But who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to 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 also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And 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 commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

- Matthew 16:13-20

In yesterday's reading, we read that some Pharisees and Sadducees came testing Jesus, asking Him for a sign from heaven. He told them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." Later, He told His disciples, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." The disciples thought He was upset because they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus said, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" Jesus and the disciples are north of the Sea of Galilee, in Hellenized territory, in what is today called the Golan Heights. The name of the city changed through various periods, but the name we are given in the Gospels indicates the ruler Philip II's dedication of the city to Augustus Caesar, then Roman Emperor. So, in the place the Gospels tells us is named after both the Emperor and the local Roman ruler Philip, Jesus asks His important question. We already know that Herod Antipas, ruling a neighboring province, is afraid that John the Baptist has returned in Jesus' powerful ministry. Here in the city named for the Emperor, Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" My study bible says that this is the greatest question we can ever face.

So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." We note the progression here. First, Jesus asked for the report of whom others say He is. Then, He wants to know who His disciples say He is. In this city of the Emperor, in a region dedicated to a pagan god of desolate places, Peter's confession comes: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Christ means "Anointed One." It is the same as the word "Messiah." My study bible quotes King David, "Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions" (Ps. 45:7). It also quotes Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me" (Isaiah 61:1).

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Here is perhaps one of the most thrilling revelations in all Scripture: it's the Father who reveals this faith in us, Christ's identity to us. We think of the Father, first Cause and author of all things, as far away from us, perhaps enveloped only in the mystery of silence in our hearts. But truly, we creatures also have the Father in us, working in us, revealing to us, connected in us. We have these words to teach us so. It is evidence of the great love in which we are held. My study bible says, "Jesus' messianic identity and divinity, the mystery hidden from eternity, cannot be truly known by human reason, but only by God's revelation (1 Cor. 12:3)."

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The name Peter in the Greek is Petros, while the word used for rock is petra. Petros is the masculine form of the word, usually meaning a kind of boulder or stone; petra is feminine and indicates a solid mass of rock or cliff. So there is a play on words here (my study bible says this is so in both Aramaic and Greek). "Gates" in the Old Testament indicates a fortified city. My study bible has a powerful note to this text: "With this faith as the foundation, the gates of Hades, the powers of death, are powerless against her [the Church]. . . . Hence, by shattering the gates, Christ is opening the stronghold of death to set free the souls of righteous men. In all the Gospels, church is mentioned twice by the Lord, here and in 18:17, describing the true Israel whose citizenship is heavenly. She is the body of Christ, the divine-human organism, and to her comes the call of Jesus for the whole of mankind to abide with Him and in Him (Eph. 1:23)."

"And 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." Here we have great evidence of God's work in us, tied in to Jesus' revelation that it is the Father who gives us insight into Christ's identity. We have a "divine-human organism" as my study bible put it, that is at work in us and through us. We work in cooperation with God, a kind of inexpressible and unsurpassable partnership of love, Creator and creature. The tie in to it is faith, God's work in us, and its ongoing process, the fruits He asks us to produce. In Peter we have a special authority, says my study bible, but never separated from his confession of faith. It notes, "While Peter was a leader of the disciples and of the early Church, all the apostles were empowered with Christ's authority . . . Further, Peter was not a leader over the others but a leader among them, as seen at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), where elders, or presbyters, met with the apostles together as equals." The role of Peter - as expressed through Scripture - should neither be minimized nor confused with the type of power represented in the name Caesarea Philippi.

Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. It is not yet time for revelation to the public of His identity. For now, the Father has revealed it in Peter, spokesman for the rest of the disciples.

We can't really minimize the power, and the immediacy, of today's reading. God's work is at work within us, even the Father is at work within us, and certainly we have the Trinity revealed in today's reading. The Holy Spirit will build the body of this Church. But the authority conferred upon human beings in Christ's words today cements our bond, our Covenant, with Him -- and what a tremendous partnership this is. I think we hardly can realize how great nor how tremendous an investment this is in human beings, creatures designed to receive this Kingdom. Its fullness is something we cannot understand; its power over death an absolute and ultimate power we have yet to fully know. But this is a promise combined with the prayer He taught us that is the prayer to Our Father: "Thy kingdom come" remains our prayer, and it is the great signal of this investment in us, this divine-human organism. Out of love, our Creator holds us in a partnership in this endeavor; we are the ones who are fit to become a part of His kingdom, even sharing in the power that He names, the binding and loosing. So, the Church is to be a part of that Kingdom in the world, even as we await its fullness. Its revelation is within us nevertheless, with us today, in its immediate presence in the work of God among us. It is alive and present to us, in every moment, and fills all things. Let us consider "God with us," Emmanuel, and know the great gift of life, of so much abundant life that the gates of Hades can't prevail against it.