Matthew 16:13-20

“When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬-‭20‬ ‭NET‬‬

I know I’m weird, but I enjoyed going to school and learning new things. I was grateful for most (haha) of my teachers/professors, and I always knew they had my best interest in mind. You hear these stories about these mean, impossible professors that make a living off of failing students, and their lectures are unbearable, and your entire grade depends on one final exam, which for me was never the case. My professors were for the most part rather friendly and bearable to listen to. 

Exams were a big part of my grade but weighted just like high school, and of course the requirements and information is harder, but you’re prepared for it. But I was worried, because I heard these horror stories of these philosophy teachers that would pass out these exams, which your whole grade depended on, and it would be one question. And you have to write, like a whole semester worth of stuff, logically and coherently, about whatever topic they chose from that semester, in a certain amount of time. Or the question would simply be the word, “Why?” And you have to philosophize about the existence of all things. There’s another one about a professor putting a chair in the front of the room, and your final exam after a whole semester of notes and lectures is simply to prove that the chair exists. 

My favorite is the story of the CEO of Charles Schwab. When he was in business school, he was taking his final exam. So after studying, and preparing, and going all semester, it comes down to one test. The professor passes out the exam, and there’s one question. He was kind of shocked, because they clearly covered a lot of material, and this is business school. You need to know a lot of stuff to be successful, right? The question was this: What’s the name of the lady who empties the trash in the hallway every day? That determined much of their grade for that class, and it taught Charles a valuable lesson, but that’s not the point of this post. 

My point is sometimes a lot of weight and pressure is placed on one question, and your answer can have drastic implications. All these stories in the gospels to this point have built up to this moment. And there’s a one question test. And this is the only question that matters for any person that’s ever lived.

Now this is about the halfway point of Jesus ministry (ish). And the city that Jesus takes them to is actually pretty significant. It’s farther north in Israel, and this city belonged to the tribe of Dan, which was one of the most pagan tribes historically. It continued to absorb the pagan ideas and beliefs and customs of its neighbors, and throughout the Greek and Roman empires into Jesus’ day this city which had now been renamed Caesarea Philippi was a very pagan city. It was known for worshipping the Greek god Pan, a fertility god, which any time there’s a fertility god involved you can imagine the behavior of people and their forms of worship.

I’ve never been there, but I’ve read that in Caesarea Philippi, there’s a hill with a water fall that’s stopped up that used to flow into a series of lakes. And around that place was a series of shrines to a number of gods, but most importantly to Pan. But behind the water fall was a deep, dark cave and the people believed that it led to the underworld. It was a mysterious place. A religious place, but not in a good way. And it’s there that Jesus asks His disciples, So what are people saying about me?

John the Baptist and Jeremiah go together because these would have to be resurrected figures. We know of Herod who thought Jesus was John the Baptist. So people are thinking Jesus was a strong prophet, proclaiming God’s kingdom. Elijah: it could be that they thought the real Elijah was coming back to life, but there’s a prophecy of someone like Elijah coming later, so an end times figure, a great awesome prophet to bring in the coming age. People are in the right ball park, but they don’t quite get it. 

Then Jesus offers the one question exam to the disciples. VV. 15-16 You guys have been with me for maybe a year by now. You’ve seen the exorcisms. You’ve heard me preach. You’ve seen me shut up the religious leaders. What do you think about me? 

And Peter aces the test to the best of his ability to this point. He takes all the evidence and puts it together. 

Of course, Jesus says God has revealed it to him and helped him articulate such a truth, but Peter says, I know that you are the Messiah. Remember, “Son of God” = Davidic King to the first century audience (cf Psalm 2 and 2 Sam 7). Jesus, you are the agent working on God’s behalf. You are the promised one Sent from God. This goes back to Matt 14:33, where Jesus walked on the water, Peter tried and sank, Jesus saved him, and when they got back into the boat, the disciples all said, “You are the Son of God.” This implies, You are bringing God’s kingdom. You are especially empowered and enabled as the promised one. And as we go along in the story, we’ll get more information, like in the next paragraph, but Jesus praises Peter for his answer. 

VV 17-20

These are some pretty debated verses, so I won’t be too dogmatic here. “This rock” could be referring to Peter. This is usually frowned upon because that’s how the Catholics conclude that Peter was the first pope. So a lot of people choose the other main option which is seeing Peter’s confession, “Jesus is the Messiah” as the “rock” on which the church is built. This is also legitimate, but I tend to think Jesus was talking about Peter, making a wordplay on his name. 

