Trinity 12 

Opening Verse of Scripture Romans Chapter 11

O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

God of constant mercy, who sent your Son to save us: remind us of your goodness, increase your grace within us, that our thankfulness may grow, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Bible Reading Isaiah 51.1–6

Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her,  thanksgiving and the voice of song. Listen to me, my people,  and give heed to me, my nation;
for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out
and my arms will rule the peoples;the coastlands wait for me,  and for my arm they hope. Lift up your eyes to the heavens,  and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be for ever, and my deliverance will never be ended.

Second Reading  Romans 12.1–8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Gospel Reading  Matthew 16.13–20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Post Communion Prayer

God of all mercy, in this eucharist you have set aside our sins and given us your healing: grant that we who are made whole in Christ may bring that healing to this broken world, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

Jesus wants to know what people call him, what do they think about him, who do they say he is? Clearly there were some, including members of his own family who thought that he was mentally deranged. There were others who took him much more seriously as a threat, including King Herod who thought he was the reincarnation of John the Baptist. Others thought that he was one of the prophets like Elijah back from the dead.

Before we think of the response which Peter gave we should just reflect upon where all of this happened, Caesarea Philippi at the base of Mount Hermon. There is perhaps no other place in the Gospels which has such a profound geographical importance to our understanding of the text. 

First of all the geology of Mount Hermon is important because it is a huge limestone mountain over 9,000 feet between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. It has great rainfall and in winter it can be seen for miles covered in snow. The rain and melted snow goes thorough the limestone and creates vast underground reservoirs and water comes out of the mountain in springs. The historian Josephus, who wrote in the first century, spoke of the huge cavern at the base of the mountain containing water which plunged down so deep no depth line had ever reached the bottom. Earthquakes since have moved the water but it still flows to create the Jordan River and on down into Lake Galilee. It was this abundance of water which attracted people to the place. There were important periods when this was a place of worship

Before this place was called Caesarea Philippi it had a significant history

• It was a sacred worship place to the Caananites. It was once called Baal Hermon because the fertility gods, the Baals were thought to live there
• Then the Israelite king Jereboam 922-901 set up a worship centre to the god Baal there and put up a golden calf
• Then came Alexander the Great and in the third century before Jesus, Greek gods and goddesses became important at the site. The place was named Paneas, after the Greek god Pan, whose name means ‘pasture.’ He was god of land, crops and procreation and his worship often involved sexual fertility rites. He was half human half goat. There was the usual cultic prostitution but significantly also interaction between humans and goats and Pan is often shown playing a pipe. Goats were sold for sacrifice to Pan and an orchestra near the temple provided music, and worshipers would “dance” with the goats before leading them for sacrifice. You can visit the site today. You can see the ruins of the temples and altars where these activities took place. It is not now called Caesarea Philippi or even Panias. It was taken by the Arabs and because the letter P does not exist in Arabic its substitute is B and it is called Banias.

Today it is mostly a deserted ruin. You can see the ruins of the temples to Augustus and Nemesis and the worship of Pan. Of most importance you can see the large cave of Pan. Worshippers took their sacrifice inside the cave, this grotto temple to Pan. This was believed to be the gate through which gods entered and departed this world. They were thrown into the bottomless pool inside the cave which Josephus wrote about. This was believed to be the entrance to the Gates of Hades. When Herod was given the city of Paneas in 20BC he built a temple of white marble and dedicated to Caesar Augustus, remember Caesar was a god, and he placed it directly in front of the cave of Pan from which the water gushed forth. When Herod’s son Philip took over he enlarged the temple and renamed the place Caesarea Philippi. Today as a result of earthquakes ands seismic activity the water has changed it is quite serene. However a little further downstream the waterfall at Banias shows how the water can flow. 

In the cave there are the niches in the mountain rock beside the cave face where statues to other gods were placed like Zeus and Hermes and Nemesis. Homer described the threefold division of all things among the three sons of Cronos. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Poseidon was granted the sea, Zeus the heavens and Hades was given the murky darkness of the dead below and was the most hateful god to humans. This was how Hades came to refer to the place of the dead as well as the god of the dead.

When Jesus says in Matthews Gospel that the gates of Hades will not prevail, he is using the picture of this Greek myth. It very important to understand this historical background if we want to understand Jesus. The dark images of the Gates of Hades recur throughout the Illiad and Odyssey by Homer and they represent not a real place, not a biblical place, but rather the universal human dread of death. The cave at Pan represented the entrance to the threshold of death.

