Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus? That is the question people have been trying to answer in Matthew’s Gospel ever since chapter 11, when John the Baptist sent a message to Jesus from jail asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matt. 11:3, ESV).[1] Jesus’ neighbors in Nazareth had an answer: Jesus was just the carpenter’s son, a kid they grew up with (13:55). Is that who Jesus is: the boy next door? King Herod thought that he knew the answer. “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him” (Matt. 14:2). Is that who Jesus was—John back from the dead? I don’t think so.
After Jesus walked on water, the disciples declared, “Truly you are the Son of God” (14:33). That sounds pretty good! Jesus is the Son of God. Now we’re getting somewhere. But what did the disciples mean by that? In last week’s Gospel lesson, three times the Canaanite woman called Jesus “Lord” (15:22, 25, 27).
Who is Jesus? That’s the question people kept asking and trying to answer about him. But in our Gospel lesson today, Jesus turns it around and he himself asks the question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matt. 16:13). What were people saying about Jesus? What as the word on the street? By the way, Son of Man was a Messianic title from Daniel 7—and Jesus’ favorite title for himself (the phrase occurs 78 times in the Gospels).
The disciples knew the word on the street. They knew the latest buzz about Jesus. They knew what people were saying about him on their Facebook feeds. So they quickly rattled off the list. “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (v. 14). So ordinary people placed Jesus squarely into the category of Prophet. Not a bad answer. This answer was a huge compliment, but it was also incomplete. Jesus is so much more than just another prophet. He is The Prophet (cf. Deut. 18:15). Yet he is also the Word of God incarnate. Calling Jesus a mere prophet doesn’t go far enough for faith.
Who do people say Jesus is today—in our time? As I’m sure you know, people have all kinds of different ideas about who Jesus is. Some say he’s a great moral teacher, a social revolutionary, or a misunderstood religious genius. Some religions, such as Islam and Baha’i, will admit that Jesus was a prophet—just not the greatest prophet. Richard Dawkins, one of the famous New Atheists and author of The God Delusion, admired Jesus enough to call him a great moral teacher ahead of his time. Gandhi also regarded Jesus to be a great moral teacher but added, “I cannot ascribe exclusive divinity to Jesus.” That’s who people in the modern era say Jesus is.
But then Jesus makes it personal. He gets real. He turns to his disciples and asks, “Well, guys, what about you? Who do you say that I am?” (cf. Matt. 16:15). And without missing a beat, Peter pipes up and replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).
It’s a powerful statement—a bold confession of faith. Christ is a Greek word that means “anointed one,” somebody set apart by God for a special job. The Hebrew version is Messiah. Now the Jews of Jesus’ day had all kinds of competing ideas about who the Messiah would be and what he would do when he came. But regardless of how you defined the position, nearly all the Jews pinned their hopes on Messiah. So in addition to calling Jesus the Son of God—something the disciples had already confessed earlier—Peter declared Jesus to be the one who fulfilled all the hopes and dreams of God’s people. All the promises of God found their fulfillment in Jesus. That’s what Peter meant when he told Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” (v. 16).
Jesus responds by blessing Peter. “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:17-18). Jesus called Peter blessed because God imparted this truth to his heart. Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus says elsewhere, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” (John 6:44). Faith is not something we discover through human reason or academic study. “It is the gift of God!” (Eph. 2:8).
Jesus also promises to build his Church on Peter’s confession of faith. Peter himself is not the rock on which Jesus builds his church. It is Peter’s confession that is the foundation for the entire Church. Peter’s confession, which is the confession of all the apostles and every Christian, is the solid rock on which our faith stands. That is why, in Ephesians 2, Paul says the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (v. 20). Christ builds the Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, which is the message of Scripture and their confession of faith. But Jesus is the cornerstone that keeps everything square.
It is also significant that Jesus says, “I will build my Church.” This is a good reminder, especially as we begin our FiveTwo journey, that the Church belongs to Jesus. Epiphany is not your church. It’s not my church. It’s not the elders’ church or the church council’s church. It’s not even our church collectively as a congregation! Epiphany is Jesus’ Church—and so is the whole Christian Church on earth. We best remember that with humility and gratitude.
The Church is Jesus’ Church. And he promises to build it. Of course, that doesn’t mean that every individual congregation or denomination or church building will last for all time. But Christ will continue to build and preserve his Church throughout human history. Jesus promises to build his Church. He can do it with us or without us. I hope he’ll do it with us, which is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
So what about you? [Gesture broadly at congregation.] Who do you say Jesus is? Who is Jesus in your life? Do you believe that he is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16)? Do you believe that he is the Son of God and Son of Man. Do you believe that Jesus is Lord? “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Rom. 10:9-10).
Who is Jesus? That is the question we answer every time we speak the Creeds, whether it is the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed. Like Peter, we are making our bold confession when we declare:
“And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.”
Confessing Christ is no small thing. In the darkness of a pagan world that misunderstands Jesus and hates the Church, our confession of faith in the crucified and risen One is our main weapon against the powers of sin, death, and the devil. Jesus promises that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). So even though Satan attacks the church, he will never win. The Church will prevail because Jesus already won when he died for our sins and rose again. Listen to the victory cry of Revelation 12:
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death’” (Rev. 12:10-11).
Satan is defeated. “The accuser… has been thrown down.” That’s what Satan means: Accuser. And… get this… are you ready for it?! We have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. In Christ, we have defeated the devil because of the blood Jesus shed for our forgiveness and the word of our testimony—our confession of faith.
But then Jesus does something almost unthinkable. He tells the disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Christ (Matt. 16:20). How can that be? Doesn’t it fly in the face of everything else we heard in this story? No, it doesn’t. Jesus told the disciples to wait because, even though Peter believed Jesus was the Christ, they didn’t yet know what it would really mean for Jesus to be the Christ. Jesus will reveal that in next week’s Gospel lesson, when he makes his first passion prediction. Not until we look at Jesus on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb can understand what kind of Christ he is. But by the time you get to the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives the disciples the Great Commission, commanding them to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach (Matt. 28:19-20). In other words, the time has finally come to confess Jesus Christ to the world!
So do not be afraid to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” Do not keep silent. Confess Christ! That is what you are called to do, to answer this question in front of the whole world: Who is Jesus? He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He is the victorious Lamb who was slain, lives again, and reigns forever. He is Christ our King, the Son of God and Son of Man. He is our Lord and Savior, Redeemer and Rock. That’s who Jesus is. In the name of the Father and of T the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] All Scripture references, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.