08/24/2026
8/23/26; 13th Sunday after Pentecost; Series A: Is.51:1-6; Ps.138; Rom.11:33-12:8; Mt.16:13-20;
Grace, mercy, peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen
Matthew's account before us this morning finds Jesus and His 12 disciples, soon to be His 12 Apostles, about as far away from Jerusalem and thus the Temple, as they could be while still within the region of Galilee. Considering what will be discussed and dealt with; such distance might prove rather meaningful, after all. The religious leaders, especially [most of] the Pharisees, basically had little use for Jesus, verbally stating their contempt and they certainly did their best to detract from and ridicule His kingdom work and ministry. None so blind as those who refuse to see or hear the truth concerning the God/Man Jesus, who was so often found in their very midst. You know, when miracles don’t even get your attention.....
Jesus conducts a survey of sorts as He inquires of the 12: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples respond with a number of commendable, no slouch names to be sure: “Some say John the Baptist,” John being referred to by Jesus, John’s cousin, in this way in Lk.7: “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John..” John had already been beheaded by Herod the Tetrarch who had himself stated that Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. [then when someone actually does.......] “others say Elijah”, who was a fiery prophet of the Lord to whom scripture equates John with, in Mal.4: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” Elijah being 1 of about 3 who departed this life avoiding death; his exit, that of chariot and horses of fire. How is that for a dramatic exit? Elijah would then later appear on the Mount of Transfiguration. “Others Jeremiah”, the prophet who had declared that the Southern Kingdom would be exiled to Babylon; he was considered a traitor due to his revelation that Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed, and it was. “Or one of the prophets.” Again, far from what one would consider an insult; who of us would not be pleased to be known as one of the “Lord’s Prophets”?
We know however, Jesus was so much more than a Prophet even while He is recognized and serves as our: Prophet; Priest; and King. It was obvious many opinions were being expressed concerning Jesus around that region, as the 12 had just expressed. And, since some things never change, in our own day what do people say about our Lord and Savior? Some demote Him to merely being on par with Gondi, Muhammad, Confucius, or the Dali Lama. Or simply referring to Him as nothing more than a Teacher, a promoter of Morality in and through the parables; even a deceiver, maybe even a con-man. The most obvious and telling, in this day and age, is the grade A fertilizer slogan: COEXIST. Only blindness and ignorance, in the truest sense, could presume the possibility that all religions, beliefs, and cults are identical and can all just get along singing kum-by-ya around a campfire.
Since it can be so easy to simply discount, even detract from the Son of God/Son of Man, especially when one lacks faith, refusing to acknowledge the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, for who He truly is. Could there also be a direct connection between those who no longer speak of or about sin? If everything is just an “oops” or, my bad, just a mistake, or lack of judgement, plus, it is not my fault......then there really is no need for a Savior since there is nothing to be saved from! If one does not realize they are sick, they find no use for the cure, remedy, medicine.
Jesus then goes on to provide an opportunity for the 12 to make their profession concerning the Person of Jesus, the Son of Man: “But who do you say that I am?” How have we used those times when we have been able to make a clear confession concerning the Person and work of the Savior? With such a confused and deluded society, and at times, even within many church bodies. People of God. Let us always be found clear and concise in our testifying about Jesus, the Christ. Dear Christian, who do you say Jesus is? “Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”’ The Christ, that is the Anointed One, the Messiah; the Suffering Servant of Is.53. Jesus’ Sonship, realized at His Baptism in the Jordan River, when the living Father designates Jesus as: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The Son of God, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, has always existed from eternity past into eternity future. To dismiss the reality of a living God who always has and always will exist.....is sinful Man’s attempt to envelop God Almighty within the confines of one’s own feeble limited mind. Since He is the living God, we will live into the eternity He has prepared for us. Besides, if God is not the Living One, who raised Jesus from the dead and why? Paul, in Col.1:18 states it like this: “He [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” “Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Simon, aka Simon Peter, aka Peter, has and can pronounce what he has not by some sort of facial recognition software rather, what has just been stated by him, came from the Father. People of God, no one “recognizes” nor “realizes” Jesus on their own or by themselves, their efforts. The Father made clear to Simon Peter who Jesus, the Christ, was, is, and shall ever remain. You and I don’t presume we have all of this figured out on our own, do we? Here is what Is. records in 53:2b: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” If the recognition of Jesus, the Christ, was so obvious, so easy, why do we read this in John 1: “The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
“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.” Do note how Jesus went from the name Simon, to the reference of Peter, or Petras, which carries the meaning of: Rock. Jesus did NOT say His Church would be, or was being built, on the likes of the main disciple: Peter. The Catholic Church has it quite wrong in their presumption that somehow Peter is the “Vicar”, the foundation and rock of and for the Lord’s Church. We know full that Christ is the cornerstone of His Church, it is not Peter’s Church! You know the bold disciple Peter who doubted Jesus’ very words when he states: Lord, IF it is You. Or in his bravado stating this in Mt.26: “Peter said to him, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” As Peter proceeds to deny His Lord, not too many hours later, when questioned by a servant girl no less! Testosterone laden Alpha males will hear that loud and clear, no offense to servant girls.
