SCRIPTURE Matthew 16: Identifying Jesus

Transcription

1 SCRIPTURE Matthew 16:13-20 SERMON Identifying Jesus 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? 14 They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 15 But what about you? he asked. Who do you say I am? 16 Simon Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. 17 Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. In a new national survey (2016), year-olds report that having a clear purpose in life is a big part of being a "real" adult. The problem is, most young people don't feel like they've found that sense of purpose. More than 86% of young adults say that making decisions in line with their purpose makes them an adult, according to a national survey. But only 43% say they have a clear picture of what they want in life, 36% say their career path aligns with life purpose, and only 30% know why they are here. Christine B. Whelan, a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison concludes, "This [study] isn't good news: Coasting is existing, not thriving.

2 The majority of young adults who say they don't have a clear picture of what they want in life also say they are existing but not thriving, while those with purpose more often say they are thriving." Milton Lichtman (also known as Jan Leighton) died at the age of eightyseven. For over 30 years Lichtman's primary claim to fame was appearing in commercials as a famous historical figure. He lit a cigar as Fidel Castro in a commercial for lighters, sold cars as Albert Einstein for a Southern California car dealership, promoted a Minnesota savings bank as Abraham Lincoln, and touted an Arizona department store as Robert E. Lee. For one bank commercial he portrayed four different historical figures all complaining about other banks that charged for checks. He pitched cereal as Alexander Hamilton, beer as Johann Sebastian Bach, early mobile phones as Dracula, and cough syrup as Frankenstein. Among others, Babe Ruth, Gandhi, Mozart, Sherlock Holmes, Ebenezer Scrooge, John Wayne, Thomas Jefferson, and even Margaret Thatcher were in his repertoire. Asked once how he was doing, he replied, "I'm alive and well and living in someone else's face." Guinness Book of World Records credited him as the actor who had played the most roles and had the most disguises 1,200 on TV and 1,800 more on radio. In May 1989, New York magazine published a feature story on him, calling him the "Man of a Thousand Faces." By the end of his career, Lichtman had reportedly professionally portrayed 3,372 historic notables. The New York Times called him the "Actor Who Played Everyone." No wonder he said, "Heaven for me is to lie in bed stark

3 naked with no costume living in my own face and not someone else's and luxuriate in my own skin." The morning Text is about who Jesus is, but it is more. In letting us in on his identity Jesus simultaneously gives us our purpose. Peter answers Jesus question about who he is You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And Jesus blessing him for it and then he gives Peter AND us our identity. I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. To better understand Jesus and Peter s exchange and what it means for us we really have to understand the context of the conversation. What is going on and where is it happening? We read: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? What about Caesarea Philippi? Caesarea Philippi was established by Ptolemaic Greeks as a hellenistic city, where the worship of the god Pan was centered. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom based in Egypt. By the early first century, Caesarea Philippi (named in 2 AD by Herod Philip in honor of Caesar Augustus) was reviled by orthodox rabbis, and it was taught that no good Jew would ever visit there. This city, which sits at the foot of Mount Hermon, butts up against a large cliff, referred to as the Rock of the Gods, in reference to the many shrines built against it. Shrines to Caesar, Pan and another god (possibly the

4 fertility goddess Nemesis) were all built up against this cliff. In the center of the Rock of the Gods is a huge cave, from which a stream flowed. This cave was called the Gates of Hades, because it was believed that Baal would enter and leave the underworld through places where water came out of it. In first century Israel, Caesarea Philippi would be an equivalent of Las Vegas Sin City but much worse than the modern city in the American West. In the open-air Pan Shrine, next to the cave mouth, there was a large niche, in which a statue of Pan (a half-goat, half-human creature) stood, with a large erect phallus, worshipped for its fertility properties. Surrounding him in the wall were many smaller niches, in which were statues of his attending nymphs. On the shrine in front of these niches, worshippers of Pan would congregate and partake in bizarre sexual rites, including copulation with goats worshipped for their relationship to Pan. Now, we don t know for sure where they were standing in the Caesarea Philippi region, but Jesus statement gives us an idea that they may have been standing within sight of the Rock of the Gods. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The Catholic tradition has taken Jesus pronouncement in Matthew 16:18 to mean that Jesus was declaring that the church was to be built on the authority of Peter and the other disciples. It is true that they led the early church, so this would be a possible interpretation.

5 The Protestant tradition has taken Jesus declaration here to say that His church was to be built upon the confession recognizing Him as the Messiah and the Son of the living God. This is a valid interpretation, as well, and is a practice supported by other scriptures. Ray VanderLaan and other Hebrew contextual scholars suggest a third interpretation which may be just as if not more powerful as the others, based on the context. Why would Jesus choose this place, the filthiest (morally) place within walking distance of his earthly region of ministry to seek out a declaration from his disicples of their understanding of his identity? Might it be possible that he took his gospel to the most degenerate place possible to say to them THIS is where I want you to build my church. I want you to go out into the repugnantly degenerate places, where God is not even known. I want you to go to the broken places, the god-forsaken places, I want you to go where people are lost and dying, where people are living their lives by throwing themselves up against the moral rocks so to speak, I want you to go where no one else would think of going. I want you to go out to places that make Caesarea Philippi look tame, and THAT is where I want you to build my church. Because that is exactly what they did. They went to places in Asia Minor and the ends of the earth, where gods were worshipped in unspeakably awful manners and where Christians would be persecuted in horrific manner, and they gave their lives doing EXACTLY what they were told to do by their Master.

6 Who is Jesus? He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God who left the glory and splendor of heaven to come into a world that was broken and degenerate and lost and gave his all for the people on this planet. He did that and he says to his disciples, I did that for you. I came to help you in the places in your life that are broken and which hold you in sin and bondage. I came so you could be free and know that you are created for more than what this world and its systems tell you are for or worth. I came for you and I am sending you to others so I can do the same for them. Who is Jesus? He is the one who calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light and invites us to this table to celebrate his life and sacrifice which makes our life beautiful and purpose filled. Let us prepare ourselves to come to this table and celebrate who Jesus is.