It was in this place of pagan worship that Jesus speaks with his disciples about who people, think he is. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the episode and the response from Peter which identifies Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. In making this statement in this place Peter was denying all of the authority of Rome and the history of worship of pagan gods.

There is a lot of debate about what Jesu meant when he said

You are Peter (Petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church.

The words can be interchangeable. Put the debate as to whether Peter was the first Pope etc to one side. I think it is of much more significance to imagine Jesus

• Standing in front of this mountain
• With the gods looking out from those niches
• With the cave of Pan
• With the huge temples and the cult of the Emperor.

Then think how significant it was when Jesus responded to a statement of faith in him by saying

Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 

The Gates of Hades were not some imaginary hell, this was the cave entrance visible in the background. Mount Hermon, Baal Hermon as it had once been called, this huge rock represented all of the false pagan gods in which people had placed their trust.  This was a place where life and death had been foremost in the minds of the visitors. According to Canaanite myths the god Baal died in the summer months and then rose again in the winter rains which brough life back to the land. Worship of Baal were about fertility which came back to the land. This was a place of abomination, death and false hope.

As Jesus sets off from this mountain towards Jerusalem he proclaims that it will not be the false gods of Mount Hermon but his death and his resurrection that will bring true life and real hope.     Charles Royden   

Meditation

In the New Testament passage today we see Jesus speaking in the shadow of Caesarea Philipi in the far north of Israel, a city which had been named Paneas in honour of the Greek god Pan, the god of Music. There was a monument to Pan in the city. Rome had conquered the entire region and in 20BC Caesar Augustus gave the town to Herod the Great. On Herod’s death in 4BC his son Philip inherited the city and named it after Casesar and himself.

So this is a place of worship and of worldly power, where men invented gods and became gods. You would walk around and see the shrines to gods and you would see the shrine to Caesar Augustus. There was a temple of white marble that honoured the cult of the Caesar. Remember ‘Saviour of the world’ was a title given to Caesar, Jesus was just another competing voice for attention.

Understand this, because this is the context in which Peter makes his decision to confess his faith in Jesus. It was in the context of competing human power and authority and worship of other gods in which this confession of Peter takes.

Jesus wants to know what people are saying about him. The disciples tell him that some think of him as John the Baptist back from the dead. This underlines how Jesus was associated with John. He is also associated with the OT prophets.

Then Jesus asks who they think he is and that is when we have the wonderful confession of faith from Peter. In response Jesus gives Peter another name 'Rock'

We are told that the "gates of Hades" will not prevail. We often take this to mean that the assaults of hell cannot doom the church. Gates, however, are stationary. They do not attack, they either keep stuff in or keep stuff out; mostly they defend. The point is that the church does not defend against hell, but rather attacks and defeats it. So Jesus gives Peter keys to unlock hades or Hell. It is very important for us to realise that Hell cannot keep out the love of God.

I want us to think today a little about this confession of Peter. At the time, titles like ‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ meant a great deal and Peter knew what he was saying when he used them. To the Jewish disciples these sorts of titles made sense. When Peter says these words he means that Jesus fulfills all of his hopes and dreams and indeed the everyday hopes and aspirations of ordinary people. He is declaring his belief that in Jesus he sees God’s answer to the human condition of separation from God. The problem is that today terms like Messiah and Christ do not mean so much to people.

If you tell people that Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy they are most likely to say, ‘so what?’ Today people are not looking for a Messiah. Most people have never read the Old Testament, never thought about Messianic prophecy. 

We often hear that phrase don’t we, that this is a ‘Christian country’, of course this is ridiculous. Our country once had very Christian values and Christianity has shaped a great deal of our country institutions over history. However today this is not a Christian country, this is largely a secular society with different faiths. So much of our religious language and ideas are met with apathy, because they do not address the sorts of things which people are looking for. truth be told our society is not looking for a Messiah.

If we are honest, today the great gods which people worship are designer brands, beauty, lifestyle, and the traditional pursuits of money, wealth, status, power. People are looking for and have aspirations which are very material and concern certain types of possessions.

So for our confession of faith, we can say that Jesus is the Messiah, but perhaps we need to say other things about Jesus which our world will understand.

A good place to work out what we should be saying about Jesus can come from looking at advertising. Advertising reflects these gods of our age and in no small part gives them creates values and gives credibility to certain things. We are fooling ourselves if we think that advertisements only sell products. These incredibly expensive, beguiling mini movies that we see for fleeting moments on our televisions, they sell values, images, concepts of love and sexuality and success. They are on the television in the prime moments of our lives and they therefore establish what normality is, they tell us who we are and what we should be.

