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Today we continue our series looking at the life and faith of the disciple Peter. Through his relationship with Jesus we get a really good picture of who Jesus is and what it means for us to follow him. Last week we saw that Jesus is the one who walks to us on the water in the middle of a storm to be with us and provide us with strength and courage. Jesus is also the one who can call us to walk on water with Him and has the power to calm the storms in our lives. Pastor David shared with us that Jesus is also the one who wants to partner and work with us in the world. Jesus asked to use Peter’s boat so He could preach to the crowds and there are times Jesus wants to use what we have and who we are to accomplish His mission in the world.
The story we are going to look at today is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and in Matthew and Mark’s gospel we are told where the story takes place. The location helps us understand what is going on, so we are going to go back to the map we used last week.
This is the Holy Land and if you remember, the Sea of Galilee is in the north and the water flows into the Jordan River and finally ends up in the Dead Sea. The headwaters of the Sea of Galilee come from Mt. Hermon which is in the north. There is snow year round on Mt. Hermon and the snow melt fills springs and streams that all flow into the Jordan River above the Sea of Galilee.
At the foot of Mt. Hermon, about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, is the city of Caesarea Philippi, which is where today’s story takes place. This region was first called Paneas after the pagan god Pan, who was the god of nature, shepherds, and flocks. It was given this name because the water from Mt. Hermon kept this area lush and green. There is a cave at the foot of the mountain that seemed to have a bottomless pit that was always filled with water and people would travel to this site to worship the god Pan and offer sacrifices.
You can see here the entrance to the cave but also the beginning of the Jordan River with water that flows from the cave and nearby springs. Pan was just one of the gods who was worshiped in this location. Over the course of time, many different gods were worshiped at Paneas and you can still see the niches and alcoves where they would have set up idols for people to worship. Pic. In excavations of the area, they have found the foundation of 14 different temples that have been built in this area and one of the temples was for Caesar Augustus.
When the Holy Land came under the rule of the Romans, many of the regions and cities had their names changed to show their allegiance to Rome and Panaes became known as Caesarea Philippi. So the location for today’s story was one that was known as a place where people went to worship foreign and pagan gods. It was a place people came to honor and give thanks for their gods and just about every god was represented there.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by 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 overcome it. 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. Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:13-23
Jesus took His disciples to a place where they could literally see a variety of gods that people worshiped to ask them who people were saying He was. Did people think Jesus was one of these gods? Who did they think Jesus was? They replied that some people thought Jesus was John the Baptist. John had recently been beheaded and some people thought that Jesus was either John who had come back to life or that maybe the news of John’s death was misinformation, and he was still alive. Because Jesus' message was similar to John’s and He did great miracles, many thought that somehow Jesus was John the Baptist.
Some people thought that Jesus was the prophet Elijah who had returned to set the stage for the coming reign of God. People believed that before the coming of the Messiah, the great prophet would return and prepare people for the coming of God’s kingdom. Again, both the teaching and miracles of Jesus reminded people of the great work done by the prophets so some thought He was Elijah.
Jesus then asked His disciples, who do you say I am? After years of walking with them and instructing them, Jesus wanted to know what His disciples thought about Him. I’m not sure what they were thinking at that moment. They had followed Jesus as a rabbi so were they thinking that He was a great teacher and that is what they should say? Did they think He was one of the prophets who had returned? I picture a moment of prolonged silence that was finally broken by Peter who said, you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
The word Messiah means anointed one. It was someone who was holy and set apart for God's purpose. While all the kings of Israel had been anointed, it was believed that there would be one king who would surpass them all and make Israel a great nation again. This King would be completely devoted to God and bring in the reign of God’s kingdom to earth. Having been ruled over by other nations for generations, Israel was longing for this Messiah to come and free them from the oppression of Roman rule.
Jesus had taken the disciples to a region that identified and honored many gods, kings and rulers to ask them, who do you say I am, and Peter’s response was to say that Jesus was like one of these great kings and gods, but that He was not the son of a dead god like Caesar, but the Son of the living God. Peter didn’t understand all that he was saying, and he didn’t fully understand what it meant to call Jesus the Son of God, but he had seen and heard enough from Jesus to know that when he looked at Jesus he was looking at God.
Jesus is encouraged by Peter’s response. He knows that Peter gets it even if he doesn’t get it all. Encouraged by his response, Jesus tells Peter that he will be the Rock on which He will build His church. On Peter’s faith and courage and passion and willingness to walk with Him on the water and proclaim Him as the Son of God, Jesus was going to build a community of faith that would be a light to the world.
