This is Not a Test!

​Matthew 16:13-20

13 Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 “Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”
15 “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 “Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. 
18 And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. 
19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Reflection

Who is Jesus?  
It is a BIG question. Who is Jesus? Notice the disciples all give different answers, after all people were talking about Jesus – healer, teacher, the one who raised Lazarus from the dead – the one who preached the coming of the Kingdom. So it’s no wonder they used the names they know associated with those things- John the Baptist, Elijah, Jerimiah. 

Nor is it strange that Simon Peter said “the Messiah” or in Greek “Christos”; the Anointed One, the one who would save Israel and bring it back to her former glory. “The Messiah”  they had been so named before Jesus and there would be Messiahs after Jesus. For Christians the designation came to mean more than the freedom of the Israel nation from the domination by Roman or other political powers. It meant more than the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. So was Simon Peter onto something, Jesus praises his perception and minutes later tells all the disciples to keep it to themselves.      

Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ but don’t announce it to anyone, don’t let anyone know – there is something more going on here because all the other Messiahs tried to gather the masses to their cause, they wanted recruits who would rally to defend the nation Israel. If Jesus is the Messiah then we who know the whole story have to admit it is a very strange Messiah indeed. Because this Messiah is arrested and beaten and brought out to the garbage dump – an outcast – to be crucified with thieves.
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This is the Messiah of the Christian faith! This is Jesus! But if this was all there was to the story then I doubt if we would be talking about Jesus today!- So yes there is a lot more. The teachings which have survived, the stories of Jesus and why people were drawn to him, the resurrection stories, the road to Emmaus, Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus – even the story of doubting Thomas, all enrich our understanding of who Jesus was.  Jesus’ encounters with tax collectors and women, even the criticisms of his actions all give us clues of how to understand Jesus. But the question for each one of us is: Who is Jesus for me? And no this is not a test! There are no wrong answers, there is no catechism for this one, there is only the exploration, the seeking, the searching and hopefully the expansion of our understanding of how this one man could touch so many lives and hearts because of his relationship with the One he called “Abba”.

How this one man could touch our hearts, and bring us to a clearer understanding of God working in our lives and in our world today.

Prayer

Holy One, God of Mystery
Bring us closer to you
Help us to see the world through Jesus’ eyes
With Jesus’ heart of understanding and compassion

Help us to know that a step towards justice, and love and hope
Are all steps towards your Kingdom
That kindness to a friend or a stranger 
Makes their world and our world a little better. 
                                                            Amen