As you look at advertisements you can see the problem areas of our lives where we need the teachings of Jesus. For example advertisements define what beauty is. They tell us what we and especially what women should be like. Women should achieve a certain look by spending lots of their time and energy and money on products. They will therefore have no spots or blemishes or flaws, indeed no pores. They say that women especially must be thin, so thin that the models themselves die from being so emaciated, so much so that now this kind of aspirational beauty can only be achieved through Photoshop and airbrushing. Keira Knightly is so thin that she has no bust, so on photographs, photoshop is used to inflate her bra size. Cindy Crawford famously said that she wished she looked like Cindy Crawford.

What the ads do with beauty they do with money so that our value, our worth as human beings is judged in what we own, what car we drive, how many material possessions with certain brands we have been able to collect. Is it any wonder that the recent riots in our country have seen looters smashing shops to steal certain branded goods.

These are the kinds of gods under whose shadow we as Christians must share good news about who Jesus is. The problems is we must fight these Gods on their own terms. It is little use saying to our society that Jesus is the Messiah, or the Christ. People are not interested in these things, they are interested in wealth and material possessions and beauty. Our task is to be able to present what Jesus has to say about these gods. We have to challenge these Gods. We have to be able to challenge these gods and show them up for their falsity.

The Christians declared the temples of pagan gods to be nothing more than empty tombs. So we must unashamedly declare the gods of our age to be leading people up blind alleys. They will not provide the food for souls which are searching for peace and fulflilment and self worth. These things will only be found in the presence of Jesus.

Our Christian teaching over the past weeks of Ordinary time has been committed to hearing the words of Jesus about lifestyle and values. These messages are important for people to hear. As we listen to Jesus we understand the real meaning of beauty, which is not skin deep. We recognise how hollow the pursuit of material goods can be and how disappointing for souls which are not filled by wealth and riches. Indeed we hear the words of Jesus which tell us that it brings more blessing to give than to receive. 

It is unfortunate that salvation has largely been framed in terms of "going to heaven when we die". Salvation is not just a future hope – an evacuation from the world, salvation is about living lives empowered by God in our world to bring about change.

In every community we see the damage caused by the gods of this world and the pain and destruction can be seen easily. We see the eating disorders created even in our children by the deception of the image of beauty, we see the debt which imprisons souls trapped by illusions of wealth. As a church today we declare our faith in Jesus as the answers to human need, just as did Peter. So we must go and speak these words and allow others to know so that lives and communities can be transformed.   Charles Royden

Hymns

• Joyful, joyful, we adore thee
• There is a redeemer
• Restore O Lord
• My hope is built on nothing less (Tune Magic Flute - Mozart)
• To him we come
• Our eyes have seen the glory
• Master speak thy servant heareth
• The Church’s One Foundation
• Guide me O thou great Jehovah 

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Heavenly Father, may your Holy Spirit lead the rich nations to support the poor, and the strong nations to support the weak; so that every nation may develop in its own way, and work together with other nations in true partnership for the promotion of peace and the good of all people, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Diocese of Melanesia

O God, whose Son Jesus Christ cared for the welfare of everyone and went about doing good; grant us the imagination and perseverance to create in this country and throughout the world a just and loving society for the human family, and make us agents of your compassion to the suffering, the persecuted and the oppressed, through the Spirit of your Son, who shared the sufferings of men, our pattern and our redeemer, Jesus Christ. Norwich Cathedral 

God, we know that every person is your beloved child. When anyone suffers, you suffer also. may we have the courage to bring equality among people, so that your life, as well as ours, is free from the pain of injustice. Amen. John W. Riggs 

O Lord, vouchsafe to look mercifully upon us, and grant that we may ever choose the way of peace. Sarum Missal

Additional Material

Commentary

Jesus goes to Caesarea Philippi with his disciples. Caesarea Philippi was so named because it was rebuilt by the Tetrarch Herod Philip in honour of the emperor Tiberius. Lying 25 miles north of Galilee, it was a beautiful place in the foothills of the snow capped Mount Hermon. Springs fed by the melting snow from Mount Hermon formed the headwaters of the Jordan River. The site was beautiful and lush compared to the dryness of much of the surrounding countryside. Jesus may have chosen this as a good place to get away from the crowds because it was a beautiful location for a break. This was as close as Jesus was going to get to a holiday. Perhaps also importantly, this was formerly the area which had been called Paneas in honour of the Greek god, Pan, the god of music. The inhabitants were largely Gentile, this is Gentile territory. Perhaps the Gentile background of the place was important for Jesus, it is certainly important for us, because it reminds us that the events which follow took place in a time and place in which there were many competing religious voices. Jesus is about to ask the disciples to come to a conclusion and decide who he really is. They were surrounded by other religions and they had to think what was important and make their minds up.