In either case, Jesus is going to make a new community, a gathering, an assembly of people with Peter and the other disciples as the first representatives. We know that. Ephesians 2:20 says the apostles were the foundation of the church. And in Acts 2, 3, and on, Peter is clearly the leader of the early church, but it’s also true that those who enter the kingdom are characterized as people who get it right when it comes to Jesus. They are the types of people who acknowledge what? Who He is. If they were asked, who do you say I am, they have the correct answer, just like Peter did.

And this universal body of believers will grow over time. They are the representatives of Jesus’ kingdom that grows like yeast in a lump of dough. He talks about that in Matthew 13. But Jesus, so what? Look where we are. Paganville. Greco-roman society that is filled with many many gods. How are we supposed to survive following just one god, let alone You who are going to end up claiming to be God become man? You’ve done some awesome things, but we’re going to take some heat for following you.

And then in the next paragraph you are going to tell us about how you’re going to die? And rise again? No, no, no. Jesus you have this wrong. See, that’s not how this Messiah thing is supposed to work. In fact, Peter is the one that pulls Jesus aside and says, “Jesus, you will not die!” And all of a sudden, Jesus’ praise of Peter turns to a curse. He even calls him Satan. This is one reason we know this event happened. This I think meets the criterion of embarrassment. When you call the founder of the early church the devil. 

v. 20. Jesus commanded them to be quiet about the confession. Don’t go telling people I’m the Messiah…yet. Why? Because you guys don’t really know what you’re talking about, yet. You don’t understand what type of Messiah I am, one that has to suffer and die and become a sacrifice and then be raised to conquer death and offer life and then be a king. If you go telling people I’m the Messiah now, people are going to get all sorts of wrong ideas about me.

Now we know the whole story. Jesus did suffer. He was beaten. He was crucified, and buried, and then He rose in victory, to conquer sin, death, the grave, and He is the reigning King. He is God’s anointed Messiah. We now know that He is God. He is exalted in heaven at God’s right hand waiting to return to earth to complete what He began and to make God’s kingdom visible and final. 

I get asked pretty frequently about spiritual stuff or Bible passages. I get asked about minor debates that don’t matter. A lot of times people wonder if they’re going to heaven; if they really made the decision to accept Jesus. If they said the right words, if they really meant it. I mean death is a scary thing, and knowing that once it happens, your chances are over, that’s a sobering thought. So no matter if you’re super confident in your salvation or a little uneasy, or know someone who is flat out pagan, the one question exam is the same: What do you believe about Jesus? Right now. In this moment. 

We’ve established that He existed. That’s good. He did miracles. That’s good. He taught some awesome things and was a very moral person. Perfect even. But do you believe in Easter? Do you believe that He rose from the grave? Do you believe that He’s God? All those are the same question to some extent. And that one question is the most important question of your life, and it has infinite implications. 

You say, Yes, Kevin, I know Jesus is God. I know He died for me. And rose! I know I’m forgiven and have entered the kingdom. Jesus is the Savior, and I love Him. Awesome! I’m happy for you. BUT… If Jesus is God, then He cannot simply be Savior. He must also be Lord. 

Jump down to vv. 24-25. It’s not easy following Jesus. The One who promised His own path to suffering in essence promised a difficult path for us, too. In addition to the regular frustrations of life, we have the burden of wearing the target of Christianity. But if Jesus is God, and He rose from the grave, then who else can I follow? He has rescued me from my own guilt and shame and failure and inability to live life with any joy and peace on my own. I must follow the one true King. He demands my allegiance. 

And it’s true. I am a foreigner in this world now. I don’t belong here, and yet I have a mission to spread the influence of the gospel as far as I can before I die. And you know, there’s a lot of things that oppose this new community that Jesus formed, called the church: disease, demons, persecution, even death. But what did Jesus say? V. 18: The gates of Hades/Sheol will not prevail against it. That’s the grave. The underworld, maybe even reference that same spot where the disciples were standing. This terrible world, the supernatural one, and even the one most feared… death itself… will not conquer us, because Jesus rose. This week gives us hope that we, too, will rise, and God’s kingdom will spread. Satan’s already conquered. 

Now how does this really affect me? Am I committed to Jesus the Lord and King, or is my view of Jesus pretty incomplete? His demands are heavy, but it flows from Who He is. If you believe it, you will follow. 

The church is mentioned here directly in step with the character of Jesus. If you go back and read vv. 19-20, Peter and by extension the church were given a high responsibility to represent the activity of God on earth. This again is found in Acts and beyond, but we also must be committed to the mission that God has given us, of following Jesus, of making disciples. And by focusing on the physical and spiritual needs of others and not our own, we will imitate the attitude and mindset of Jesus. We will be more willing to share our faith. We will serve. And God will be glorified. 

But none of this occurs unless you settle in your mind: Who is Jesus?