Mark 8:27-9:1

The Confession of St. Peter

Yesterday was the Feast Day of the confession of St. Peter, and this comes from Mark 8, the Gospel lesson for today. In the Gospels, the disciples are some of my favorite people because there many times where they just didn’t get it – and Jesus let them know. For example, in Mark 4 Jesus calms the storm, but before He did that, his disciples were terrified even though He gave them the mysteries of the Kingdom! They had not internalized Christ’s revelation and so Jesus rebuked them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” And in the miracle of the feeding of the 4,000, the disciples still questioned how the crowd could be fed with just 7 loaves, even though they had already seen Jesus fed more people with less food when he fed the 5,000! They lacked faith in who Christ was – they just didn’t get it.

I’m sure this was frustrating for Jesus. He performs these amazing miracles demonstrating His power, but people still don’t get it – even His closest followers. And so, on the road to Caesarea Philippi, He asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They answer with what others have said, “John the Baptist, Elijah, and one of the prophets.” Nope. That’s not it. So, he asks directly, “who do you say that I am?” To which Peter responds, “You are the Christ.” Yes! They finally get it! They got something right! And in Matthew’s Gospel, He responds that this confession from Peter is the foundation on which Christ will build His church – that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And that is exactly what Jesus did. Through the mission and ministry of the apostles, the martyrs and early church Christ laid the foundation. And we continue this mission of the church when we confess the Apostle’s Creed, “And in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord.” And He has promised to continue building the church through this confession today, until the day He returns. Peter’s confession is one of the highpoints in Mark’s Gospel, and it answers the central question – who is Jesus? And even though Peter verbally got the answer right, I would argue that He still didn’t get it.

The fact that Peter still did not “get it” becomes most apparent when Jesus was captured and taken to trial. Despite all the conversations they had, all the miracles that He performed, when Christ was taken and captured, Peter fled. Peter rejected Him. And Peter cursed. Because the man who was supposed to restore God’s people, was beaten, mocked, crucified. That couldn’t be the promised king. That couldn’t be the Messiah. I can’t imagine the emotions that Peter felt – sadness, frustration, despair? Those probably don’t even begin to hint at his feelings. The man he had followed for years, the man that he had put all his hopes and assurance in to be the promised Messiah, was taken to be killed.

Peter made the right confession in word, but not in action. His actions did not reflect his beliefs. I think this is a problem that persists even beyond Peter, to Christians today – especially in how we live our lives on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, or whatever day you set aside to come to church, compared to the other 6 days of the week. There’s a line in a popular country song by Florida Georgia Line (sorry for those that aren’t country music fans) that goes, “we cuss on them Mondays and pray on them Sundays.” This lyric has a lot of truth to it and I think speaks to a lot of us Christians. We come to church, hear the Word and receive the Sacraments, but as soon as Monday hits we go back into our busy schedules living as people in the world. What happens at church becomes an isolated event that we separate from the rest of the week.

This is exactly what Peter didn’t get – he made the right confession in word but not in action. That’s why Jesus gets upset with him a few verses later and taught about what it means to be a disciple: to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. The confession of the church and the mission of the church go hand in hand and should not be separated. Because that is exactly what we are called to do. To be ministers of reconciliation, and to bring the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation that we receive within the church walls and take it outside the walls, sharing it with the world. That is how you “get” this confession right.

And after getting his confession wrong, that’s what Peter did. On Good Friday Peter was probably at the lowest point emotionally that he had ever been in his life. To Peter, Christ had failed. It was all over. But three days later Christ rose from the dead and appeared to him. The guy that Peter thought was the Messiah, the guy who was killed, rose from the dead and stood before Peter. It was true – everything that Jesus said and did! And that Easter miracle was not something that Peter could contain, and along with the other Apostles they started spreading the Gospel and through the Holy Spirit began to build the Church on the cornerstone that is Christ Himself. Because that is a message that cannot be contained and needs to be shared to the whole world. That Jesus is the Christ, and He has risen from the dead! So be like Peter in that this message cannot be contained inside the church walls, but must be shared to the everyone – the whole world. Because this confession – that Jesus is the Christ – is too good to be isolated within these walls.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.