Hello! Today’s Foundation reflection is on Matthew 16:13-28. This is an absolute gold mine of a passage, with so much that we could delve into.

REFLECTION:

It revolves around two conversations that Jesus has with His disciples, particularly Simon Peter. We’re going to have a look at the big picture of what’s happening, through picking up on three particular parts of the narrative. The whole passage will be at the end of this reflection, but for now here are verses 16-23. We pick up just after Jesus has asked the question, ‘who do you say I am?’

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 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. 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.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

I love the story of Peter. His name was originally Simon but we tend to refer to him as Peter, which is the Greek version of the name Jesus gave him, Cephas. Peter was a fisherman, a businessman. He was smart, he spoke at least two if not more languages. He was also, shall we say, a little rough around the edges. He’s headstrong, he knows his own mind. We read at the start of the Gospels of how he leaves all he has to follow Jesus. He’s committed, all in. And in this passage we see him having two very different conversations with Jesus. In one, he shows that he knows that there’s something special about Jesus. He’s one step ahead of the crowds. He’s recognised that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s appointed King. In return, Jesus speaks some incredibly affirming words. Simon is given this new name of Peter, which means a stone or rock. He’s told that Jesus will make him instrumental in the coming Kingdom of God. In the next conversation however he gets a bit too big for his boots. He pulls Jesus aside, rebuking him for talking about this crazy idea about dying at the hands of the Jerusalem authorities, not overthrowing them. We’ve just heard Jesus’ response, saying ‘get behind me, Satan!’ Has there ever been such a fall from grace as in these two interactions?

The big picture of what I want to pull out today is that despite the ups and downs of Peter’s journey, Jesus uses him to do incredible and world shaking things. The same is true for us. Let’s look at three parts of the story that we can take encouragement from.

First, the location. If I’ve learnt anything from daytime TV it’s that Kevin from Grand Designs doesn’t age and location is always key. The first part of this conversation happens in Caesarea Philippi, which is in the far north of Israel, about 2 days walk above Lake Galilee. It strikes me that Jesus is choosing to slowly reveal His identity not in corridors of power, not in Jerusalem or even Rome, but far away from the shining lights, surrounded only by those who have committed to following Him. Straight away the implication for us is this, Jesus isn’t impressed by fame or fortune or power. The only thing that matters here is availability. Are we people who are available to Jesus and His promptings today?

Second is that Peter, the person held up as the one to lead the early Church, is not perfect. Far from it! I take great heart from the fact that Peter, fresh from being bigged up by none other than God’s own chosen King, makes such a tremendous miscalculation only verses later. He learns the hard way that our wisdom cannot begin to measure up against God’s. Peter shows throughout the Gospels that he isn’t perfect. He doubts Jesus halfway across the surface of a lake. He resorts to violence and then denies Jesus not once but three times at the climax of the Gospels. But Jesus also uses Peter to lead the early Church. To bring thousands to faith. To perform miracles. To inspire countless millions. Jesus sees past our failings.

Finally, It’s interesting that whilst Peter gets that there is something special about Jesus, he doesn’t fully grasp that Jesus is in fact God with skin on. Jesus doesn’t correct this. He’s taken a step forward and that’s enough. He doesn’t need to put more on the disciples than they could understand or indeed handle at that point. This is true for us today as well. We’re running the Alpha course here at STC right now and I love it. Everyone, no matter where they are in the faith journey brings questions to the discussion. And that’s great! We all have questions and doubts and areas we don’t fully understand. But that’s ok. Jesus uses those to take us forward in our relationship with Him.

As we go about our week, let us remember that our lack of full understanding or our imperfections do not stop us being used by Jesus. If we are available to Him then our generous God enables us to be sent out in His name, with His authority to partner with Him in building His glorious kingdom in the world around us.

PRAYER:

Thank you God for the truths we read in the Bible and the stories that inspire and empower us. Be with us today as we seek to be available to you. Amen.

READING: Matthew 16:13-28

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’

They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’

‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’

Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 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. 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.’ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’

Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’