Your answer is important
Matthew 16.13-20
‘Who do you say that I am?’
If you can imagine Jesus asking you that question, how would you respond? ‘Who do you say that I am?’
I’ve always loved this passage, and the parallel passage in Mark. Maybe because I’m called Peter, so I take it personally. Maybe because it is so alive, so vibrant, rooted in a real place and a real encounter between Jesus and his disciples and, in particular, Simon Peter. Many years ago, we were given an original painting of the river at Caesarea Philippi, which the artist had visited. This, the visitors were told, is where two questions were asked, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ and ‘Who do you say that I am?’
So, further down the river of time, we are asked the same questions. And how we respond really matters. Imagine someone you know asks you, ‘what are people saying about me?’ Maybe it’s your boss at work, wanting some feedback from the shop floor, or maybe it’s your mother at a time of family tension. ‘What are they saying?’
What people say about us can really matter. Of course, it can impact our self-image, our confidence. Does Jesus’ question betray some nerves about what is to come? In the verses that follow these, he predicts his death. Public opinion is not just going to make him feel bad, like a critical Facebook posting, it is literally going to kill him. The path to Jerusalem and to the cross is not an easy one for Jesus – as his anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane will reveal.
But, as if testing public opinion, Jesus may be less concerned about himself than about what people really understand. Do they know who he is? Because knowing that will affect their behaviour and, ultimately, their destiny. The answers the disciples give to Jesus’ question are evidence of the impact Jesus was already having, in his time. People were talking about him; he’d caused a stir. And as the ripples spread out, some confused him with his cousin, John, whilst others saw him as a reincarnation of Elijah or Jeremiah. It was logical that they saw him as a prophet – because prophets talked about God; and, like them, Jesus talked about God in a way that really mattered. In his message, “the kingdom of heaven has come near”, there was a real urgency. I suspect that people didn’t get the same sense of urgency from their local rabbi or the teachers of the law in the temple.
In our time, I wonder how people see Jesus? For many, he is an irrelevance, someone they never think about. For some he is an historic figure that they might talk about in the past tense. ‘Jesus said, Jesus told a story, Jesus died’. For these people, he might be a teacher, or a martyr, but he is past, not present. Their view of Jesus doesn’t really matter, he doesn’t have an impact on their lives.
But having heard what “people” are saying, Jesus makes his question more urgent and more specific, when he says to his disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ This question is so important, of course. We can all report what people are saying – it is the favourite trick of a disgruntled committee member to report other people’s apparent views. And we can do this in the life of the church, especially as we think about mission, reaching out into our community. Rather like the disciples reporting back to Jesus, we can say that other people aren’t interested, that they don’t understand our faith, that Jesus is just a swear-word to them. And by reporting all of this, we can convince ourselves that mission is a waste of time, that we’ll never get anywhere, that nobody wants to know any more.
But Jesus never expected to have thousands of followers, it seems. The crowds were fickle, they came and went. He didn’t really expect them to understand or to be committed to following him. But he was really interested in the little band of disciples who stuck by him. ‘But who do you say that I am?’ What other people say isn’t really important; what I want to know is, what do you think, what do you understand?
So, this becomes a question we should all take seriously, when Jesus asks it, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Our answer will affect what we do, how we behave. It isn’t just an academic question, any more than ‘will you marry me?’ or ‘would you like the job?’ There are questions that make a difference to our lives, and this is one of them. Who do you say that Jesus is?
It is Simon Peter who responds – Simon the impetuous, who cries enthusiastically, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” He uses religious language, relevant to his culture. Messiah is the Hebrew word for ‘anointed king’, the one chosen and sent by God, the equivalent of the Greek ‘Christ’. The Jews looked for such a leader, and some still do, because their scriptures said that he would come to rescue them. In Jesus’ time, Palestine was an occupied land and there were those who longed for revolution. Simon had a sense that Jesus was God’s chosen one, and maybe he had a taste for revolution too. He added ‘Son of the living God’ not because he had any concept of Jesus being the second person of the Trinity – and that’s our religious language – but because it was another Old Testament way of saying that Jesus was God’s chosen one.
So, how would you answer Jesus’ question? You might do it in religious terms – Messiah, Saviour, Lord – but if you were having a conversation in the pub, in the office or round the dining table, maybe you could answer the question ‘who is Jesus?’ in a way more relevant to our culture. What would your answer be?
Your answer might be given in a moment of inspiration, like Simon’s, but it will reflect the significance of Jesus in your life. The hymn writers might have shaped your views, ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’, ‘There is a Redeemer’, ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’, ‘the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay’, ‘Christ, the everlasting Lord’, ‘the Lord of the dance’, ‘the Prince of life they slay’, ‘Christ the royal master’. I should do a quiz and see if you recognise which hymns I am referencing! We will get our language from different places – but what does Jesus being Lord, Prince, Master, Shepherd or even Friend mean to you, day by day? I challenge you to answer Jesus’s question, ‘But who do you say that I am?’, but to answer it in a way that your family, friends and neighbours might understand.
Once Simon has given Jesus a name, Jesus responds with a nickname for him. First of all, he recognises him for who he is – Simon, son of Jonah – his human family, where he has come from. Jesus knows where you are from, he knows your background. Jesus also acknowledges the relationship with God that Simon has referenced – speaking of ‘my Father in heaven’. Jesus knows where he is from, and where his authority comes from. But then he gives Simon his special name that shows him where he is going, what he is called to. ‘Rocky’, Peter, “…and on this rock I will build my church.” Simon Peter has a special place in God’s plan, which was being worked out by the time that Matthew recorded these words. He was to become a leader in the new gathering of God’s people that would come to be known as ‘church’.
That specific calling will not be for anyone else, and the variations of that calling that we might designate ‘church leadership’ will not be for everyone. But as the other disciples were to discover, as the early church came to know and Paul came to articulate, there would be many people with many different gifts called by God to a variety of tasks. When you believe that the kingdom of heaven is near, there is work for all. And there may be names, too. What nickname would Jesus give you? ‘Smiler’, ‘Servant’, ‘Creative’, ‘Willing’, ‘Loving’, ‘Peaceful’, ‘Faithful’, ‘Strong’, ‘Honest’? Maybe you know in your own heart how Jesus sees you and what gifts he has given you? Are you living up to the name you have been given?
There is a P.S. to all of this – in the story that follows, which we shall read next week. If you’re feeling a little nervous about what God calls you to do, if you’re not sure that you’re up to the task, read ahead in Matthew 16. Simon Peter didn’t always get it right, either, so be encouraged that the church is full of sinners, not saints. We are all incomplete, under construction, even the ones that are supposed to be as solid as a rock!
And today, go away with this question ringing in your ears, because Jesus asks it of us all, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Your answer really matters.