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February 14, 2010 |
| Who Am I | ||
The lesson today begins with a question. Who do the people of today say who Jesus was?
God, Messiah – but not God, good man / man of peace, Muslim – prophet, never existed, Life of Brian.
This lesson begins with Jesus asking much the same question you just answered.
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
"Jesus has taken his disciples northward from predominantly Jewish territory, presumably to escape the crowds and spend time privately with his disciples. They have journeyed some twenty-five miles (and seventeen hundred feet uphill) from the Lake of Galilee to the source of the Jordan near the ancient city of Dan, the northern boundary of ancient Israel. The recently renamed Caesarea Philippi was as pagan a territory as one could find. It was famous for its grotto where people worshiped the Greek god Pan"1
Until this time Jesus had never specifically claimed that he was the Messiah. Instead he generally referred to himself as the Son of Man, as we see here. In Jesus time this phrase would have meant something like "a human being" or "one of mankind". It is clear that Jesus does not use it to point out the obvious, that He is a man. "Rather, it is likely that Jesus uses Son of Man to connect himself to "one like a son of man" in Daniel (Daniel 7:13,14)."2 I imagine that he also saw some humor in calling himself the Son of Man, when He was the Son of God. But Son of Man does also speak to the humility he accepted as one of mankind.
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
As we saw in past lessons, some of the people indicated they recognized Jesus as the Messiah by referring to Him as the Son of David. But here the disciples are likely listing the opinions they have heard most often from the people. These opinions are based on what the people have seen and heard in Jesus' miracles and His teachings.
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Jesus knows his disciples have come to a point where they have, or are about to make the connection between Him and the Messiah. He wants them to summarize their experience and understanding, put it all together and express it so that He can move on to the next stage in their development.
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
In other places in the Gospels we see that the disciples did not understand some of the things that Jesus spoke because they were not given to understand at that time. But in this case they were. "Peter's understanding of Jesus' identity came by divine revelation (Mt 16:17; 11:25), undoubtedly including God's revelation through Jesus' miraculous acts"3
18And 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.
There has been much discussion about the meaning of this verse. The name Peter means rock. Catholics see this verse as support for their church being the one true church because of their claim to ancestry dating back to Peter. There is a problem with this interpretation though. Both the Aramaic and Greek agree that two different words are used here for rock, where English only uses one. The name Peter refers to a rock that you might throw or at least lift. The second instance of rock is a word meaning something like a stone plateau.
More than likely the correct understanding is given in Ephesians 2:20 which shows that Jesus was probably referring to himself and all of the disciples present. "19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone."
But more important than whom or what is the foundation, it is important to note what is built on it. In using "the Hebrew word for God's congregation [from] the exodus narrative, which the Greek versions sometimes translate as […] "church", Jesus thus depicts his followers, his church, as the true, faithful remnant of God's people in continuity with the Old Testament covenant community […]. What marked it as new, however, was Jesus' specific designation 'my community'."4
The "gates of Hades" here is a reference to death, not Hell. So "the words used here suggest that death itself assaults Christ's church, but death cannot crush us. The church will endure until Christ's return, and no opposition, even widespread martyrdom of Christians or the oppression of the final antichrist, can prevent the ultimate triumph of God's purposes in history."5
19I 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."
Few verses have caused as much trouble as this one. The meanings of references to binding and loosing on earth and in heaven are unclear to us in our time. In Jesus' time keys were rare and mostly controlled jails or access to great wealth. Therefore they were a sign of authority and trust.
The message, then, is that Jesus has given authority to the church to determine who enters the kingdom of heaven. If we do not open the door, unbelievers cannot come to believe and thus enter. The reference also likely includes disciplining the members of the church to ensure they adhere to Jesus' teachings.
This verse is not saying that Peter will be waiting at the pearly gates deciding who will enter.
20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
There seem to be two reasons why Jesus would instruct his disciples not to reveal this. Jesus wanted people to understand who he was through the words that he spoke and the things that he did, not by being told who he was. Also, the disciples had only barely come to an understanding of who Jesus was. They still had no idea of the details of his mission and were not ready to tell others who Jesus was. Now that they have made it to this point in their training, Jesus begins to teach them about his mission.