Jesus asks the disciples "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The disciples report a variety of answers. 

The idea that Jesus was John the Baptist has already been mentioned by Herod in Matthew 14:1-2. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him." The mention of Elijah is understandable for several reasons. John the Baptist had been identified as Elijah or an Elijah-type figure. Elijah had also been noted for miracles. The mention of Jeremiah is unique to Matthew's gospel at this location. Or one of the prophets. What John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah had in common was that they were prophets. The people who had seen and heard of Jesus' ministry were describing him as a prophet. The New Testament is clear that Jesus' ministry shared the characteristics of the ministry of many of the prophets. "Prophet" was a common title to describe Jesus. Then Jesus then asks them the more important question - "Who do you all say that I am?"

The question was to all the disciples, but Peter spoke first, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." At this point, three of the major titles for Jesus are brought together: Son of Man, Messiah (the Christ), and Son of God. The English word "Christ" is the English form of the Greek word christos which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah. Technically, it would be possible to replace the name "Christ" with the title "Messiah" everywhere in the New Testament. This is the first time in Matthew's gospel that the Messiahship of Jesus has been confessed directly. Several times Matthew has himself indicated that Jesus was Messiah (Matthew 1:1, 16, 17; 2:4; 11:2) but this is the first time it appears on the lips of a character in the story. As messiah, Jesus was the fulfilment of Jewish hopes and he was the culmination of God's involvement in human history to bring us salvation. Peter also confessed Jesus to be "the Son of the Living God." This exact phrase is found only in Matthew's account of the episode at Caesarea Philippi. Mark 8:29 has only, "You are the Christ (or the Messiah)" and Luke 9:20 states Peter's confession as, "You are the Christ (or Messiah) of God."

Perhaps it was his Jewish audience that made it important for Matthew to clarify that Jesus was much more than simply the Jewish messiah. The theme of Jesus' divine sonship has been important throughout Matthew. The voice from heaven announced it at Jesus' baptism. Satan tempted Jesus at that point in the temptations. The disciples had all acclaimed Jesus Son of God already in Matthew 14:33 after Jesus (and Peter) had walked on the water. Now it is combined with the titles Messiah and Son of Man to provide the most complete identification of Jesus to yet appear in this gospel.

Israel had waited a long time, old Judaism still waits today for the Messiah. But Peter's confession expresses the fulfilment of the Jewish dream and makes us the real Jews. For we have welcomed the Messiah. This is the root of our identity as Christians. To know who Jesus is, is vital.

• It is not enough to believe that he is very important. 
• It is not enough to believe that he is like the other prophets and messengers of God. 
• It is not enough to believe he is like the Buddha, a very important religious teacher. 

When Peter declares: "You are the Messiah", he is saying what has to be said for us to be called Christian. To be Christian means believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Anything else -- anything less -- might be religious, but it is not Christian.

How does Jesus respond to Peter

Jesus uses the name in Aramaic 'Petros', in Greek 'Cephas'. Whether Jesus would have used the Aramaic or Greek is irrelevant because in both languages the word refers to a rock or stone. Protestants have argued that it is the confession of Peter which is important and not Peter himself. However we should acknowledge that Jesus does give Peter a special place. Clearly this was an important moment and Peter was to be a foundation of the church in a special way but-

This passage has been used perhaps more than any other to justify the papacy. But the text says nothing about the successors of Peter, or infallibility or exclusive authority. Whilst Jesus gives this blessing to Peter, there is no suggestion that the blessing can be passed on -- or that any succession is intended.  The granting of authority to Simon Peter is also for all the apostles (v. 19), for elsewhere in Matthew (18:18) and John (20:23) this bestowal of power is on all of them.  We have to be careful of putting Peter on a pedestal, we all know what a mess Peter went on to make and how he completely misunderstood what being Messiah meant, so much so that Jesus said to him 'get behind me Satan!' 16:23 One minute he is a foundation, the next a stumbling block!  Clearly Jesus is the church's foundation 1 Cor 3:11, Ephesians 2:19 and all the apostles are involved as foundations.

Jesus then speaks of giving the keys. Keys are a symbol of power and authority.

I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Rev 1:18

If you have keys then you hold power of entry and admittance. Of course it does not follow that Jesus was speaking about priestly roles of absolution and forgiveness. When Jesus said to Peter 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven' He is speaking specifically to Peter. This must indicate that Peter has a special role. Peter was the foundation, the first stone laid. He has primacy in salvation history. However I cannot see that it therefore follows that Peter has any special position of hierarchy, indeed such teaching seems alien to the whole message of Christ. We should think of the rest of Jesus' teaching where he speaks of the 'power' which all the disciples have - They are fishers of men 4:19; they are salt 5:13; light 5:14.

