Are you Convinced? Reflections on Matthew 16:13-20
Have you ever found yourself questioning whether Jesus was real? Or, maybe the question that haunts you is more about whether Jesus is big enough or strong enough to overcome some very powerful forces in your life. Is He really God? Whether it’s personal bad news, physical pain, relational breakdowns, or more global crises like climate disasters and geopolitical unrest, sometimes our confidence is shaken. Sometimes we appeal to other ideas to cope and even consider that maybe Jesus isn’t necessarily who he said he is.
There are several points in our faith journey when we need to be reminded, and we need to reaffirm that Jesus is in fact, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. There are moments when Jesus needs to remind us that there is “no power of hell, no scheme of man, that could ever ‘pluck’ us from his hand” (Lyrics from In Christ Alone). In other words, the gates of hell will not overcome him. We declare our confidence in Him, and Jesus “declares” back to us, that He is all-powerful and exactly who He declares himself to be.
It's not hard to find ourselves in the biblical story found in Matthew 16:13-20 because our questions and fears are similar to the context Jesus was walking the disciples through. They are in the region of Cesarea Philippi, a northern area of Israel approximately 150 miles (245 KM) north of Jerusalem. Back then it was a city built by Phillip, Herod’s son, in honor of Ceasar, and the place from which he ruled the northern territory of Israel. It is far removed from the center of gravity in Jerusalem, and it is quite possible they were sitting at or near the mouth of a nearby cave that people believed went straight to Hades. The water that flows as a source to the Jordan River was believed to come from the River Styx with its origin in Hades.
As a result of this connection to Hades, the location was known for the worship of and sacrifices to many different deities, the most notable of which was the god Pan. In fact, Herod had built a temple near the site so that people could worship that god and offer sacrifices to him. The nearby City today, Banias, is a derivative of the god’s name, Paneas.
It is in this region and context that Matthew tells us Jesus asks them the probing question (vs.13), “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
I imagine the location and the question were a little disorienting. Jesus was asking them to contrast who they had experienced [Jesus] to be and what He had been teaching (read Matthew 1-15) with the other interpretations they were hearing, and their own desires of who they wanted him to be.
Were they still stuck on political power and overthrowing Rome? Possibly with military and armed conflict as a source of salvation?
What about the role of other religions and sacrifices to other gods?
What about making peace with the underworld - making sure you appease the powers of darkness? Was Jesus really more powerful than Hades?
Was he just part of the Old Testament tradition coming forward in history?
They are in a place filled with pagan overtones, connections to the underworld, political intrigue, and power…and their own religious history. All of this is swirling for the disciples and the people they encounter.
Who is this guy? Even the wind and waves obey him. The blind receive sight, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the lame walk. He’s present when thousands of people are fed with hardly any food. His teaching is different than the Pharisees and other teachers. He eats with normal people, even outcasts and unclean people. Up to this point in Jesus’s life, no one is quite sure what to make of him. Even John the Baptist, while he was in prison - and probably because he was in prison - wasn’t sure if Jesus was who he said. After all, why should he be in prison if he was prophesying about the true Son of God?
No one was certain, but much of the evidence suggested that Jesus was special. And of course, we have Matthew’s account to help us paint a more complete picture, and Luke and Mark and John. But the disciples and those following Jesus didn’t have any New Testament. They simply had to add it all up, based on what they knew, experienced, heard, felt, tasted, and touched. In other words, they had their scripture, their traditions, their experiences, and their reason. They had no other way of knowing, and Jesus had not really told them the full story yet.
The fact that he was very human, just like them, made it all the harder. When ordinary meets extraordinary, it is not easy to sort out the truth.
One of the biggest challenges in my experience of traveling to Israel earlier this year (2023) was how ordinary it all seemed. I’ve reflected a lot on what I expected, and I had built Israel up in my mind to be almost mythical. To walk where Jesus walked. To see the things that were there when he was on the earth. To get a sense of the climate, and the geography…but even more, I think I expected that there would be a feeling of confirmation about my faith, or maybe something like a revelation. This was the place where fire came from heaven, angels walked regularly, the world went dark, the sun stopped for a day, and on and on. I think I expected something more supernatural - or at least a feeling of it.