21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
A change now occurs in Jesus' message. It transitions from "The kingdom is at hand" to "I will suffer, die, and be raised." The Jewish authorities have heard the kingdom message and rejected it; soon they will reject the messenger.
But this new message is not what Jews, including the disciples, were expecting of the Messiah.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
Pause Here
It seems that Peter got stuck on the "suffer and be killed" part of Jesus' message and missed the "raised to life" part. This was to be expected. The Jews so desired an avenging Messiah that would free them from the Romans and make them a great country that they had missed the prophecies about his rejection and death. So it would be no surprise for Peter and the other disciples to be stunned by the first part of Jesus' words and so miss the second and best part.
23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Pause here
Peter believed that he was being a good friend to Jesus by taking him aside to correct Jesus' "misstatement". In fact he is uttering the words of Satan, words like we saw in the temptation of Jesus, words that encourage Jesus to take another path. While Peter's words make sense to the thinking of man, Peter does not understand the whole plan and his words are a hindrance.
Does this happen to us?
If a man sets out, on his own, to do what he thinks will please God, it is unlikely that his actions will achieve this goal. This is because the man cannot hope to understand the depth of God's plan. Since there are many things that a man could choose to do, but only one perfect choice, the man's efforts are more likely to interfere with God's plan. The only way to please God is to do as God wills.
"What Peter and the other disciples need is a reorientation away from conventional thinking and towards God's real plan. This is what Jesus supplies next."6
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Jesus' challenge to his followers comes in three parts. The first is to deny oneself. This theme of serving others rather than self appears in many other places in the New Testament.
"The second part is the need to take up one's cross. This is just not a call to bear difficult burdens. The cross is an instrument of death. The person who bears a cross is going to his or her execution. Jesus challenges his followers to deny themselves to the point of surrendering their lives.
"The third part of the statement is to follow Jesus. The first two commands make sense in light of the third. Why should anyone be so seemingly foolish as to go to his or her own death willingly? Only because that person follows Jesus, the very Son of God. And Jesus shows the way by his own life."7
Jesus goes on to show how kingdom thinking is the opposite of worldly thinking:
25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
The way to true life is not to try to preserve our earthly lives, something we are powerless to do and which, ironically, leads to death. But the person who by faith in Jesus serves others is always rediscovering real life. And that life does not end in death.
Having covered trying to preserve one's life Jesus now covers living one's life for worldly things.
26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
How can living for temporary pleasures make sense if doing so causes one to lose the permanent pleasures? Conversely, when the temporary pleasures are gone, what will be left with which to buy the permanent pleasures?
27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."
Here is our promise that sacrificing earthly pleasure and gain for the benefit of others will be rewarded. The image is that of the triumphant king returning to reward his loyal subjects. "Those who have done what he commanded, those who have followed him in giving their lives for the sake of others, will share in his triumph."8
"In many ways, today's passage is the tipping point in the story of Jesus. It confronts us with the central question: Who is this Jesus? Like Peter, we must take a stand on that question. […]Believing in Jesus as the Christ, as the Son of the living God, is the essence of the Christian life. Such belief is more than mere intellectual assent. It means that we are ready to give up seeking our own pleasure and prosperity. It means that we give our time, energy, and resources – our very lives – to serving others. The Jesus we confess as Christ is the Jesus of the cross. When we follow him, we go where he goes: to give ourselves and thereby to receive our lives back again."9
1 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Gods-Plan-Established-Christ
2 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, Christ the Fulfillment, Unit 3, Lesson 11
3 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Gods-Plan-Established-Christ
4 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Gods-Plan-Established-Christ
5 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Gods-Plan-Established-Christ
6 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, Christ the Fulfillment, Unit 3, Lesson 11
7 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, Christ the Fulfillment, Unit 3, Lesson 11
8 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, Christ the Fulfillment, Unit 3, Lesson 11
9 NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, Christ the Fulfillment, Unit 3, Lesson 11