Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 16th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 13–20:
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 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. 18 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. 19 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.” 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Last week’s Gospel had the disciples in the area around Tyre and Sidon located on the shore of the Mediterranean in Gentile territory. Jesus had taken the disciples North of Galilee in order to get away from the badgering of the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem. In today’s Gospel we heard, Jesus and the disciples had travelled east from Tyre and Sidon to the area around Caesarea Philippi. This is still in the Gentile territory north of Galilee.
Jesus used this time away from the crowds of Galilee to teach the disciples. Today’s lesson was about the true identity of Jesus. Who is He? Jesus opened the topic by asking the disciples about the opinion of the crowds. [Jesus] asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” It is sort of interesting that all of the guesses are dead prophets. Herod had recently killed John the Baptist. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind hundreds of years earlier. Jeremiah had disappeared into Egypt after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. The people thought that Jesus was one of these dead prophets come back to life.
I wonder what people would say if you took a poll at a busy shopping area in 21st century Australia and asked who Jesus is. Quite apart from the deniers, I would guess that some would say a philanthropist, or a life coach, a great teacher of morality, and so forth. Some who are more spiritual, but not religious, might regard Jesus as a great guru who was able to tap into the Christ-like consciousness that dwells in all of us. Others would regard Jesus as this permissive personality who pretty much lets you do whatever you want as long as you don’t hurt anyone else.
There were many opinions back then and there are many opinions today. The problem with opinions is that opinions based on guesswork are usually wrong. Opinions about who Jesus is are no exception. People who guess about Jesus’ identity will get it wrong.
The really sad thing about this is that when you get the identity of Jesus wrong, you get salvation wrong. You can talk like a Christian and fool a lot of people into thinking you are a Christian, but, in the end, you will enter into eternal punishment. It is essential to get the identity of Jesus right in order to get salvation right.
There is one answer that is right and we heard that answer from Simon Peter of all people. [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. This is the right answer back then and it is still the right answer today.
But what does it mean that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Jesus knew that the disciples would not know the answer to that question until after He suffered, died, and rose from the dead.
That is the reason that Jesus gave that odd little instruction near the end of today’s reading. He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. He did not want the disciples to teach the wrong understanding of what it means to be the Christ.
The title Christ comes from the Greek word that means to anoint. The Hebrew equivalent is Messiah. So we can say Christ. We can say Messiah. We can say the anointed one. They all mean the same thing.
Anointing was a rite for setting someone aside for a special office. In the Old Testament, Aaron was anointed priest, David was anointed king, and Elijah anointed Elisha to be the prophet after him. The anointed offices of the Old Testament are priest, king, and prophet. As the anointed one, Jesus fulfilled all of these offices.
Jesus is the prophet anointed by God. It is easy to see Jesus as prophet when we realise what a prophet is and who Jesus is. A prophet is someone who speaks for God. Jesus is both one hundred per cent human and one hundred per cent God. Well, who better to speak for God than God Himself, Jesus the Christ? This already makes Jesus the ultimate prophet.
But Jesus went above and beyond the role of the normal prophet. God made many promises through the prophets down through the centuries. As prophet, Jesus Himself made many promises. Jesus went beyond the role of prophet because He did not just speak the promises of God, but He also keeps the promises that God made through the mouths of the prophets.
Jesus is the king anointed by God. As God, Jesus also reigns over all things. That makes Him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is by the reign of His power that all things exist and have their being. It is by the reign of His grace that He brings forgiveness to His church on earth. It is by the reign of His glory that He leads His church into eternity.
Here too, Jesus serves above and beyond any other king. As King, He establishes the law of His kingdom. But Jesus went beyond the role of king. Even though the king rules even the law, Jesus humbled Himself in obedience to the law. He not only kept the law for Himself, but He also kept the law in our place.
Jesus is the priest anointed by God. The priest represents the people before God. Who better to represent humanity before God than the one who is both God and man? In fact, Jesus is the only one truly qualified to be our priest. All the other priests in the Old Testament were merely shadows who pointed forward to the true high priest, Jesus the anointed one.
Once again, Jesus went beyond the role of priest. The priests of the Old Testament offered up sacrifices before God. Jesus offered up Himself as the once for all sacrifice that truly does take away the sin of the world.
It is at the cross that we see what it means to be the Christ. There on the cross is the Christ sacrificing Himself for the sins of the world. There is the Christ, the rock on which the church is built.
With His suffering and death on the cross, Christ has overcome sin. Since death relies on sin, Christ has also defeated death. Resurrection must follow the victory that Christ won for us on the cross. It is with His resurrection from the grave that Jesus finished showing the disciples and us what it means to be the Christ. It is after the resurrection that [Luke 24:45-46] [Jesus] opened [his disciples’] minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.”
It is with the complete picture of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection that we have a complete picture of what it means to be the Christ. It is with this complete picture that we begin to understand Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter did not dream this confession up on his own. Jesus said that the Father in heaven gave this confession to Peter. This confession is so reliable that it is the foundation of Christ’s church. Jesus continued speaking and said, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This confession is solid like a rock and it tells us who Jesus is and what Jesus did.
Today we heard Peter’s confession as it is recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew. We can proclaim this confession in our words and in our songs. We can proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Since we live after the resurrection, we can know that the Christ is the one who lived a perfect life for us, carried our sins to death on a cross, and rose from the dead in order to take away our sin and give us His righteousness.
We who have this faith in Jesus as the Christ have a relationship with God that will last forever. Jesus promised that He would always dwell with us while we lived on this earth. He has also promised that we who believe will live with Him forever when we leave this world. The blessing of this confession is way better than anything our speculation can provide. And because it comes from God the Father Almighty, we know it is the truth. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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