The Confession of St.
Peter,
Text: Matthew 16:13-19
The
Confession that Makes Us Bold
The problem with opinion polls is this—that
in our sinful human condition, our opinions are generally wrong. The question
put by our Lord today still solicits a myriad of responses. Who is Jesus?
Plenty in our post-Christian culture would admit to Jesus being a good man, one of the classics of world spirituality like Ghandi, or the Dalai Lama. Others would consider Him to be a good example. They wouldn’t object to the question “What would Jesus do?”— as long as they are not bound by the answer to that question. Still others might answer that He was a teacher of principles for effective living—on how to meet your goals. They might even use Jesus as an example in their business seminars. Our Muslim neighbours would fully admit that Jesus was a great prophet of God, one who deserves His place in the long line of God’s historic prophets.
Even within the visible church of our day, within Christendom, the answers to the poll question: “Who is Jesus?” would be opinions of various shapes and sizes, depending on our worldview and personal agendas. Opinions abound all the more today concerning who Jesus is, since we have had many more centuries to think about it—and more resources from which to form the wrong opinion about Him. Which begs a question: Was Jesus really taking an opinion poll when He asked: “Who do people say I am?”
Jesus is the all-knowing Lord, who understands better than we, how misguided our thinking can be. We just don’t get it! We miss the point! We, who are by fallen nature false, will never come up with the truth on our own. But—thanks be to God—He doesn’t wait for us to get it on our own. Jesus puts again the question that needs answering more than any other question in the world: “What about you? Who do you say I am?” And Simon Peter confesses with great boldness, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Take care to note that this is NOT Simon Peter’s opinion about Jesus. This is his confession of faith. There is a difference between the two. Opinions are what we come up with out of our own little minds, and they are often wrong, since our minds are in bondage to sin. But the confession of faith is something delivered to us, given to us to speak. Thus, Jesus replies to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven.”
Thus we confess in the words of our catechism that “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel...” (Explanation to the Third Article of the Creed). Peter was called by the Gospel. He had seen the miracles that testify to Jesus being the Christ. He had heard the teaching of this One who taught with the authority of God’s Messiah. By virtue of his confession—which is actually God’s gift to him—Peter is given a new name with a new purpose and new meaning. Jesus says, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
What does this mean—that “this” is the rock
on which Christ’s church is built? Well, Peter’s un-rock-like character is
ironically portrayed only moments after this commendation from our Lord. In the
next scene Peter tries to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross and Jesus has
to tell him in the strongest of terms: “Get behind me Satan!” Therefore it is
not Peter Jesus is referring to as the rock upon which He will build His
church. Rather, the foundation of the church is the confession Peter made, the
confession given him from God the Father: “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.” In spite of all his flaws, Peter is given a solid foundation to
stand upon. The whole
This confession gives courage. In our
reading from Acts we see Peter and John standing before the rulers and elders
of Israel and Peter boldly proclaimed: “Salvation is found in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”
(Acts 4:12). And we are told that the leaders were astonished at Peter’s
courage, for they realized that he was just an ordinary, uneducated man. Peter
had rock-like courage through faith in Him who is the true Rock. We too are
built upon the Rock through our confession of faith in Jesus, who is the
Christ.
“Christ” means “Anointed” or “Chosen One”. What does it mean for Jesus to be God’s “Chosen One”? Peter had grown up with the Jewish expectation of God’s promise to send the Christ, who would save His people from their enemies. However, many in Peter’s day, including Peter himself, had developed wrong ideas about who the Christ would be and how the Christ would save His people. That is the reason why Peter—who with great boldness made the rock-solid confession—would even misunderstand what Jesus was all about, and take offence at the thought of suffering and rejection and a cross for His Lord and Master.
So also the
The Christ of God does not look appealing to the eyes of our world. It’s no wonder that we shape opinions about Him that would make Him—and following Him—more glamorous. Yet—thanks be to God—again and again, the Father delivers to us the truth of who Christ Jesus is and the truth of what Christ Jesus does.
Since we, by the grace of God, have been
made “living stones” in Christ, as was the beloved St. Peter, we too have also
been GIVEN by our heavenly Father the same great boldness with which to confess
Him in our world. And on this Sunday
when we consider the need for faithful church workers, we pray to the same
heavenly Father that He will pour out His Spirit and raise
up among us men who will follow in Peter’s footsteps. After proclaiming the
confession of Jesus as the Christ to be the rock on which His church will be
built, Jesus indicates HOW this church will be built. “I will give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The Kingdom of heaven is entered only by
those whose sins are forgiven, by those who are clothed in the righteousness of
Jesus the Christ. The calling of Peter, and of those who follow him into the
holy office of the ministry, is to bind and loose sins: To declare forgiveness
to those who repent of their sin and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of the living God, but also to declare that those who do not repent and confess
this faith are NOT forgiven. This blessed authority Christ has given to His
church, to pastors who have been called by the church to serve His people as
His representatives.
To proclaim with Peter that there is no
other name by which we are saved may be called narrow-minded and intolerant in
our world. For this reason, it is only with great boldness that any will take
up this calling to publicly preach this confession. And for this reason we call
upon the heavenly Father, who alone can grant such boldness to the servants
whom He has called and chosen.
By the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit, the Good News that Jesus is the Christ will break through misguided opinions in order that the Name that brings salvation—the Name of Jesus, the Son of the Living God—may be given to people so that they may be saved.
And by the Spirit’s power we will confess
Jesus to be the Christ with great boldness—boldness because we are not
“spouting” our own opinions, but bearing witness to the Christ and telling of
Him who has been revealed to us by the Father in heaven.
May the Lord also grant you His grace to
confess His name with boldness. Amen.