Matthew 16:13-23

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,^[a] the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter,^[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^[c] will not overcome it.^{[d] 19}I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[f] loosed in heaven." ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

²¹From 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, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

PICTURING JESUS

Today, I’m really excited to start another new series that will take us through the remainder of the Lenten season and take us all the way up to Easter. The series is entitled, “The Jesus I Never Knew: A Closer Look at the Most Important Figure in History”. It seems appropriate that while we take this forty day journey with Jesus that we take some intentional and significant time to really study and probe the life and character of this individual who not only changed history but changed many of our lives as well.

This series is actually inspired by a book of the same name written by an incredible Christian author by the name of Philip Yancey. Billy Graham actually said of him, “There is no writer in the evangelical world I admire and respect more.” Wow. That’s quite a compliment. Anyway, in his book, Yancey writes:

I first got acquainted with Jesus when I was a child, singing “Jesus Loves Me” in Sunday school, addressing bedtime prayers to “Dear Lord Jesus,” watching Bible Club teachers move cutout figures across a flannelgraph board. I associated Jesus with Kool-Aid and sugar cookies and gold stars for good attendance.

I remember especially one image from Sunday School, an oil painting that hung on the concrete block wall. Jesus had long, flowing hair, unlike that of any man I knew. His face was thin and handsome, his skin waxen and milky white. He wore a robe of scarlet, and the artist had taken pains to show the play of light on its folds. In his arms, Jesus cradled a small sleeping lamb. I imagined myself as that lamb, blessed beyond all telling.

I’m sure that when you think about your own images of Jesus, much of what you see and picture and know goes back to those days in Sunday school as well – Jesus with the long flowing golden hair and for some reason, he was always holding a lamb. Now, I’m not really sure if whether or not having such a picture of Jesus is in and of itself wrong, but what I do know is that if that’s the only picture of Jesus that we have in our minds, then I think there is certainly something lacking in our understanding of Jesus. Truth be told, for many, many people both in the church and outside of the church, the picture of Jesus that they hold is far from accurate. People tend to know Jesus virtually, from a distance, and not in complete or deep ways. And the result is that the Jesus that they think they know is not really the Jesus of the Bible at all.

PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION

Today, we read in Matthew 16, Jesus asking Peter and the disciples a couple pretty important questions. Now, you all know that Peter is not the brightest guy around. He’s certainly, as they say, “not the sharpest tool in the shed”. Far from it, in fact. Most of the time, he doesn’t even come second. But on this day, he has his rare shining moment. Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And the disciples respond pretty straight forwardly the things they have been hearing out in the crowds: “Some say that you are John the Baptist. Some say you are Elijah and others think you’re Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” And they conclude, “Obviously, a case of mistaken identity.” But then Jesus asks them the more important question, “Okay, then. Who do you say that I am?”

Now, I want you to imagine this scene for a moment, and understand that the disciples are now put on the spot. It’s kind of like the days when you were in school, and it’s one of those moments where you’re drifting off into la-la land and suddenly the teacher calls on you when you’ve obviously not been paying attention and asks, “Miss Kim, can you please explain to the class Newton’s second law of physics?” And every eye in the classroom is on you, and you haven’t a clue to the answer. Talk about pressure. Or anyone in this room who’s ever had kids can relate to this as well. No doubt, you have had that season in your life where your kids start asking you all these questions – “why this?”, “why that?”, “why are there twelve inches in a foot?”, “why can’t animals talk?”, “why do we poop?”, and then on that fateful day, they drop the A-bomb, and ask you, “Mommy where do babies come from?” And all of a sudden, you are thinking, “I’d rather explain Newton’s second law of physics!”

There are moments in life where we are faced with some very important questions, and there are moments in life when those questions are asked where we have this feeling deep down inside, like, “Man, I better get this one right.” But really the most important question that will ever be asked in life, in faith, and even in history, is this question that is posed to the disciples on that particular day: “Who really is Jesus?” “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks. And of course, the answer to this question is equally important.

THE REASON FOR ITS IMPORTANCE

Now, the reason why this question and the subsequent answer is important is because, number one, by historical standards alone, Jesus merits great attention. His life, his ministry, and his death made a definitive impact on the course of history, and because of his short time here on earth, the world was never the same again. We see that impact on a daily basis. For example, when I switched on my computer this morning, Microsoft Windows flashed the date, telling me that no matter what I believe or think about Jesus, his birth and life split history in two parts. Every computer on the face of this earth will testify to that. But it’s not just computers and microchips.

Listen to what H.G. Wells wrote a long time ago:

“More than 1900 years later, a historian like myself, who doesn’t even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man… The historian’s test of an individual’s greatness is ‘What did he leave to grow? Did he start men to thinking along fresh lines with vigor that persisted after him?’ By this test, Jesus stands first.”

