One day, while Jesus was with His disciples, He asked them an interesting question, a question which I have been reflecting on for a while. The discussion during which this question was asked is recorded in Matthew 16:13-20 (And in Mark 8:27-30 and Luke 9:18-20 as well).

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And 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. ¹⁸ And 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. ¹⁹ 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.” ²⁰ Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.” (Matthew 16:13-20, ESV)

Incidentally, in two out of three gospel accounts, prior to this conversation was Jesus’ warning to the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees/Herod*. In that conversation, they misunderstood what He was trying to say. They thought He was talking about them not having bread and perhaps needing to buy some, instead of the fact that He was cautioning them about the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. This prompted Him to remind them of the fact that He had fed five thousand men with five loaves of bread, and four thousand men with seven loaves. Based on that alone, why would they even be thinking He was worried about them not having bread?

I wonder if it was this confusion that led Him to ask them the titular question, to confirm that they actually knew who He really was. Before He gets to that question though, He asks them what other people were saying about Him. They answer that people say He is possibly one of the prophets come back to life. This isn’t so different from our world today, is it? Where people see Jesus simply as one of the prophets. Or a good teacher. Or a nice man who lived a long time ago. However, that is akin to reducing a five-dimensional object to a one or two dimensional object, and is sadly either a function of ignorance, or a calculated attempt to pretend to accord Jesus some respect while actually denying the very essence of His identity. Because as we know, there’s a whole lot more to Jesus than being a prophet reincarnated or a good teacher or a nice man.

And so, Jesus asks the question again, but this time, He personalises it. This time around, He doesn’t want the opinions of others, He wants the opinion of His nearest and dearest. “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responds, and His response shows that He knows just who Jesus is. In this, He is not confused. “Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”” What a powerful declaration.

Jesus blesses Peter for this declaration, which in a sense must have been a relief, that the ones close to Him were not mistaken about His identity, unlike those who were not close to Him. Then Jesus goes on to say, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And 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. ¹⁹ 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.” 

Incidentally, this is the first mention of the word church in the Bible, as far as I’m aware. There is something about this passage though that always leaves me wondering. A lot of people say that Jesus is referring to Peter as the rock on which He will build His church. However, I wonder if the way this was phrased was a sort of pun, as I’m not entirely convinced it was Peter whom Jesus was referring to here. I believe Jesus was referring to Peter’s reply, i.e. the fact that the foundation of His church would be the truth that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!

When you think about it, why would Jesus build His church on a fallible, mortal man? Does that strike you as the kind of foundation Jesus would lay His entire church on? Bear in mind that a foundation can be defined as either the “lowest load-bearing part of a building”, or “an underlying basis or principle”. I remember the first time I heard this discussed, when I was a teenager way back when, during a Bible Study session, and I have never forgotten it. Ever since then, I’ve always seen that verse differently.

Remember also that it was Jesus Himself who preached the sermon on building your house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27). In that passage, He likens those who hear and do His Words (i.e. His teachings) to a wise man who built his house on a rock. Conversely, He likens those who hear but do not obey His words to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The former house did not fall despite the rain and floods and winds, purely because it had been founded on the rock, and the latter fell, and a great fall it was. Why? Because its foundation was faulty.

So, who do you say Jesus is? In other words, what do you believe to be true about Jesus? Do you believe He is who He says He is? This is so crucial, because what we believe about Jesus is foundational to everything else. Do you believe that He is the Son of God, God made flesh? Our Saviour? Do you believe He is someone who keeps His promise? Someone who is faithful, who can be depended on, relied on? Someone who loves us so much that He suffered intensely and gave His life for us?

If you do believe this, praise God! However, that is not enough. As James 2:19-20 (AMP) states, “You believe that God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe that, and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror–they have seen His wrath]! But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless?” That may seem a bit harsh, but it gets the message across. A second question to ask then is, how does your answer to that question influence the way you live? Are you building your house on a rock solid foundation by listening to and obeying Jesus’ teachings? Or is the construction of your house taking place on sinking sand?

I love the lyrics of the hymn, “My hope is built on nothing less” by Edward Mote:

1 My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.

2 When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]

3 His oath, his covenant, his blood,
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay. [Refrain]

4 When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found:
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain]**

I love that it emphasises that Christ is the solid Rock on which we stand. Yes there will be darkness which tries to hide His lovely Face, high and stormy gales which try to blow us off this Rock, floods which try to sweep us away from the Rock. Yet, despite all that, we can rest on Him, our Hope and Stay, and on His unchanging grace.

There will be times when circumstances, events, darkness in our lives, will give us cause to doubt and disobey Him. Sometimes we will feel strongly justified in doing so, because… ah, life has shown us ‘shege pro max’ (slang for extreme difficulties), and His face feels well and truly hidden from us. These are the times when we may be most vulnerable to the yeast of the Pharisees/Sadducees/Herod, i.e. the false teachings Jesus warned about, whether these be teachings from those claiming to be from God, or teachings from the world, teachings that can spread so quickly, corrupting large groups of people. Hence Jesus aptly describing them as yeast. Some of these may be teachings that, in normal times, we would give a very wide berth. Sadly desperation is a dangerous driver, taking us to places we would ordinarily never want to go to.

That said, the choice still lies with us. What are we going to do when times like these rear their ugly head? Are we going to be like the disciples when they misunderstood Jesus, worrying that they didn’t have bread, when the Bread of Life was right next to them? (Matthew 16:4-11). Worrying that they were going to perish in the storm, when the Prince of Peace/Storm Stiller was right in the boat with them? (Mark 4:35-41). Worrying about being considered the greatest, when the Servant King was demonstrating and teaching service over and over? (Luke 22:24-27).

Or, are we going to continuously remind ourselves of who Jesus is? The Anointed One, Our Rock, Our Rescuer, Our Healer, Our Redeemer, Our Saviour, Our Lord, The one who came to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:17-21). Based on that knowledge and revelation of Him, are we then going to trust and obey what He asks us to do, even in, especially in the hardest moments?

I pray that as we reflect on this, we will hold on to the truth that Jesus is who He says He is, as revealed in the Word and by His Spirit. May we not settle for any watered down version of Jesus, a version where He is so diluted in our lives that He barely has any say while we hold sway; where we pick and choose what He wants us to do based on what suits or doesn’t suit us. Instead, when He asks us, ‘who do you say I am?’ may we be able to say, with our thoughts, words and deeds, that we truly believe that He, Jesus, is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, God with us, Our Lord and Saviour. Amen and Amen.

* Mark’s gospel states “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” (Mark 8:15b).

** Lyrics source here.

Image source here.