Through Peter, we are able to see that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. We all have to wrestle with the question of who Jesus is and Peter helps us understand that Jesus is an anointed and holy leader who is the son of the living God. We may not know all of what this means, but can we proclaim our love for Jesus and follow Him by faith?
While Peter was the rock, the leader who helped establish the beginning of the church, anyone who comes to Jesus and is willing to follow Him in faith is a rock on which God can build. This is what Peter said. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5
We are living stones on which God wants to build His kingdom and when we come together, we are a fortress that hell itself can not stand against. Truly, when the church comes together, there is no power on earth that can overcome it. Think about how many governments have come and gone since the time of Jesus. There was the Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Russian Empire, the Qing Dynasty, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Prussians, the Germans, the Soviet Union and many more powers in Africa, Asia and Southeast Asia. All of them have come and gone and the church of Jesus Christ still stands.
When Jesus called Peter the Rock, Peter may have thought of himself as the second in command. He was the only one willing to get out of the boat and walk on water, and now he was the only one willing to speak up and identify Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus had praised him for what he did and I can imagine Peter feeling pretty full of himself in this moment, but the moment didn’t last.
After Peter declared Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus went on and made clear what kind of a Messiah He was going to be and what was going to happen to Him when He went to Jerusalem. Jesus said that in Jerusalem, instead of being hailed as a King, He was going to be betrayed by the people who should have welcomed Him. Jesus makes clear that He is going to suffer and eventually be put to death.
When Peter hears this, he takes Jesus aside to correct Him and tell Him that these things will never happen. This isn’t the kind of future Peter is picturing for the Messiah or for himself. This can’t be what’s in store for them. This isn’t what they signed up for. They want victory and success not betrayal and death. Peter is not going to let it happen and so he rebukes Jesus. Jesus' reply was swift and sharp. Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.
In the matter of a few moments, Peter has gone from a faithful follower who Jesus said would be the foundation of the church to a failure who Jesus actually calls Satan. Peter had faithfully declared Jesus to be the King and son of the living God, but then he failed to understand what it was going to mean for Jesus to be the King and what the kingdom of God was going to look like. Following Jesus wasn’t going to be all success and smooth sailing, there was going to be suffering and struggle for the Messiah and there was going to be suffering and struggles for His followers.
This is often where we get it wrong too. Too many times we think that following Jesus will lead us into a life where there is no suffering or pain, where there are no storms or struggles, and where we get everything, we want when we ask for it. The idea that following Jesus will only bring us the blessings of life is nothing new - it’s what Peter thought, but Jesus is clear that this kind of thinking is wrong. Faithful obedience and loyalty to God calls for self-denial and sacrifice and Jesus makes clear to His followers then and now that we need to be prepared.
Jesus said: If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
To proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and to walk with Him does mean we need to surrender ourselves and at times give up our own wants and needs. To be the rock on which Jesus can build, we need to be willing to humble ourselves, sacrifice and serve others.
When Peter didn’t want to consider this way of life, and wanted to keep Jesus from this way of life, Jesus called him a stumbling block. That kind of selfish attitude would trip Jesus up and keep Him from God’s purpose and plan for Him. Jesus knew what was coming and how hard it was going to be and if anyone was going to stand in His way or suggest that He didn’t have to take up a cross and die was going to be a stumbling block. Jesus was going to need all the support and strength He could find to be faithful to God, He didn’t need His friends telling Him there was another way to go.
Peter can help us answer the question, who do we say Jesus is. He is the Messiah, the son of the living God but Jesus is a Son who sacrifices his life and a King who humbles himself and serves to lift others up. When we are willing to lay down our lives for others, take up a cross and follow Jesus, we become a living stone that not even the gates of hell can overcome. Let us come to Jesus and become living stones on which God can build His kingdom.
Next Steps
Living Stone or Stumbling Stone?
Read Matthew 16:13-25.
● Why did Jesus take His disciples to Caesarea Philippi to ask them this question?
● How does this location help define who Jesus is?
Who do you say that Jesus is?
What does it mean to call Jesus:
● Messiah
● The Son of the Living God
● Savior
● Lord
● Lamb of God
What other titles of Jesus are there?
Which title is the most comforting for you?
Which title is the most challenging for you?
How does Jesus define what it means for Him to be faithful to God? What kind of Messiah is He going to be?
Why was this challenging for Peter?
Why is this challenging for us?
What does it mean for you to take up a cross in following Jesus? Where is humility, sacrifice and service needed in your life and faith?
What does it look like for the church to be a fortress of living stones? (1 Peter 2:4-5)
What forces of hell are we fighting today?
Prayer: God, gives us the boldness to proclaim you as the Messiah, Son of the living God, and the courage to humble ourselves and follow you all the way to the cros
