Matthew 16.13-20

Now we come to one of the most beautiful passages in the whole book of Matthew. This passage has been argued about, admired, quoted, sung, and fought over for the last 2,000 years. Yet, this passage contains a very key truths in it about who Jesus is, what he accomplished, and who we are and what we are supposed to do now. Let's read this passage:

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
 ¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
   ¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
 ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
 ¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ 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.” ²⁰ Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.'


To save time and a lot of confusing debates, I am going to just be real simple here. 


What does this passage tell us about the identity of Jesus? Who is he?


The Christ.


The Christ literally meant "anointed one". It is the same as the Hebrew word, "Messiah". Three kinds of people were anointed in the Old Testament, Priests, Prophets and Kings. This is who Jesus was. 


Priest--offered the sacrifice for our sins, himself
Prophet--teacher and caller of repentance and announcer of God's Judgment
King--ruler of our lives. He is the one in charge, we serve and obey him.


A lot of times we like the first two roles of Jesus, saving us from eternal damnation and calling all the other pagans to repent or God is going to judge them. But it is hard for us to swallow that Jesus is our King, lord and boss of every aspect of our lives and we are his humble servants. Yet this is what is meant by the "Christ". Jesus is all three, priest, prophet and King. 


So what does this mean for us? If Jesus is our priest and prophet and king, the anointed one, who are we,  and what are we supposed to be doing now?


Too much focus has been put on the wrong word in this passage. Everyone is always arguing about what does "rock"stand for? On what rock is Jesus building his church?" 


There are a number of options, but I am going to just give you my outright opinion: the rock is Jesus' disciples, his church, which Peter, as the spokesperson, stands for. Peter stands for the 12 that Jesus is leaving behind to build his church, and Jesus will build his church on the foundation of his disciples, and we are part of the result of this church. We are called out by God to be his people. And what are we to ultimately do? Remember, we are focusing on the wrong word. We shouldn't be arguing about rock but we should be focusing on gates. 


The gates of a town were always its strongest position of defense against an attacking enemy, because they were the point at which an enemy would attack. The problem is that we as the church always see ourselves being attacked by Satan. We feel like we are backed into Helm's deep, trying to hold down the fortress, shooting arrows out at the huge, strong, attacking enemy from behind a wall. 


Yet it is the opposite. The Devil and his minions are not on the offense but on the defense. They are not attacking us, but we are supposed to be attacking evil. We are supposed to be living our lives everyday with the conviction and purpose of righting all the wrongs in this world. We are to undo all the evil that entered this world in the Garden. We are to bring God's justice by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, counseling the emotionally scared, rescuing the physically abused, adopting the orphans and widows, bringing God's good news of Jesus to the darkest corners and the scariest alleyways. 


We are the light attacking the darkness. No amount of darkness can overcome one single light!!!! Yet why do we act like we are on the defense. 


We must attack!!! Yet we do not attack with guns and bombs and swords and knives. We attack by offering ourselves as living sacrifices on crosses. We attack darkness by serving and loving. 


So what are you waiting for? Jesus Christ, your king, is giving the order to attack. Pick up your crosses and go to work.