The disciples collectively are called to speak words which will offer entrance to life. Jesus says that not even Hades, not even death can prevail against these words of life. Hades is the abode of the dead. Jesus will break death's power by his own resurrection, which is but the first fruits of the many faithful who will be raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:23). Not only Jesus, but all the redeemed among the dead, shall rise again and stride confidently through the broken gates. Because death is of Satan, the church need not be afraid of any evil. The church and those who are a part of it will never die, they will conquer all. These words of Jesus should not surprise us. The Christian gospel holds supernatural power, it is a power which can unlock people's lives.

So where does that leave us today

1. The question to us  As we hear Jesus' question to Peter, it is asked of us too. Can we also say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God...?"

Peter responded with his declaration of faith in Jesus. Peter might have felt proud of himself working out who Jesus really was. His pleasure would have been short lived, because Jesus told him that his response was not because he was a really clever person at all. Jesus says that the only way that he could have worked it out was because of God 'flesh and blood has not revealed this to you....'

If you and I are able to worship Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, then we represent the power of God at work in our lives. So, are we now willing to make the kind of life changing investment which is required of his disciples? If we mean what we say then we are a part of that holy people called to live a different and challenging Christian life? It is worth remembering that those Apostles gave their lives for their faith, literally. We cannot be sure of the accuracy of tradition which tells us how they died. But what is clear is that the tradition all points to the fact that they all gave their lives and many died violent deaths for their faith. (See note below)

2.Our task The church is not a group of Jesus supporters who go along on Sunday to watch how well Jesus performs. As the church we are spirit empowered disciples who are the active representation of Christ on earth. You and I hold spiritual keys and just like those first Apostles we are called to be fishers of men.

3. God's promise  In all of this we must remember that we hold spiritual keys, not human one's. The task of building the church is not ours, Jesus does not say to the disciples 'you build my church' rather he says, 'I will build my church' The building of the church is a work of Christ. It is a godly work, not a human one. It is for this reason that the church will endure and triumph.  Charles Royden

Commentary

So what can we learn from Peter?

1. Jesus welcomed his profession of faith even though it contained lots of wrong information. Jesus welcomed Peter as a work in progress, not the finished product. We should believe therefore that Jesus welcomes us in the same way, with our misconceptions and ignorance. We do not have to have everything sorted out before we respond to Jesus in faith.
2. Jesus knowingly endorses one who will make mistakes. Being the leader obviously put Peter in the firing line. We see all of his failures very clearly. Jesus never sough perfection, he sought out those who were willing to serve, those who would go were sent. The life of the critic, or the armchair leader is very easy, Jesus has no work for armchair disciples. The parable of the talents is an illustration of this. God presence in our lives is not a guarantee against failure.
3. Jesus knows that God is at work in Peter’s life. Jesus says to Peter ‘flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.’ Being able to respond to God in faith is a spiritual gift. It is the Holy Spirit who lives within us as we struggle to make sense of our faith. One of the things which we should try to find in a partner is somebody who makes us a better person, somebody who helps us to bring out of ourselves the best that we can be. In fact that should be true of all of our relationships, if people bring out the worst in us then we should perhaps thinks of not spending time with them in relationship. The work of the Holy Spirit is to help move us one towards the person God wants us to be. It is not that one day we will find perfection. We know that Peter himself even as a senior apostle was admonished by Paul for changing his approach to whether gentiles had to become Jews if they wished to follow Jesus. Yet he grew immeasurably from Simon the fisherman to Peter the Rock, upon which Jesus predicted the church would be built. This change is true for all of us. We are works in progress and we seek to have God, by his Holy Spirit make us the best person of ourselves that he intended us to be. This is not making us all the same! If you join a cult then they tell you what you should be like, how you should think, speak, eat everything. Some Christian sects can be like this, churning our clones. I thought of it a bit like recycling plastic bottles you enter looking like one bit of plastic and you all get melted down and end up the same looking plastic bottle. We are not called to be made the same, we are called to be a part of a church and we are all different. We bring our individual gifts to be used by God and we become complete as the different part make up the Christian church. Some are leaders like Peter, · First into the tomb · Fearless and passionate , don’t’ consider the consequences, soldiers come for Jesus so he chops of their ears. Others are like Peter’s wife who take on huge sacrifices, she joined him on his missionary journeys, put herself at risk, gave up her stable life to support him in ministry. God was clearly at work in her life and yet we do not even know her name !
4. Jesus asks the question, ‘Who do you say that I am.’ This same question comes to us down through the ages. Has the Holy Spirit planted the seed of faith in your heart ? If he has then you too are a part of God’s church and you are called to be a part of this process of being a disciple, being made into the most fulfilling person of yourself, the best person that you can be this side of heaven. Through the Holy Spirit God calls us as we are and welcomes us with all of our imperfections. Like Peter our relationship with God will change us and make demands upon is. Not to make us all the same, Stepford Christians. God made us to be different not to all be the same. To use the bottle analogy he wants plain bottles, and coloured bottles, straight bottles and curved bottles, all part of his kingdom