What I experienced was very disorienting because it was so ordinary. I saw modern cars and trucks, gas stations, farms and fields, and high rises. There’s sand and rocks and paved streets; kids running around mindlessly playing on 1500-year-old Roman columns; and dogs and cats walking everywhere. The sun comes up and sets every day. Even historical and supposedly sacred sites have been built up and over and turned into tourist attractions. One of the closest things to antiquity we encountered for real were the mounds of unearthed ruins of former cities, and we did get to drink water from a well that is believed to possibly be the well that Jacob dug back in Genesis. But even that was in the basement of a modern Eastern Orthodox Church.
So, there were moments, but the vast majority of the experience was disorientingly modern and ordinary. This includes being at the temple in Jerusalem with all its hustle and bustle, and heavily armed guards - which is so not ordinary to my comfortable American experience and thus jarring in a whole different way. Those armed guards disconnected me from antiquity and repositioned me firmly in the political and military drama of our modern day…with the associated fears of terrorism and the like.
My point in sharing all of that is to say that when Jesus asked the question of his disciples, I don’t think it was an easy answer. He was a human man doing extraordinary things, but many other people in history had done those types of things before. Was he really the Messiah? Was he “the one?”
The disciples seemed to have reasonable answers and offered what probably seemed like some safe ones - John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Some people were confused about whether Jesus was John the Baptist, either escaped from prison or came back to life. Remember Matthew tells us that the real John the Baptist recently lost his head, but some may not have known that. Those closest to Jesus knew they were very different people - but the public wondered. Elijah (who never died; See 2 Kings 2) was thought to be coming back as a witness to the Messiah, but Jesus had already told them that John the Baptist was Elijah (Matthew 11:14). And those who were thinking he was Jeremiah were reflecting on a tradition going back a couple of hundred years to the time of the Maccabees where the prophet was said to come back and hand Judas a sword with which he did reclaim some military and political power from the surrounding nations for a time.
Ok…a good pulse on what they were hearing and wondering. But, “Who do you say I am?” Jesus wasn’t going to let them off the hook.
“You are the Messiah - the Son of the Living God.” When Peter chimes in, I am way more confident that Jesus really meant it when he said, “That wasn’t you on your own, Peter, that was God who is helping you see who I am (my paraphrase).” Based on my own experience, I’m not sure Peter or any of the disciples could see it clearly. They were being asked to piece it all together but without a complete understanding yet. And, you can read just a few verses later in Matthew 16 just how little Peter did actually understand.
I can tell you I came away from my trip to Israel asking myself if I would have recognized him as the one. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have been drawn to him, or wanted him to fix things in my life, heal me or my family, or even set other people straight. I would have loved for him to solve the world order issues, and relieve us from overreaching and corrupt government institutions, or make plain some of the debates we have in our culture. In other words, I’d be looking for Jesus to do everything those disciples were looking to him for. And, possibly missed that he was actually the Messiah - the one true savior of the world!!!
Jesus goes on…Peter’s name means rock. In this sentence, his name is defined in masculine terms (Petros), but the next word “rock” is actually a feminine form of the word that matches the feminine word “church” or ecclesia. Thus, the scholarly debate that has followed these verses is whether “rock” refers to Peter himself as the foundation of the church, or whether the rock is the truth which he declared. For my money, it is the latter, or the truth, but the truth has always been entrusted to us, humans. We have the aid of the Holy Spirit, but the truth is transmitted through human agents, and thus there is likely a double meaning happening - and also within the context of their location where “rocks” were a visual aid as well.
But more profound, and tied back to their location, Jesus was making a very profound statement about his ultimate authority when he says “The gates of Hades will not overcome it.” If indeed the backdrop was this pagan location with its River Styx flowing from its source in Hades, then Jesus was very visually telling them not even hell would overcome Him. Imagine being in that classroom for just a minute!
