On This Rock: A Meditation on Matthew 16

When Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” lots of answers arise.  This is pretty predictable, since the mass of people who both followed Him and harangued Him were not clear on this subject.  Some said He was Elijah or one of the prophets, and some of the Pharisees at least once vent their suspicion that He is related to the devil.  Amidst all this popular confusion, Jesus asks His disciples very pointedly, “But who do you say that I am?”

St. Peter, as the functional leader and frequent spokesman for the disciples, summarizes their answer:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  In this answer is found the mystery of Jesus’ origin, His Incarnation, His mission, and His eternal deity.  As the Messiah, or the Christ, He is the One prophesied to rescue Israel and the whole world from sin, death, and hell—the Son of Man, by whose stripes all would be healed.  As the Son of God, He is fully divine, coeternal with the Father and the Spirit, with no beginning and no end—He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  Wrapped up in St. Peter’s answer is the eternal truth, that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world, the One Name given among men by which we must all be saved.  Jesus is our Savior.

Jesus reveals to St. Peter and all His disciples, that such an answer can only come from God Himself.  No one, using their own fallen human powers, will make such a confession.  Only those who have been enlivened by the Holy Spirit working through Jesus’ Word, will come to know Him as Savior and Lord.  Apart from Jesus’ Word and Spirit, we are lost to our own imaginations, philosophies and theories, like blind people groping around in a dark forest.  But by the Light of Jesus’ Word and Spirit, blind people like you and I are able to see the great truth that Jesus really is the Christ, the Son of the Living God—the One who has come to seek and to save the lost.  While Jesus is pleased with St. Peter’s answer, He must remind Peter to keep his ego in check—he didn’t come up with this answer on his own, and the saving faith which clings to this good confession, is a gift for which no one may boast.

To the confirmed and humbled Peter, Jesus makes a promise:  that He will establish His Church upon the solid rock of this great confession, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  This Church that Jesus promises to establish, will be given the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, to forgive and retain sins according to the faith and repentance of the penitent.  With such a weapon as the Keys, hell cannot keep its hold on anyone, for every sinner that was destined to the jaws of eternal condemnation, will be offered the free gift of grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.  The power of hell will be destroyed, because the power of sin will be broken, and the authority to forgive sins will be given to the disciples of Christ.  Upon so great a foundation as Christ crucified for the sins of the world, the Church shall be built, confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior, and wielding the greatest weapon ever given to mankind:  Forgiveness by the Word of Christ.

By the forgiveness of sins in Holy Baptism, the devil and his power is broken over every sinner.  Through the forgiveness of sins given in the Holy Eucharist, the new life in every sinner is refreshed and sustained.  Through the forgiveness of sins in Holy Absolution, every sinner who falls is raised back up again.  And so, before the Church of Christ which bears His Word, His Confession, and His Keys, there is no power of darkness that can stand.  By Jesus’ Word the demons flee.  By Jesus’ Word, the sinner is saved.  By Jesus’ Word, hell itself is assaulted and looted.  By Jesus’ Word, all who will believe and are baptized, shall be saved.

Jesus fulfills this promise to His disciples after His death and resurrection.  It is recorded in John 20, where the promise made in the singular to St. Peter on behalf of the disciples in Matthew 16, is made in the plural to all His disciples as He breathes upon them, giving them His Spirit, His Word, His Authority, and His Keys.  The victory of Christ, the Son of the Living God, is given to mankind for the salvation of the world, and in His great victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil, we stride confidently into the world by grace through faith in Him.  Forgiven and free, we take up the irresistible arms of that wonderful Gospel, carrying forgiveness to every soul in bondage, setting evil oppressors to flight, and crashing the very gates of hell. 

Let the Church of Christ rise up in this our day, and carry forth the victory of Jesus Christ to every soul under heaven—for we have the weapon that no foe can resist or overthrow, the very Word of Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Amen.