When we answer, ‘You are the Christ’ that has implications for us and for our lives. We are not saying that Jesus is a great teacher or role model, we are saying that he is our creator God. It has implications, implications for how we spend our time, money and energy. This is for all Christians, not just the Peter or Pauls. God call us all to be wholehearted in all aspects of our lives. Knowing that we are imperfect and make mistakes, recognising that still God choose you and seeking for God’s Holy Spirit to enliven every part of our lives, which like our holidays at this time of year are over far too soon.    Charles Royden

Commentary

We have an important passage today from Matthew today, Jesus says

‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church’

Building on rock was something everybody understood. The rock upon which the temple was built was thought of as sealing the gateway to Sheol the underworld, so it is important !  For Roman Catholics this is important today because it is seen as a teaching about the primacy of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. Protestant churches would read the same scripture and see it as a commendation instead of the faith of Peter ‘The Rock’ of confession of the faith upon which the church is built. There are many wonderful commentaries about how Jesus could have meant different things by the Greek words which he uses. Whenever you hear folks say that they just believe scripture then this is one of those passages which demonstrate that two people or indeed two entire churches can read the scripture for centuries and come to completely different conclusions as to what it means, and both may be right or wrong . 

This has some important teaching about the church. Often you will hear people describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious." They profess spiritual values and may even have private practices, but do not want to belong to any "formal institution." In today’s text the church is seen as essential to Christian faith. Today we hear Jesus speak about the church which will be built upon the people who confess his name. In this passage Jesus is very specific: Jesus says, he will build his church. The aramaic word means community - like the word synagogue. But it is not just a community Jesus says 'My Community.'

The community of Jesus was going to be different. For a start it welcomed women. Jewish worship requires the presence of at least ten adult Jewish males to form a minyan, or for public prayer. Jesus says 'where two or three are gathered', gender was no longer a determining factor !

In this new church family, women were as important as men, but size was not important at all. The church, the community might be small, but that did not mean that it was now powerful. In human terms the community might appear weak. The followers could be persecuted and killed. But the church had invisible power. It could not be conquered by death! The community of Jesus would not be overcome even by death. 

‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

The passage today speaks about binding and loosing and there is the phrase about giving the keys. Jesus passes the keys to Peter as a sign of authority. We like keys don't we! They give us power. They are a sign of office. At the time there were rules about who joined different communities. We know that the Qumran community had officials who decided who was allowed in. Binding and loosing were words which were regularly used for rabbis interpretation of scripture - what they prohibited and permitted and they applied to judicial situations.

Remember that this authority was not something which was just given to Peter. Later in Matthew 18:18 we read the same commission to the wider church and not just Peter

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

And so we have a church - or a family - where we all share authority and discipline. Jesus goes on in Matthew so speak about how this family is to live and get along. Jesus says ‘if your brother sins go and tell him ’ The church is not just a gathering of people who think and act the same way. Jesus says to his disciples ‘If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault’ - it is a family word. Think of yourselves as belonging to a family, the family of God. Membership of the church should be very different to membership of the golf club, or the bowling club. Jesus is giving rules as to how to be the church will behave when one of the family falls, members of the family will and Jesus gives instructions as to how to deal with it.

 he language of falls is interesting. When you are young you fall over, but when you are older you 'had a fall.'  Falling is bad, it unsettles your confidence you feel vulnerable. Yet we all fall, we are balanced and precarious. That is what life is like for all of us, we fall over. Things can make us fall, we can be in a dark place and unable to see, we can be walking over difficult ground, or running down a hill. Its no good abusing ourselves when we fall and telling ourselves how stupid we are. We have to see the reasons why we fall and try and stop them happening again. Sometimes however it is inevitable that we will fall because you cannot walk over rough ground all the time without the occasional slip.

