Who Do You Say I Am?
Notes
Transcript
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.
Who do you say that I am?
Today’s text invites us to this question, who do you say that Jesus/I am?
It’s really a question about witnessing. “You who have seen and lived life alongside Jesus, who have you come to know him to be?”
We witness each others’ lives and we tell the story in response. We bear witness to each other.
Think about it in terms of today’s blessing of the backpacks or last week’s honoring of the loss of one of our beloved members, Skip Gibson. We bear witness to each others’ lives. We bear witness as we stand alongside these children as they grow and mature into the humans God has made them to be. We bear witness as they face challenges, as they have joy. We walk with and support as witnesses these lives.
Much the same as when we lose someone — we now bear witness in the aftermath of that person’s story. As it was with Skip. As it has been with so many of our friends who have passed on into God’s glory.
I think about this in very personal terms with my wife, Stacy, and my son, Asher. As I have entered into the covenant of marriage with her and parenting him, now I am a steward and witness of their stories. Not that I write the narrative or I control the angle, but rather, I have the most intimate position of witness to these lives — my task is to witness and share the beauty they teach me.
In the text, the question unfolds in steps. Jesus first opens with a question regarding an archetypal figure, “the Son of Man.” As we read from our removed historical position, we easily want to jump ahead and offer the churchy answer — “Jesus.” But let’s not, let’s wait. Jesus is simply asking, among these disciples in his school of wisdom and religion, who is the Son of Man? The Son of Man is a figure that begins to emerge from the Old Testament as a picture of what the coming Messiah would be. It harkens back to the prophets and even Moses, because there is a belief that the Messiah would potential be the return of one of those figures. In the present view of these disciples, it would make sense for them to imagine mighty prophets like Elijah or Jeremiah potentially recurring as the Son of Man figure. Others think John the Baptist — also reasonable, in the sense that they thought he might have been the Messiah, not just the voice announcing the Messiah.
Then Jesus shifts the question — ok, yeah, but who do you say I am?
When you bear witness to a life, sometimes you forget to acknowledge what that life means to you in such simplistic, question/answer terms. To my wife, who do I say that she is? Well, gosh, she’s a lot of things. How long do you have? I can list her glory, her struggles, her beauty, her grace.
How often do we truly bear witness to another’s life and actually give words to how we observe and feel about them?
Again, Jesus with his disciples — who do you say that I am?
It’s kind of like Jesus is teasing the question out. Come y’all, let’s get real for a minute. What do you actually think about me?
This of course fits into the larger unfolding narrative of the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus is being revealed to be the Messiah and the meaning of his ministry comes into greater focus.
Let’s stick with that for a minute, but hold onto the question: What do you actually believe/think/feel about me?
It’s Peter who responds — “The Messiah!” 10 gold stars, Peter. Good answer! Correct!
The message here is clear: Jesus isn’t fishing for compliments, he’s trying to teach them something. Part of what it will mean to follow him is to tell the story, to bear witness. Get the details in order — this guy is the embodiment of God’s presence, the incarnate son of the Most High God.
I went on a little rabbit trail as I prepped this week. I was curious about Jesus’ naming of Simon as Simon son of Jonah. In the Greek, it’s Simon bar-Jonah. There’s a little bit of language work here that led my intrigue. Some manuscripts of the Greek New Testament include a reference that Simon Peter’s father’s name was John. But Jesus calls him son of Jonah. This could be a simple transliterative change, much like how later, we have Saul becoming Paul, which is really just a transitioning of his name from the Hebrew/Jewish world to the Hellenistic Greek world. Joseph and Jose. Mary and Maria. You get it.
But as well, throughout Jesus’ ministry, he refers to the sign of Jonah, the prophet, most likely being referenced here, you remember him, Ninevah, a big issue with a boat and a whale. The sign of Jonah is thought to be a way of describing the fulfillment of Jonah’s prophetic missionary task to the Gentiles. Where Jonah was tempted to bow out, perhaps now we are witnessing a new commissioning of someone like Jonah to take up the task.
And so it is, Jesus gives Simon the charge of being the foundation of the church. He will be given keys and have the duty to liberate the captives in bondage to sin, in Jesus’ name.
So, maybe this little rabbit trail about Jonah and Simon actually unlocks something in the text.
Jonah was meant to go and bear witness to God’s way to the people of Ninevah, the Gentiles of Babylon.
Now Peter, because he has seen this truth of Jesus, now is entrusted with a similar task — build the church. Spread the news.
I’m going to keep it short today, but I’ll wrap with a couple of quick comments.
First, I see in this text and in our proceedings here today and always, that our calling as the ongoing church is to bear witness. To be faithful witnesses to the love of God, even in a world that has lost touch with that story. To tell the Good News with our lives. And to see it in each other and call it out. You are meant for this!
Second, a quick story. I remember years ago, talking with my father, about his relationship with his own dad. My father was realizing that he wanted to be better about telling his kids and family that he loved them, more often, more freely. This was something his father had struggled to do. So my dad resolved to start saying that to his kids. And my dad started saying that to his dad, when they would see each other still. Telling him “I love you” because maybe that would be the last time he could. And it helped them grow closer towards the end. And I still hear it in my Dad’s voice when he says it to me, to us. “I love you.” He’s bearing witness to the truth of the ones he loves and he’s trying not to hide it.
Friends, may we bear the good witness to each other’s lives, as we see the Christ arriving, embodied now in his people, the Church. May you know your worth and may you bless others so that they do as well.
Amen.
