Asking the question

“…But who do you say that I am?’’ (Matt 16:15)

Matthew 16:13-20 (Year A: Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 27th August 2017)

Every so often we may stop and wonder; stare and think; appreciate and move on.  The gospels contain one such ‘stop and wonder’ moment when Jesus asks what seems like a very simple question. It ran something like this:

I have been with you some time. We have had great times together and we have had hard times together. I never promised you that it would be easy.  You heard my call and you followed me.  Others did likewise.  News about us spread throughout the country. Some said I was a great prophet – even the greatest, others said I was a trouble maker and a fraud while others, still, said I was from the Evil One.  But, you – what do you think?  Who do you say I am? Why are you still following me? Who am I to you?

For today on this God-given Sunday, we are asked the same question.  ‘Who is Jesus Christ for you?’ ‘What does Jesus Christ mean for you today?’ ‘Does it matter?’ ‘What difference does Jesus make to my life today?’

Sometimes, we over-complicate our lives, and religion too. We think of religion (and God) as a set of ideas or a set of ‘do’s and don’ts’. We might even think of religion and God as a form of life assurance policy ‘just in case’. That is, ‘just in case it is true in some sense’ or ‘just in case I need a crutch when confronted with sudden and unbearable suffering’. Or, perhaps, religion and God is a convenient and socially acceptable way of maintaining family traditions. After all, what is the harm in baptising children if, subsequently, in a church-affiliated school it means they get a good ‘Christian’ education in self-discipline, duty and care of others?

But, who is Jesus for you today?

If religion is more than a set of ideas and a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ then perhaps it is above all about a personal relationship with the living God revealed to us in the here and now and grounded in an actual living community? I suspect that the Great Decline in religious practice and belief is more to do with issues about relationship than anything else. There will be no Great Revival without a radically new set of relationships – relationship to God at the deepest level in our hearts. bodies and minds (the three are not strictly separable) and relationship with others (God, let is be said loud and clear, is not to be found alone without entering into communion with others).

So, this Sunday’s Gospel passage is very timely and very meaningful. We need, each of us, to ask the question.  And, perhaps for now, not seek to answer the question in a hurry or in a way that is tidy, exact and definitive. Rather, let God speak to us in the question with every passing moment and breath.

After all, it was not ‘flesh and blood’

…that revealed this to Peter but his Father in heaven. It was a work of grace. Peter received a calling and a trust that would be the rock foundation (the Kephas to use the Aramaic term that Jesus gave to Simon at the time of his calling) on which the early Christian community would be founded.  It is likely that the word ‘Church’ or ekklêsia in the Greek was added much later than the initial oral reporting of Jesus’ words).

It may be noted that the much contested ‘conferring of the keys’ verse (Matthew 18:19) is unique to this Gospel is not found in either Luke or Mark which are, in other respects, mirrors of Mathew 16:13-16.

Verse 18 of Chapter 16 is unique to the Gospel of Matthew (was it added later to address particular concerns and was it indicative of tensions in the Christian community around the 80s when Matthew was written?). And while some might base a strong theology of papalism on verse 18 of chapter 16 in one of the four canonical gospels, they seem to gloss over two verses two chapters on in this same gospel of Matthew.  The conferring of the ‘keys of the kingdom’ with the use of the rabbinical ‘binding and loosing’ instruction anticipates the very same words in Matthew 18:18-19):

 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:18-19 need to be read together.  ‘Where two or three gather in my name…’ is the essence, meaning, source and destination of the ekklêsia  - literally a ‘gathering together of people’ in the ancient Greek. 

(ekklêsia  appears over a hundred times in the New Testament but hardly ever in the Gospels except in the Gospel of Matthew where it appears only here and in Matthew 18:17, whereas, the word ‘kingdom’, as in heavenly kingdom or kingdom of God, pops up over 100 times in the four Gospels with the Greek word, basileia or some grammatical variation on basileia).

Both passages (Matthew 16:18 and 18:18-19) have been cited by Christians through the ages to strengthen a particular emphasis or latter-day arrangement for Church authority and governance. The Primus inter Pares (first among equals) of Peter is clear to most.   However, we should not jump to conclusions about modern-day patterns of church governance on foot of sweeping generalisations or extrapolations from one or two sentences of the Gospel taken in isolation. Neither should we ignore or dismiss the actual and historical evidence about the key unifying and leadership role of Peter and those who came after him in that place (Rome) where, by tradition, he was martyred and on whom the visible communion of disciples was built. Our eldest brother in faith, Peter and those who came after him – for all their faults and errors – were and are important signs of potential (and actual) communion. The Church breathes with two lungs – East and West and is founded on the rock of Peter as well as the brotherhood of equals called in Christ.

Was it on the person of Peter that the Church was built or simply on his faith and that of the community of disciples of whom Peter, apparently, was the lead spokesperson or actor? I reckon that both understandings are not mutually exclusive. In any case, the Church universal as well as the Church local was and is built on the blood of martyrs – even today in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Pakistan. Let us never forget.

But, we would be missing the point of the Gospel 

...if we were to focus on some of these latter day controversies. Likewise, we would be missing the point if we were to understand the conversation between Peter and Jesus as a type of Viva examination of an academic thesis into the Theological Status of the Son of God (although, clearly, this is important too in its own place and time).

Jesus’ question to Peter ‘who do you say I am’ is essentially a question about what does Jesus mean for Peter. It is about their relationship and how they relate. It is an ‘I Thou’ dialogue (Martin Buber)

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)

Ultimately, it is on Christ that the Church is built and it has no other rock or leader or example than the humble shepherd of Galilee – Jeshua or Jesus who continues to work today through each and all.