13th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16) – August 27th, 2023
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Matthew 16:13–20
“Confessing Christ”
Theme: Our individual confession of Jesus’s identity leads to the confession of many people together as the Church.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus asked his disciples a simple question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (13). The responses he got were interesting, to say the least: “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (14). Elijah makes the most sense. After all, at the end of his ministry, God took him straight up to heaven on a chariot of fire while Elisha watched. Lots of Jews thought that the Messiah would come down with a chariot of fire as Elijah reincarnated. Jeremiah makes some sense. After all, Jesus quotes him quite a bit as he criticizes the Pharisees and Scribes. John the Baptist honestly has my head scratching. Maybe people didn’t know what to make of both of them overlapping in their ministries. Both were teaching, both were baptizing, and both had disciples. Plus, the news back then was probably more chaotic than ours today—all word of mouth instead of news outlets with reporters.
How would you answer that question if Jesus asked you, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (13). Well, who do people say that Jesus is? We know there are Christians out there who will answer correctly that he is God and man. There are also atheists out there who will give a variety of responses, from “he never existed at all” to “he existed but he was just a man.” Other religions such as Islam consider Jesus a prophet. If you want an answer to this question, you can probably take a comparative religions class at a college.
But that’s not the only question that Jesus asks. His second question is far more important: “But who do you say that I am?” (15). This is a more important question because it makes the identity of Jesus personal to you. The first question about what others say is distant. We can debate other religions, other people, other thoughts. But not with this question. Everything is flipped, and now you’re in the hotseat.
Imagine you were taking a teenage boy to a car lot, just to look around. You ask him, “What do you think is the best sports car?” He’d probably give you quite the list: Camaros, Corvettes, Mustangs, and so forth. But if you stopped in front of a car and said, “Would you like to drive this one home?” we can all imagine his face lighting up.
Or, if you want an image for young women, it’s one thing for a woman to think what she might want in a future husband, and it’s another thing for good man to get down on his knees and propose to her.
Or imagine you’re a kid in the classroom, and the teacher suddenly wheels around and asks you, “Well, what do you think about this topic?”
“But who do you say that I am?” is direct. The way you answer this question does matter for your salvation. Paul says in Romans, “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). Your faith in your heart and the words you say are connected. Faith flows into speech. Belief in God will result in you talking about God. This is why two commandments deal with our speech. The second commandment has to do with our words about God, that we honor his Name with our words, and the eighth commandment as to do with our words about people, that we would not slander or lie about them with our words. What is inside will come out, whether that is faith or unbelief, kindness or malice.
Returning to: “But who do you say that I am?” (15). It’s as personal for you as it is for the disciples. We have the benefit of hindsight, but they have the benefit of being right there in front of Jesus. “Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (16). There you go. That’s it. He nailed it. Jesus was happy with that response: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (17).
Simon Peter got a number of things right. He identified Jesus as the Christ. Christ is the equivalent of “Messiah,” which means “Anointed One.” Remember that all the important people of the Old Testament were anointed: prophets, priests, and kings. The term Christ refers to the person who would be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. He is, and Peter said it.
The second thing Simon Peter confessed was that Jesus was the “son of the living God.” This is a repetition of what all the disciples said just two chapters earlier after Jesus walked on the water and stilled the storm. But it is of course very true.
Jesus is happy when you make similar statements, when you confess that Jesus is God and man, that he died to save you, and that you trust in him.
These are the sorts of things that build the Church. The Church is not merely a building or a synod or denomination. The Church is all believers in Christ, all who make this personal confession about Christ. This is why Jesus goes on to commend Peter: “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (18). “Peter” by the way means “rock,” so Jesus is connecting the two. But the rock on which the church is built is not Peter himself, but on his confession about the identity of Christ.
It is the collective confession of all of us believers that will never be overthrown by the gates of hell. Have you noticed how much we speak together in the service? It’s a lot! We speak the confession of sins together. We confess parts of the introit and responses together. We speak the Creed together, the Lord’s Prayer, and so much. We sing together. Our hymns are like sermons that we get to preach to one another as we sing, whether your voice is sweet as an angel or whether you’re making a joyful noise unto the Lord. You are united with other believers in saying the same things about God.
We need to do this. The Church has recognized from early on the need to unite people through common words. This is why we have the three Creeds, the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian. Speaking them together reaffirms both the personal aspect of our faith and the collective confession. It’s why we teach the Small Catechism to our youth.
Having common words that we speak and believe is important. Here’s the thing: these things feed in on each other. We have personal confessions of faith, and that is strengthened by saying it with other people, which then feeds back into your personal confession of faith. If you’re in doubt about anything, look to what we say as a congregation all together.
Furthermore, you need the Church. You need other Christians to help you in your personal confession. None of us are loner Christians. The Church is not just “you and Jesus, and that’s all that matters.” When we are together, speaking the same confession, the gates of Hell itself will not overwhelm us. Why? Because God is with his people. The Holy Spirit gives us these words to say. They are truth. Thanks be to God for Peter’s confession, and for His help in our confession that Jesus is Lord as well.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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