So when a brother - or sister falls short, we are told the matter the matter should be dealt with quietly, face to face. This was common at the time, another Jewish teacher M Abot 3:1, ruled that publicly shaming a fellow believer even if erring, excludes one from the life to come. Publicly attacking is wrong. If we have grievances we go with love and respect and we talk. Jesus is tapping into common practice at the time. In Qumran a record was kept of rebukes (4Q477) but the procedure was private rebuke, only then before witnesses and then before the community.

Once upon a time people used to write poisonous letters, do you remember? Have you ever had one of those. I am going to tell you what I think you have done wrong and I am going to write it down so that you can read the hurtful comments over and over again - so that I can hurt you. Nowadays we have email, which is even easier to use to inflict wounds! The message from Matthew’s Gospel is that we should share these things face to face. Jesus gives us a new way of living, we are supposed to love our enemies and forgive those who offend us - not write them nasty letters, not take them to courtThis is not natural for us. To err is human and to forgive is divine. But this is a requirement for a disciple of Jesus. God's grace has to warm our hearts with its forgiveness before we can begin to warm the hearts of others. Sin does not have to be made public, unlike in newspapers which want to share every failing with the whole world. A woman dares to wear a dress with the wrong shoes and the whole world has to know about her fashion disaster. Or somebody is seen drunk in a taxi and we have the lurid photographs which we so much enjoy. Cliff Richard has a BBC helicopter flying over his house when a complaint is made about him to the police etc.

The words of Pope John might be a good reflection with which to conclude 

May Christ banish from the hearts of all people whatever might endanger peace, may Christ transform them into witnesses of truth, justice and love. May Christ enlighten the rulers of peoples so that in addition to their solicitude for the proper welfare of their citizens, they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace; may Christ enkindle the wills of all, so that they may overcome the barriers that divide, cherish the bonds of mutual charity, understand others, and pardon those who have done them wrong; by virtue of this action, may all peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters, and may the most longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always among them.

- Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 171

Meditation

The unique nature of Christianity is that it says that in Jesus we can encounter God in a human person. The Greek word mysterium is the equivalent of the Latin word sacramentum which began to be used about the third century. Mysterium means a hidden or a veiled reality. But the word sacramentum was applied to actions or things which helped us to approach the divine. It conveys the belief that material things can draw us into spiritual things, spirit speaks through matter. To put it anther way, a ring may be a band of gold, but its meaning is so much more when used for a marriage.

This was how it was with Jesus too. The disciples could be with him, people could see his love in action and yet still recognise only Jesus the man. It was only as the disciples opened their minds to Jesus that they recognised who he really was. God’s self portrait in human form. We don’t really get from the NIV translation the full impact of the reply made by Jesus to Peter after the confession of faith. The New International Version says, 

‘this was not revealed to you by man,’

But the Greek from which it is translated said 
  ‘‘flesh and blood did not reveal …’

The Christ who Peter confessed can be confessed by us too, but only as we allow our spirits to be open to the mystery of God. The majority of people do not take time to attend worship, read scripture or pray. It is through such spiritual exercises that we enter into an awareness of God. Our five senses alone, academic study, flesh and blood cannot awaken our spiritual sight. However we all have the capacity for inner spiritual sight by which we may discover not just the man Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago, but Jesus the risen Messiah who alive today. 

In the marriage service in the Prayer Book, it speaks of ‘the mystery of one flesh.’ The word mystery is used of the way that two people grow together and know love in its many ways and know a special relationship. The word mystery is an interesting one and it is also an entirely suitable way to speak about spiritual truths. Mystery is a very spiritual world, but that doesn’t mean that the importance of such things is marginal. If our lives only have regard for facts which can be measured, then we are reduced to machines. To describe great art or music only in factual terms is to miss the point. What makes Mozart special is a quality which cannot be expressed merely by analysis and it transcends our attempts at explanation. In the same way if we start to dissect a magnificent painting it will lose its spiritual quality.