“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.” Jesus is the Church’s cornerstone, He alone is the foundation on which she stands, prevailing even against the gates of Hell and all of the attacks she will know and endure. And attacked she will be, so if the Lord’s Church was actually built on the likes of St. Peter, the frail sinner, the forecast would not be so cheery now, would it? While those first 12 Apostles, all of the Apostle’s, certainly were vital for the Lord’s Church, they themselves being the 1st generation of the Lord’s Pastors, His New Testament Church, the New Israel, they continue to be replenished since neither they, nor any Pastor, for that matter, will live on forever. There will be the day that I am no longer here! However, the Lord’s Church will always, will always remain, yes even into eternity! The gates of hell were kicked in when Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, took His victory lap just prior to His resurrection. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The Lord’s Church possesses the keys for entry, even restraint from admission. In Mt.23 we hear these words from Jesus: “woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” The Lord’s Church calls out sin, and sinners to repentance; she makes true proclamation of the Gospel in its truth and purity as she faithfully and rightly administers the Sacraments; her Lord’s Means of Grace. Unless we are preaching Christ crucified, we really haven’t anything to say now do we? It was the blood and gore of the cross, Jesus’ sacrificial death on it, that paid for, atones for, your sin and mine, for the sin of the world. Not Jesus’ teachings, not His parables. Jesus had to die, Jesus must be the slaughtered Lamb or we would have remained doomed, condemned to hell forever. Dear Christian, we required rescue, and only the Christ, the Messiah, would suffice to save your soul and mine.
“Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.” At first glance those words from Jesus perhaps have trouble computing - right? Are we not to tell far and wide all who will hear about Jesus and what He has accomplished to free us, and them, from sin, death, and the devil? Indeed, yet it was for good reason Jesus says what He does to them.
Earlier in the passage we heard what some of the public opinions were regarding Jesus. To be a Prophet though was, can we say, safe? Even unassuming? However, to announce that this radical upstart guy from Nazareth, to be the Christ, the Anointed One, the very Messiah Himself. While all certainly true, the attention such a message would stir within the masses and especially the religious leaders. Perhaps even the Romans? People of God, all of this from beginning to end is on Jesus’ terms, His timing, His way. Recall how the people wanted to make Him their bread King simply because He had fed them, once.
Let us also not exclude His disciples either; do we need to mention Peter in the Garden and his expert swordsmanship? Where do we hear Jesus being told, by Peter no less, that Jesus would not suffer or die in the manner that Jesus Himself had told them, more than once that He would? Jesus would and did lay low, as it were, what He told His disciples here will be echoed as Jesus and the inner circle of Peter, James, and John, descend from the Mount of Transfiguration: “As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”’
By Divine design everything would and did come to fruition in the Lord’s time and in His way. The disciples were simply to wait for Jesus' exaltation where on the bloody throne and of the cross, the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One was high and lifted up! Revealing who He truly was: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Amen? Amen. In the name of Jesus, Amen.