Matthew 16:13-20
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, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, August 27 2023, is from Matthew chapter 16. It reads, now, when Jesus came into the district of Cezary, Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is, and they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, are one of the prophets. He said to them. But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Here ends the reading. So this is an important piece passage in the Gospel of Matthew, as it talks about the identity of Jesus, it begins with a question Jesus says, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Now the Son of Man itself is a bit of a of a strange sort of way of talking about yourself. Many of times, in the Old Testament, God would speak to a human being and say, Son of man, justice mean, hey, you, guy. But we also can look to Daniel, where it talks about one like the Son of man, coming on the clouds in might and power. And I think that's really what Jesus is referencing here. So they reply, some say John the Baptist, other sage, Elia, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. So the disciples reply with the various answers that people gave, and it was all these different kinds of profits. And we have to ask ourselves, when we ask the question, maybe of ourselves or others, who do we think Jesus is? What are the various answers that the world gives? Is he just a teacher? Is he some heavenly Santa Claus? Is he a figment of our imagination? Is he just a nice guy who just tells us to love ourselves? Who does the world say is? Is he just nothing? Is he's someone you don't even think about? What an interesting way of thinking of the question, Who do people say that I am? But then he moves on, he said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Christ, that's the Messiah, the chosen one, the one who was chosen by Israel, and the Son of the living God, the One who only one who knows the father, who was sent into the world to declare the Father's Will for the world? What a faithful answer what a joy that we could give that answer to. And Jesus responds, blessed are you Simon bar Jonah. Now that's kind of a weird thing to do in a translation, Simon bar Jonah. That just means Simon, son of Jonah, I don't know why they didn't translate it that way. So it says, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who was in heaven. We know that we can only proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul tells us that it continues, and I tell you, that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, lots of Protestants and Lutherans get kind of upset about this one when Jesus says, You are Peter and on this rock, and he's obviously making a play on words on Peters name. Peter did become the rock of the church, the cornerstone of the I guess, Jesus is the cornerstone, but he is the chief stone of the apostles. And he the church then gets the keys to the kingdom of heaven and it says, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This reflects other language in Matthew from Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talks about forgiving sin, the church and especially lead pastors as the officers of the church, the public ministry has the keys to the kingdom of heaven to bind sin and lucid to forgive sin. What a great gift. You can come to your pastor. And you can confess something, haven't put his hand on your head and say, I forgive you in the name of the Father, Son in the Holy Spirit, and there's a promise that it actually happened. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. What a joy it is to be able to be released from your burdens like that. The reading ends with that he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. What a crazy thing, right? Jesus says, don't tell anyone. But we know that this is because Jesus is heading to the cross, that the message doesn't go out until after he has died and rose from the dead. Because we can only understand what it means that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, if we see it through that his death on the cross, and know that Christ did not come to be a king like David with a sword in his fist, and spear in his hand, but a one with nails through his wrists and feet, to suffer and die for us. And so we know that this message doesn't make sense until Jesus has died and risen. Now we tell the whole world. That's the end of the reading. Hope to see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai