Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is the reality. It was established for sure on Easter Day when Jesus rose from the dead. The problem has always been that people are sceptical; they are unwilling to face the reality of that. We are going back in the gospel of Matthew to look at some of the incidents in the gospel that we did not have time to look at before Easter.

We are thinking today about the occasion on which Jesus took his disciples away, and gave them opportunity to contemplate his true identity. Of course, it was already an issue that was causing great speculation. The common people, the crowds were very positive about Jesus. Even when he was travelling in gentile territory in order to get away from the masses, crowds sought him out, and in his mercy and compassion he helped and healed many. In chapter 15 of Matthew we see something of his fame and popularity; the crowds came for healing in their thousands, they stayed for days, Jesus healed all who were sick and miraculously broke loaves and fishes to feed them.

The crowds praised the God of Israel at the miracles Jesus performed. They were impressed. The general view was that Jesus was a prophet sent from God. But there was a certain sector of the community that were not impressed. They were suspicious of Jesus and hostile to him. That was the religious people. Matthew tells us that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and attempted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven.

Now usually the Pharisees and Sadducees would have nothing to do with each other, but their resentment at Jesus had brought them together in an unholy alliance. They wanted to catch Jesus out. They ask for a miraculous sign. This isn’t the first time that the religious folk had asked Jesus for a sign. Matthew records in chapter 12 that the Pharisees and teachers of the law had come to him before with the same request.

Jesus refuses to oblige. The problem was that they had come with wrong motives. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that if people don’t believe, then if only they saw a miracle they would change their mind. I believe what we generally see with the miracles of Jesus is that he performs miracles as a way of encouraging those who already have a degree of faith.

Where there is no faith, where there is scepticism then miracles will make no difference, they will not convince people who do not want to believe. Jesus tells the Pharisees and Sadducees that he will not give them a sign, except for the sign of Jonah. The sign of Jonah is explained back in chapter 12.

Jonah was swallowed by a fish and was inside the fish for 3 days before he emerged alive and well. Jesus would be buried in the tomb for 3 days before rising from the dead. That was the sign that God would give for all to see. If they were not convinced by the miracles of healing, then there would be this one other sign, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Yet even that was not enough to convince those who refuse to believe.

So Jesus takes his disciples away again, right up north into gentile territory, near Caesarea Philippi. Away from the crowds, Jesus asks his disciples who people say that he is. Up until this point, Jesus has not laid claim to being the Messiah. He has simply called these men to follow him. So the disciples tell Jesus what the people are saying. There are various suggestions. The disciples say that people generally regard Jesus as one of the prophets of old, someone like Elijah, or Jeremiah or John the Baptist, the last of the prophets.

Then comes the vital question. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Jesus is not indoctrinating his followers; he is allowing them to come to see the truth for themselves. Simon Peter replies, ‘you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter had discovered the truth. Not through sceptical searching of the scriptures. Not through seeking the approval of the religious leaders. He had come to see the truth through being with Jesus. Through learning to pray to a heavenly father as Jesus had taught the disciples to, God had revealed the truth to Simon Peter.

The tragic thing about the religious leaders was that they were not open to God. They were very concerned about their religious habits and worship. They were very concerned to toe the party line and get the approval of their colleagues, but they were not open to God.

Yet the disciples, imperfect as they were, were beginning to see the truth about Jesus. They were blessed indeed. Simon Peter had told Jesus who he was, now Jesus tells Simon Peter who he is. ‘Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, 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…’

The scholars tell us that up to that time no one was called Peter. The word simply meant ‘rock’. Jesus says to Peter, ‘you are the rock that I will build my church on’. Christians often feel uncomfortable about that. We tend to want to alter what Jesus said. We are probably happier with the idea of Jesus building his church on Peter’s confession of faith, and we tend to try to interpret Jesus words to mean that.

We are not very happy with someone as unstable as Peter being the foundation of the church. Not long after this high point, Jesus is saying to Peter ‘get behind me Satan’. We know that later on Peter breaks his promise and denies Jesus three times. But Jesus said ‘you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.’

It was Peter who on the day of Pentecost was the one who preached the good news. It was Peter who healed in the temple in Jesus name and defended the Christian faith before the Sanhedrin. It was Peter who took the gospel to Cornelius the gentile. Jesus has ordained that fallible, imperfect human beings will build his church. Paul called it treasure in jars of clay. The effective building of the church depends far more on the skill of the builder than on the quality of the foundations. It is Jesus who builds the church. He uses fallible human beings, because that is the only sort that there is.

We have witnessed the passing of Pope John Paul the Second yesterday. I suspect most of us have admired his faith, example and courage. Yet some of us are unhappy with the idea of any person being thought of as infallible. I was much reassured regarding the pope several years ago, when he was recovering after having been shot. He commented that the doctors said they had made a new man out of him. ‘I’m still the same old rascal I’ve always been,’ he said. He had the humility to acknowledge his fallibility.

We must be careful not to put people on pedestals. Jesus continues to build his church using fallible people, but people who are open to God, people who endeavour to seek God’s approval, rather than the approval of men and women. He uses people who have come to understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Christ entrusts his people to govern his church. That doesn’t mean we just decide to do things how we like. Christ is the head of the church; he is the one with all authority. In Matthew 28 v 20 Jesus tells his disciples to teach everything that he has commanded. But in our Baptist denomination we hold that each church has liberty under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to interpret and administer his laws. Even Peter is rebuked when he disagrees with Jesus, when he doesn’t want Jesus to go the way of the cross. All Jesus followers are called to take up their cross and follow.

And finally, something else Jesus promised his disciples. The gates of Hades will not overcome his church. I’m not sure what picture comes into your mind there. Sometimes as churches we can get quite defensive. We can think in terms of the gates of Hades or hell attacking our church, and we think thank goodness Jesus promised they would not be able to win.

Yet that is not really a valid way of thinking about what Jesus says here. Gates do not usually attack anyone. Another way that people think of this saying is in a more triumphalistic way. They think of the church militant advancing and breaking down the gates of hell.

What Jesus says doesn’t really give us warrant to think in those terms either. What the term ‘gates of Hades’ most likely refers to is liked to the idea of the gates of death. What Jesus is most likely saying is that death will not prevail against his Church. The church is a body of people who will know victory over death. The church exists both on earth and in heaven.

That is because Jesus defeated death. The church is a company of people for whom death has lost its sting. Although as Christians we may not relish the prospect of death, we know that to leave this life is to go to a better place. Christ has gone before. To die is to go to be with him. Christians can be happy to face death.

The Church of Jesus Christ is a company of people who are not perfect. But they are a company of people, who have come to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. They are people who sincerely seek to follow the way of Jesus; they are people who through Jesus have come into relationship with God, have hope in their hearts, because Jesus is risen.
 

Amen.

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