The Rev. Chad E. Jarnagin | Who Do You Say I Am?Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSV)13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.This portion of the Gospel was Matthew was written shortly after a failed Jewish revolt against Rome, in the wake of the destruction of the Temple and devastation of Jerusalem. This is the context in which the meaning of Jesus as Messiah was being worked out.These people weren’t all that different from us today. We’re in an identity crisis… trying desperately to figure out who to believe , how to believe. Like many from this text, we’re looking in the wrong places, looking to the wrong people for our identity. Jesus asks “who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Jesus eventually asks, “who do you say I am?” He’s saying, yeah… I’ve heard who everyone else says… what do you believe?A few weeks back in the lectionary, when the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, and Peter said, “if it is you, Lord, call to me… and Jesus said, ‘come’… after sinking, Jesus helps him back in the boat and Peter says “surely you are the Son of God”. Peter confesses “You are the Christ”. It is in our process & experience, where we sometimes have less & less faith only to find more and more faith. When we confess “You are the Christ!”, putting life back to order - asking for true shalom (everything in its place flourishing as God intends). Regardless of who the world tries to say that Jesus (or God) is, by confessing each week, we are confessing like Peter, “You are the Son of God”… our communion raises our awareness of who Christ is. The less familiar we are, the more distorted our view of Jesus. No wonder why most culture doesn’t know who Jesus is… We must remember that Christianity is not American. Our identity is in who we believe Jesus to be… and embody that Way.The subversiveness of the Kingdom, again with “20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.” In the tension of the day, Christ didn’t want this heat, yet. It wasn’t time… Today, who do we say he is? Whatever that is for us, it isn’t a hijacked narrative. When all seems lost, hidden, confused, or chaotic… Maybe we start with “God with us.” Abiding in this will lead us to our answer of “who we say he is”.
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