The text: Matthew 16:13–20
Today we are faced with the most important question in life that any human
being will ever have to answer: Just who is Jesus? Our Lord asks us that very question in our text – the fact that he asks it twice shows its importance. ‘Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?’
The disciples answer: ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ Some people thought that Jesus was John the Baptist, who had come to prepare the way for the Saviour. Others thought Jesus was one of many Old Testament prophets who had promised a Saviour would come. The people had many different ideas of who Jesus was, but none of them recognised Jesus’ divine nature. The religious leaders of the day even believed the opposite, claiming Jesus’ power was from the devil because he ate with sinners and did not give ‘good’ people their due recognition but challenged the religious establishment. Some thought he was a great teacher or a perfect example to
follow. That’s some of the things people say about Jesus today. Most people today believe Jesus existed – but they have very different ideas about his identity, such as the Christadelphians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims or Jews. They believe in Jesus; that is, they believe some historical truths about him. But James reminds us in a very chilling way that we are not to have a kind of historical belief in Jesus. James writes to the Jewish Christians scattered throughout the empire, and in chapter 2 of his letter says: ‘You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that
– and shudder’.
So Jesus says to the disciples: ‘Who do you say I am?’ He asks us that question too.
Peter answers, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. The other answers had talked about a Saviour who was coming. But Peter saw Jesus as the Saviour who was right there with him in the present moment. Peter looked at Jesus and saw God standing before him; the living Lord who became truly human like us to be the
sacrifice to pay for the sin of the world, and to defeat death itself by rising from it.
Peter doesn’t just believe things about Jesus, he trusts in Jesus as his saving Lord in the present moment.
‘Who do you say that I am?’ Through today’s gospel reading Jesus is still asking that same question to you and me. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Be careful how you answer! Jesus isn’t just asking: ‘Do you think I’m alive?’ Jesus wants to know: ‘Am I the living Lord of your life?’ There is a difference between believing things about Jesus, and trusting in him as the Lord of your life. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Jesus asks. ‘Am I indeed the living Lord of your life? Or am I just some ancient dead guy whose body disintegrated long ago in the sands of Palestine?’
Jesus doesn’t only call us to believe stuff about him, but to daily trust in him as our saving God. There is a difference between believing things about Jesus and trusting in Jesus as the ever-present living Lord of every moment of our life. Luther’s explanation to the first commandment ‘You shall have no other gods’ attends to this distinction: ‘We are to fear (respect), love and trust God above anything else’.
This is an important point for all the commandments are related to this one. How we regard the commandments as God’s word and will, then, will reveal the level of regard we have for Jesus.
I think that one of our strengths as Lutherans is our focus on grace – that there is nothing a person can do to make themselves right with God or earn his love or forgiveness; that he loves us unconditionally and he has paid for our sins – through Christ alone. There is nothing I could do that would change his love for me.
Perhaps one of our weaknesses as Lutherans is our focus on grace – that is, when grace is our only focus. Perhaps we read ‘there is nothing I could do that would change God’s love for me’ as meaning ‘there is nothing I need to do’. Perhaps we hear that God loves us unconditionally and has saved us by grace as meaning ‘It really doesn’t then matter how I live’. But when we forget God’s law, we forget the specific ways in which we as humans sin. We fall into the temptation of explaining away our sin. ‘I was just having a bad day’ or ‘They deserved it’. Or we might relabel our wrongdoing in more acceptable language – for example, harmful gossip becomes ‘helpful information’, and jokes that put others down are ‘just a bit of fun’, while those who are offended should just lighten up – even though through the eighth commandment God calls us to defend the reputation of our brothers and sisters, congregational leaders, and even our pastors, whether they be in conversation down the street, our discussions around the kitchen table, or at a public meeting, and to explain their actions in the kindest possible way.
When we lose a correct focus on the gospel by focusing only on the gospel, we
can easily slip into the habit of justifying our sinful thoughts, words and deeds by explaining how it doesn’t matter if we’ve broken God’s commandments – and even to say they don’t apply to us in particular situations. As someone said to me recently: ‘I know it’s wrong, but …’ And I felt like saying, ‘You were going really well there until you said “but”’.
When we fall into this temptation, I think we risk regarding Jesus as little more than John the Baptist or one of the prophets, because, if we explain away our sin, we forget how urgently we need Jesus’ saving help. We make a Saviour out of ourselves by justifying ourselves. Today, Jesus asks us, in effect: ‘Who am I in your life? Even though you call me “Lord”, am I really Lord of your life?