Or consider Napoleon’s comment about Jesus:

“Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confound me. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself… I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”

Indeed, with Jesus everything IS extraordinary. In fact, Jesus made such an impact on history that today people even use his name to curse by. Think about it. How strange it would sound if a businessman who missed a golf putt would yell, “Oh George W. Bush!” Or if a plumber screamed after smashing his finger with a pipe wrench, “Mahatma Ghandi!” Just doesn’t really work, now, does it?

By historical standards alone, Jesus merits great attention.

But the answer to the question at hand – Who is Jesus? – is important also because, number two, according to the Bible, what I think about Him and how I respond to Him will determine my destiny for all of eternity. The bottom line is that though Jesus impacted history, his is not simply a historical figure. It is not enough that we just read about him as if we were reading about Abraham Lincoln in some history text book. Jesus calls us to know Him in a deeper and more personal level. In Matthew 10: 32-33, Jesus says, “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” We have to understand that this verse is not a threat or a warning. Really, it’s an invitation to be in relationship with him. He is defining the depths of the type of intimacy that it takes to be in real and true relationship with him. “I want to be able to introduce you to my Father,” Jesus seems to be saying. “But in order to do so, I need to really know you. And you really need to know me.” Jesus says to each and every one of us, “I want to have that type of relationship with you.”

VIRTUAL RELIGION VS. VITAL RELATIONSHIP

The way that I see it, the issue at hand is about making a clear distinction between what I call Virtual Religion and what I think Jesus really desires from us – Vital Relationship. Virtual Religion is just knowing about Jesus. It’s about knowing the rules but not really knowing about the heart of the rule maker. It’s about following doctrine and living within a set a man-made protocols, but not really living in a way that fulfill life and the things of the heart. There is a big difference between religion and relationship. Jesus never intended on creating just another religion. His intent was inviting people into relationship with him. Vital relationship. The type of relationship that changes you from the inside out. The one that is based on things like grace and love, not on things like rules and regulations.

When Jesus asked the disciples “Who do people say that I am?”, he was really throwing out a “feeler” type of question. It was the question that was used to set-up the next question – the real question. You see, for most of the disciples, what the other people said about Jesus was probably not far from where they themselves were at. Although they were given the inside look at Jesus, still many of them thought Jesus was just some important religious figure – like Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of people today that still think that: “Jesus is no more than just a wise teacher, a good moral man, one of the prophets.” But of course, history shows us that he was so much more than that. And by the way, you don’t get crucified by being just a good moral man. People don’t kill you for that.

And so when the real question is asked, “Who do you say that I am?” (and you have to read between the lines here), there was probably great hesitation as the disciples gave awkward glances at each other. And you know what they were thinking, right? “I’d rather answer that question on Newton’s second law of physics.” Well, eventually, Peter breaks the silence and in his moment of glory says, “You are the Christ! The Son of the Living God!” Notice that Jesus responds to his answer by saying, “Blessed are you… this was not revealed to you by man but by my Father in heaven.” In other words, Jesus is saying that Peter did not come to know the answer through mere text book knowledge. It wasn’t that he stayed up cramming all night having anticipated this pop quiz. No, as much as Peter may have had his moments of failings and foolishness, in his heart, there was always a desire to know Jesus, and not just know about him. It is this desire that allowed him to know Jesus deeply in a way that others at that time could not understand.

And let’s quickly point out, however, that getting an “A” on this exam didn’t necessarily mean that he consistently lived out a “head of the class” type of discipleship. In fact, just minutes after his moment of glory, he reverts back to “setting his mind on earthly things” and in the process gets rebuked by Jesus. Truth is, this is the nature of knowing Jesus. It’s a delicate balancing act between living out the humanity that is central to who we are and living up to the divinity that is central to the one who calls us to follow him. To know Jesus deeply, in many ways, is to know ourselves first. To know our tendencies, our shortcomings, our habits. And then, to seek Jesus and his beauty, his grace, his perfection so that we may be made perfect in him.

THE JESUS I HOPE YOU KNOW

If you are anything like the disciples in Matthew 16, and if you are anything like me, you may have come to those special moments in your spiritual journey where you are given a greater glimpse of Christ – the glimpse that helps you move beyond that Sunday school image you grew up with. And you may have had the blessing of seeing the Jesus you never knew. And you felt your heart grow and your faith increase and you found yourself falling more and more in love with the one who loves you with a perfect and unconditional love. And perhaps for some of you, that moment may be right now, and you’re beginning to feel that tug of the Holy Spirit in your heart. For others, that moment may be yet to come. Regardless of where you’ve been or where you may be right now, I hope that the Jesus you come to know through series will be the Jesus that will fill you and complete you, and the Jesus that will be able to handle the greatest things of your life. Believe it or not, Jesus wants to have the most intimate relationship with you possible. So, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks of you today. May you find the answer that will lead you ever closer to the Jesus you never knew. And may that Jesus bless you and love you now and forever. Amen?!