sermon notes Pentecost 15: Matthew 16: 13-20

[notes for Pent 16;  Matt 16: 21-28 are here]

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Caesarea Philippi was located about 30 kms north of the Sea of Galilee in what is now the Golan Heights.  It has an interesting religious history:  used as a cultic center for Baal worship in Canaanite times, then it was part of the Panion (you might see it called Paneas) during Hellenistic times.  The reference is to the god Pan.  Herod the Great built a temple to his patron Emperor Augustus there, and then Philip the Tetrarch dedicated it also to the Emperor Tiberius, and decided to lend his own name to the town as well.  Hence Caesarea Philippi.  Just to add to the charm of the place, Josephus (Jewish War 3.9.7.) tells us that Vespasian had a few gladiatorial games with Jewish victims there after the fall of Jerusalem.

An interesting place in which to pose the question: "Who do you say that I am?"  Now it is also worth considering that Jesus does not directly jump to this question.  Instead, he asks what the people say about him.  And in giving their various answers, the disciples show that they are at least a bit conversant with popular opinion "out there".  It is an approach worth considering - rather than jumping straight to the second question, do we need to become conversant with what the culture says about the Son of Man?  The stereotype of evangelism is to jump to a direct question, rather than take the slightly roundabout route that Jesus takes to get there.

“Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Now who are these people and why do the people think that Jesus is one of these characters?

John the Baptist was very austere – living in the wilderness on locusts and wild honey, dressed up so that he would stand out from the crowd.  If you read the accounts of John the Baptist in the gospels you’ll see that his main ministry was calling people to repent of their sins.  In fact, sometimes he was pretty harsh – he called the Pharisees a brood of vipers – a nest of snakes.  So perhaps people saw in Jesus the continuation of the tradition of John the Baptist.

But Jesus is not John the Baptist.  He’s more than John the Baptist.  John's baptism of repentance is fulfilled in Jesus' authority to forgive.  And John's ministry of preparation is fulfilled in the arrival of the Lamb of God.  Jesus was surely like John in the call to repentance, but Jesus also delivers something which John could not:  divine forgiveness and absolution.

Next, some people say that Jesus is Elijah. In Jewish tradition, Elijah was the greatest prophet and miracle worker of the Old Testament.  When Elijah prayed, God listened.  Elijah could do anything:  he could cure the sick, he could raise the dead, he could make food miraculously multiply, he could control the weather, he could control the outcome of battles and armies and wars.  He was the greatest miracle worker that ever lived.  He could solve the problems of people, cities, even kingdoms with his miracles.

But Jesus is not Elijah.  One of the small things we forget when we see the various miracles is that the miracle does not solve the problem, it merely postpones it.  Consider Elijah's miracles around death.  'Nuff said.  The problem was postponed, not solved. And like John the Baptist, Elijah had a preparatory role (as seen elsewhere when Jesus replies that 'Elijah must come first').  But Jesus is more than Elijah;  Jesus is not preparatory - he is the event.

Next, others say that he is Jeremiah or one of the prophets.  Now who is Jeremiah?  There are two main writings in the Old Testament about Jeremiah.  The first is the book of Jeremiah, and the second is called the Lamentations of Jeremiah.  The lamentations of Jeremiah are just that – a collection of laments. Songs and stories of woe;  unhappiness at how badly things are going for us.  Jeremiah was the best at saying – “Look God, things are just terrible, life is hard and all my enemies are beating up Israel, and things just aren’t fair and won’t you do something about it?" Okay, that might be a very loose translation, but you get the picture.

The prophets were also known for their zeal in calling Israel back to Yahweh from worship of other gods, for their zeal in defending the cause of justice and their condemnation of those who offended God through injustice and oppression.  Perhaps by this time Jesus had a reputation in this area.  But Jesus is not Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.

For now I want to focus on that little word "revealed".  Here, I think, is the crux of the matter.  Knowing Jesus is not something we achieve by our own cleverness, but it is something revealed.  Many can and have argued over just what is meant by the phrase "Messiah, the Son of the living God."  But I sense that there comes a point when argument will not gain anything - there must be revelation - the divine work of  God breaking in on our notions of Jesus as wise man, prophet, miracle worker, whatever - - and then we come to know Him as the Son of the Living God. 

More on this later, and for the sake of Roman Catholic dialogue, I'll skip over the whole Peter thing.  An interesting early discussion of these verses can be found in Cyprian's Unity of the Church (ch 4).  Pelikan (The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, 159, 250) has some good summaries of the interpretation of these verses in the early church. 

Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Let me just half lightly say that this is the one command of Jesus that many Christians are only all too happy to keep. 

 

Comments

[Malcolm+]

As I read the Gospel at yesterday's service, I cast aside the sermon I had planned and did a riff on the Messianic Secret - including a one-liner much like your closing thought.

[joseph]

I also tended to expand on that line a bit more in my own sermon. I thought a bit as well about how Jesus does not directly jump to the "who do you say I am" question. Instead we have the question about the people - what do they think, are we as disciples conversant enough with the culture around us, and what do our neighbours think about Jesus. And then I also see in this part of the Messianic secret the idea that perhaps one needs to walk with Jesus further before one is equipped to share the Good News. I also did a bit of contrast between the silence here and the loud proclamation of the great commission at the end of Matthew's Gospel.

[Malcolm+]

"And then I also see in this part of the Messianic secret the idea that perhaps one needs to walk with Jesus further before one is equipped to share the Good News."

Hmmmmmm. I think you're on to something.