The whole idea of binding and loosing is a challenging concept. I don’t think it is as tightly linked to spiritual warfare as many people have supposed and formulaicly used over time. I think it is related to the building of God’s church on earth. The truth of God’s revelation to Peter was going to continue to spread. Jesus’ teaching was going to have to be incorporated for how to live that out. The disciples were going to be given the authority to spread the news of the Kingdom and help people figure out how to live it out. What they spoke, and how they lived would dictate how the community flourished. Think of patterns of grace, mercy, justice, and righteousness versus patterns of patriarchy, power, and control. Think of the Kingdoms of this earth, and how the ways we choose to legislate unleash certain outcomes. I think Jesus was telling them there, with their limited understanding, that they were going to have a great deal of influence, and they needed to be careful stewards of that influence. It doesn’t negate the spiritual overtones, and the spiritual warfare aspects, but the pattern Jesus speaks of here of binding and loosing was less formulaic for Jesus and more a recognition of who He was, and the authority being entrusted to us because of him. Everything we do and say will have Kingdom consequences.
The arc of Matthew’s narrative builds up to this climatic point, this question in his gospel. It’s not that what follows is any less climactic. But in a narrative sense, many scholars believe this is the hinge of the entire gospel. It is the high point. The crux. It’s not “who do other people say I am?” The question turns personal, “Who do you say I am?” Matthew wants his readers to both know, and also ask themselves this key question based on what he’s written, and what he knows of Jesus. For me, it is rooted in the idea of being convinced. Are you convinced or are you going to listen to what everyone else is saying?
I think Matthew and the community that was forming around him post-resurrection were starting to realize how important it was to be convinced in order to go where Christ’s life and teaching were taking them. A life in Christ was gonna get pushed back, and it wasn’t going to be easy. There was going to be persecution (which the disciples didn’t see coming BTW), and people were gonna use them, abuse them, and not believe them. People might have liked them for what they could do for them, but when they were asked to give back, or even to pledge allegiance to Christ, many would not be willing to take that next step.
I believe these verses for Matthew, and now for us remind us that we need to be convinced in order to live well this life of faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, the same question remains relevant to us today. Many of our heads are spinning - not to mention our souls. Who do we trust? Is politics part of the answer? Are social programs the solution? Do we believe we can make all things better with just the right policy prescription? As Christians, we want to appeal to scripture, only to have some people interpret scripture in ways that challenge us further. It’s a lot of noise, and just as Jesus was asking the disciples to sift through it, we must sift through it all too, and decide.
Our decision is not one we can make in our own strength. It must be revealed to us. It comes by faith, but also by reason, experience, and in the context of tradition and hemmed in by Scripture. These are what John Wesley framed as the pillars for discerning truth and living a life of true discipleship. We must work with God, but God is the ultimate revealer of truth.
We live in the midst of swirling, competing ideas about Jesus. What are some answers people give today? He is one of many, or just a prophet or a great teacher. He’s a crutch to lean on in tough times, or because you can’t manage this life on your own. He’s a powerful magician or even a deity of sorts to make everything in your life better. He’s a rich benefactor willing to solve all your financial woes. He was just a great historical person who lived a long time ago. He was a wise sage who imparted great truths into our world. He’s a “white” man’s God. There’s no way he could understand my story or the painful story of my people.
I tried to think - where would Jesus have driven today with his entourage and where might he have stopped to ask this question? I thought of being in NYC and stopping in the shadow of Wall Street with its specter of financial power. Or, possibly walking the Mall in D.C. and gazing at the myriad of stately buildings in the shadow of world political power. Or maybe it would be in LA under the Hollywood sign with all the ways in which our culture has built an idolatrous relationship with self and hedonistic self-expression. Or maybe he’d walk around West Point, or another military base as people pondered military power and whether he was a conquering King. Every culture and nation has its own version of what salvation looks like. Every culture, every people, ever and always, will have to sift through the noise of their culture, weigh their traditions, use their brains and combine it with their experiences, and then turn to Scripture to make sense of whether Jesus is actually the Messiah, the one and only true Savior - the Lord - the Son of a Living God - the Son of Man.
I can’t convince you. Flesh and blood cannot reveal it to you. The fullness of your belief and revelation is a gift of God. It’s not easy. Especially for those of us who rely a lot on our senses, or build up in our minds what it’s supposed to look like. At some point, despite all of that, we have to answer the question - Who do you say that Jesus is?
When you are convinced of that, the rest of the story will look different. Not normally better or worse in a material sense, but different in your soul. Peace, assurance, confidence, clarity, hope, patience, conviction without the need to strive, greater trust that God is truly in control…much will change. Not to an easy life. But to a fulfilled life.
The question comes back to all of us. Who do you say that Jesus is?