sin and sickness onto his body so that when he was crucified, your sin would die with Jesus. Though sin and sickness still afflict us ... though it took the earthly life of our brother who now awaits the resurrection ... your sin was buried with Jesus so that it will never be heard from again. And just as Jesus was raised from the dead, you Eddie are baptized ... like Eddie ... you too will be raised with Jesus. 

In the resurrection of Jesus, we have been given a life that will never end. And that is why we are here in this sanctuary today! 

With faith in God’s promises, with faith that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, we gather today not to honor the life that Eddie led, rather we are here in the face of death to celebrate and proclaim the new life that God has given us through Jesus ... that our eyes and ears have been opened to the Gospel. Because of this truth, we can confess confidently ... with words of hope ... with words of joy ... and with present tense words of life that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God!   

As Paul so often reminds us, on account of Jesus, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39). It’s this certainty of faith that led Eddie in his calling as husband and father and elder. And it is this certainty of faith that comforts us with the promise of God. By this we know that we abide in God and God in us (1 Jn 4:12) ... Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God ... in his name. 

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