Our five senses will take us so far, but beyond that there is another dimension, a more transcendent place. The German mystic of the middle ages, Meiter Eckhart, a Dominican Friar, spoke of a ‘transcendent abyss’ within ourselves. We are not machines but extraordinary people created beings made to know spiritually things not just physical ones. We have within us the capacity to go beyond that which is physical and know another level of existence. D H Lawrence wrote ‘The sense of wonder that is the sixth sense. And it is the natural religious sense.' We can reduce ourselves to the physically reality of what we know, but if we do we loose the sacredness of our being, our spiritual selves. This other dimension to life, is something over which we spend too little time. Everything that exists depends upon God for its existence, but so often we do not take moments to draw breath and know God’s presence in all that he had made. God is not limited by his creation in any way, but undoubtedly the presence of God penetrates the universe. Isaiah wrote  ‘the whole earth is full of God’s glory.’ The world is so much more than atoms and molecules. Gerald Manley Hopkins said that   ‘the whole world is charged with the grandeur of God.’  God is the author of life and all of life bears his signature. God is everywhere. However we may fail to see God. God invites us, but he does not impose. God appears reticent, leaving suggestions of his presence to engage us and draw up deeper, not miraculous and compelling signs.  Perhaps some of this understanding lies behind the words of Julian of Norwich who described God as   ‘utterly kind and summing’    Charles Royden

Additional Information

Son of Man

The meaning of the phrase, "Son of Man," has received considerable discussion by modern scholars. Almost all the times this title appears in the New Testament (over 80 times) (e.g. 8:20; 9:6; 10:23; 11:19; 12:8, 32; 13:37,41; 16:13, 27; 17:9, 12, 22; 19:28; 20:18, 28; 24:27, 30, 37, 39; 25:31; 26:2, 24, 45, 64). it appears on Jesus' own lips or is spoken by someone in response to Jesus' use of the title. It appears to have been Jesus' favourite term to describe himself. It is frequently used as a substitute for the word "I" and that appears to be its usage here. (The parallel passage in Mark 8:27 reads, "Who do people say that I am?"). The most common opinion is that Jesus drew the phrase from Daniel 7:13 where it refers to a heavenly figure who is coming in the future. Jesus appeared to prefer the title "Son of Man" since it was not widely used or understood in Judaism. That enabled him to define his identity in his own way.

Here in Matthew 16:13 "Son of Man" is simply a substitute for "I." Jesus is asking who people think him to be.

What Happened To The Apostles? 

Some have commented how wonderful it must have been to have been chosen as one of the apostles, or to have been John the Baptist, or to have been among the earliest of Christians who actually saw and heard Jesus Christ in person. It certainly would have been a great honour and joy to have been among those pioneers of the true church. However, with the knowledge and understanding came responsibility. They were expected to go out into the world and be active witnesses of what they saw and heard. That was their purpose. In the political and religious climate of that time, the God-defying hatred that got Jesus Christ killed (which really has not changed at all), many of them lost their lives as well. The Bible does not record what happened to all of the apostles, however there are other references to their activities. Some are rather fanciful, while some are more trustworthy. From those sources, a general consensus has been established among historians. From the information that we have, it is very likely that John was the only one of the original Twelve Apostles to escape martyrdom, at least at an early age. After he wrote the book of Revelation, while a prisoner of the Romans, even he too may then have been killed.

• John The Baptist John The Baptist was beheaded by Herod. (Matthew 14:1-12)
• Stephen The account of Stephen is very well documented in the Bible (Acts chapters 6 and 7). He is generally regarded as the first Christian martyr. It has been estimated that about 2,000 Christians, along with Nicanor, one of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5), also suffered martyrdom during the great persecution that arose after Stephen (Acts 8:1).
• James, the brother of John James was "put to death with the sword" by King Herod (Acts 12:2)
• Philip Reportedly suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis, in Phrygia. He was severely flogged, imprisoned, and later crucified.
• Matthew The former tax collector, he was killed with a halberd (a pike fitted with an ax head) in Nadabah.
• James Stoned and clubbed to death in Jerusalem.
• Matthias He was stoned, then beheaded at Jerusalem.
• Andrew, the brother of Peter He was crucified on an X-shaped cross, two ends of which were in the ground. Hence the origin of the term, "St. Andrew's Cross".
• Mark Mark was reportedly torn to pieces by a mob in Alexandria after he told them that their god, a statue carved from stone, was worthless. Peter Peter was reportedly crucified, upside down, during the reign of Emperor Nero.
• Paul Beheaded, or torn to pieces by wild animals in the arena, during the time of Nero.
• Jude The brother of James, often called Thaddeus. He was crucified at Edessa.
• Bartholomew Tortured and crucified in India.
• Thomas Thomas was reportedly killed with a spear in India.
• Luke Luke was the author of the Gospel which is called by his name, and also probably the Book Of Acts. One account states that he died of old age, while another says that he was hanged in an olive tree in Greece.
• Simon the Zealot He travelled widely, and is believed to have been crucified in what is today Britain.
• John John took care of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, after the Crucifixion (John 19:26-27). He went on to write the Book of Revelation while a prisoner on Patmos. He may be the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
• Barnabas Barnabas is believed to have been killed about 10 years after Paul.