Peter II: The Proclaiming Devil

Matthew 16:1-4

I wonder if Jesus ever “tired” of all the drama that happened around him. In the gospel of John, the struggle between Jesus and the Sadducees and the Pharisees is a major item, but in Matthew the struggle really begins in earnest with this chapter. The opposition continues to harass Jesus, testing his teachings and using his miracle working power against him. I am reminded of the 4th chapter of Matthew and the temptation by the devil to make him a manipulative miracle worker. Herod made the same request of Jesus – that he do miracles at their command. He refuses to do so. To make sense of the “sign of Jonah” comment , we need to go back to Matthew 12:38-41, where the sign is that just as Jonah was 3 days in the belly of the great fish, so Jesus would be three days buried (implied: only to reappear!).

The gifts of the Spirit are tools of God to meet the needs of people and signs of God’s kingdom in the midst of the hurts and challenges of people, but they are not attention-getters or attempts to create popularity. The exercise of our gifts are to point people to a relationship with God, not as ends in themselves. This is why the miracle junkies had trouble with the later ministry of Jesus. They wanted more and more miracles, not more of his kingdom way of life or the sacrifices involved. I fear we are still that way with Jesus. We want the blessings of following Jesus, but not the cross we are called to carry along with him.

Matthew 16:5-12

Duh! The disciples are a bit ditzy here, don’t you think? Jesus uses “yeast” in his teachings in a couple different ways. First, in Matthew 13:33, he talks about yeast and its pervasive ability to spread. In Matthew 16, yeast is a picture of hypocrisy and impurity. I can just see Jesus shaking his head as they fail to get his point and hear the disciples go “oh…we understand now.”

Matthew 16:13-20

This is Peter’s historic confession of Jesus. Jesus, in light of the controversy that is beginning to emerge, invites them to consider who He is. First, Jesus asks, “How do people say I am?” And they respond with a variety: a resurrected John the Baptist or at least another one like him, a returning prophet like Elijah or Jeremiah or others. Then Jesus asks the most important question, both for the disciples and for us. “Who do you say that I am?” Peter says, “You aren’t just some forerunner or the return of the prophet. You’re it, you’re the Messiah, the Son of God.” He is exercising the gift of knowledge and speaking prophetically by the power of the Spirit. Jesus is moved by the boldness and heart of Peter’s response. Did this gift of knowledge happen in just that moment or was it a gradual dawning? One of the struggles we have is that when Jesus did a miracle the results were nearly immediate. Our gift can often take a little longer.

The binding and loosing part of this passage is often ignored, but to have the knowledge of Christ in our lives does have the power to be a binding and a blocker for people who wish to do evil and the power to liberate those who turn with open hearts and minds. It is also a power that enables us to be confident. I appreciated Barbara Lamberson asking in our fall session, “Which part of ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” do we not understand. We can share boldly. Leander Keck , in his book, The Church confident, says “the church can examine itself and look to change, but it must not whine.” We need to hear Jesus in the words of Barbara and Leander. We are on the winning side, not just for ourselves but especially for the world around us.

Matthew 16:21-28

Paul talked in I Corinthians 1:18 about “the foolishness of the cross.” Peter is highly offended that the Messiah of the world would start talking about his death as a victim of the religious establishment. Many think this same offense was behind the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. Why would the man who could cure blindness, leprosy, and raise the dead be the victim? So the great proclaimer of the Messiah in just moments becomes Satan. Everyone who preaches or teaches knows the experience. We are broken and fallen vessels, not just preachers but all of us. The gifts of God spirit are given through fallen and sinful people. That doesn’t excuses our sinfulness, but it does help us be humble as we share those gifts.

But Jesus is not done. The cross is not just for him, but for everyone who follows him. It’s impressive to see Olympic athletes give credit to God when they win. But winning in the eyes of the world is not the promise of God. We win by losing: losing personal agendas, losing opportunities and personal gain, losing our very lives. Jesus does promise abundant life, but it is not abundant in the way that the prosperity gospel preachers say. We find life in abundance (more than we ever thought possible) by giving ourselves away.