The Gates of Hell

Lectionary Reading: Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSV)

Back in the 90's, I was working on curriculum writing for our conference.  We incorporated video clips into some of the worship and this involved the use of VHS tapes. Editing was a lot more time-intensive!

The movie Dracula was a lot more intimidating!

One scene in particular that we used was from the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola film, Bram Stroker's Dracula.  It involved the vampire hunter Van Helsing (played wonderfully by Anthony Hopkins) backing a vampire back into a coffin using a cross and shouting "We are strong in the Lord and the power of his might!"

The idea we used from this clip was the obvious nature of evil in this film.  If we could simply stand overtly against an easily identifiable evil, we would do it.  Yet evil is rarely so obvious.  It is often more subtle.  It comes in the guise of something that will placate our fears or desires.

Evil replaces God on our priority list without us even realizing it.

In the scripture reading, Jesus tells Peter that the Church will overcome evil with the imagery of the gates of Hades or Hell.  We have been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  We have authority to bind and loose.

Okay, this last piece seems a little vague.  What does it mean to bind and loose?  If Jesus is speaking of evil, when would there ever be a good time to loose it on the world?

Binding and loosing is likely referring to the binding and loosing of scripture in the world. Rabbinical tradition would bind specific scriptures to modern day situations such as when Jesus told us to turn the other cheek rather than take an eye for an eye.  Scripture was bound to how we respond to violence.  In last week's lectionary reading, Jesus loosens scripture when he spoke of our words defiling us more than the unclean foods that we might consume.

So our responsibility as the Church is to determine how we apply God's Word to the world and specifically how we stand against the evils of this world.

The litmus test I always use is "Does this application of scripture to this situation increase the love of God and love of neighbor in the world?"  Of course, this is from Jesus who gave these as the greatest of the commandments.

As we gather as the Church, we remind one another that "We are strong in the Lord and the power of his might!"

In Christ,

Sam


Photo by patterned via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.