In the name of…

Matthew16:13-20

When I was in seminary, our final exam in theology had only one question: “Who is Jesus Christ?” Perhaps on the surface and easy question to answer. Who was Jesus – we have lots of names for him: Good Shepherd, Lamb of God, King of the Jews and King of Kings, Servant, Immanuel, The Word made flesh, Bread of Life, Redeemer, Son of God, Son of Man, Lord and Savior, Judge and Hope, Messiah and Christ? What do all of these names, and that’s just a few of them…what do they all mean about who Jesus, the Christ, is?

I knew better than to, even jokingly, begin by suggesting Jesus might be God’s ultimate action after the repeated parental warning: “Don’t make me come down there.” Even though the ability of humanity to remain in right relationship with God was clearly flawed from early on – Adam and Eve can’t obey, Cain and Abel can’t help but compare God’s favor to them…resulting in the first murder – even though promises and covenants were broken…always by humans, never by God – prophets foretold one who would come, an anointed One, chosen by God, but not to punish, not to deliver the kind of message parents give when their children “Make them stop this car”. Jesus is God, come down here, not to punish, but to redeem, to establish a new way of life, the kingdom of God.

After he was baptized in the Jordan River by John, Jesus spent about three years in the region right around the Sea of Galilee – going to the synagogues and teaching, healing, performing miracles, and drawing crowds. And the religious establishment – the Pharisees and Sadducees – were getting irritated. Jesus warns the disciples to be on their guard against the yeast of their teaching.

Remember when the Egyptians released the Israelites from slavery, they didn’t have time to wait for yeast to make their bread rise, so they had unleavened bread. Now, Jesus says, “Be on guard against those who say, “There’s no hurry, no urgency to address the Roman occupation…follow the laws God gave us perfectly…and don’t rock the boat. Sure, there are a lot of Jews who are suffering…but they are peasants anyway. For the most part, they are leaving us in the synagogues and Temple alone. They aren’t taxing the wealthy ones of us to death. In fact, they back us up a ton of the time. Some of these people with their “we can only afford a small bird to sacrifice”…give me a break.” Keep politics out of the church…keep church about God…keep God out of justice. The Pharisees and Sadducees don’t want to leave Pax Romana…it’s feathered their nests and filled their coffers quite nicely. Beware, says Jesus, be on guard against the yeast, that little single-celled fungus that gets into the dough and puffs it up over time…sure makes the bread good…sure makes just how things are –eh, even if some people don’t even have flour – it’s a good life…a life of prayer, a life of devotion, a life of serving the poor… after all we can’t all be rich – be on your guard, says Jesus, against the yeast of their teaching.

And then, Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, 30 miles north of the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and the location of one of the largest springs that feeds the Jordan River. The city has an abundant water supply, so it is a great place for crops…in a desert land, people notice…and when they notice, they worship. In the 1st Century the only religion that only worshipped 1 god was Judaism. So, the city of Caesarea Philippi had temples to multiple Greek and Roman gods. It also had a temple built in honor of Caesar Augustus, built by Herod the Great. The city got its name when Herod’s son Philip renamed it Caesarea, Caesarea of Philip. This place filled with the worship of mythical and earthly political gods is the background for the conversation that Jesus has with the disciples about his identity.

He asks, “Who do people say that I am?” and they give him a variety of answers…none of them are a surprise to Jesus. They are his way of helping them formulate their own answers. Like I was on my theology exam in seminary, the disciples are asked to dig deeper than what everyone is saying. This is the turning point of the Gospel. From this point forward, Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem. He begins here to prepare the disciples for what lies ahead. “What about you,” asks Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?”

And for just a moment, Peter sees Jesus, really sees. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Two answers in one; fully human, fully divine. You are the Messiah, Messiah means “anointed One” in Hebrew; the Greek translation is Christ. You are the fulfillment of our hope for God to lift up an ideal king – a king who would bring Israel peace and prosperity, rule with wisdom and righteousness. And you are the Son of the living God – in this place where water springs up and flows from the earth, where temples have been erected to gods of every human desire, where monuments to Caesar and his sons have been erected – you are the Son of the living God, the God of LIFE, the God from whom life springs up and flows. It’s not that Peter gets it right or figured it out. Peter seeing Jesus is a gift from God, not a human accomplishment.

“Blessed are you,” says Jesus, and he gives him a new name: Peter, the Rock. And on this Rock I will build my church. New Testament scholar Stanley Saunders says of this moment that this moment is about power – contesting the powers of this world. “In the border region of an imperial stronghold, Jesus challenges his disciples to see who he really is…beyond the monuments to Caesar”…beyond the world’s powers and powerful…even beyond the gates of Hades, the grip of death on creation.

In walled cities, the keys to the gates are important. They are protective. When I toured the walled city of Dubrovnik, now in Croatia, we were told that the highest paid people in ancient Dubrovnik were the two people who held the keys to the city gate. It was the most important job in the city. Jesus gives Peter the keys, an incredible responsibility, to remain at the gate, the border between death and life, between the powers of the world and the kingdom of God, to make sure that the door is open to all who are burdened and oppressed and shut to all who would hinder or restrain those who seek entry.

Presbyterian pastor Rev. Dr. Tom Long notes that Jesus’ promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church “does not mean that the church will be free of trouble….The promise is not that the Christians will not go through hell; the promise is that hell does not hold the winning hand…the powers of death will not have the last word.”
Similarly, Dr. Saunders goes on to write, “…our confession that Jesus is Messiah and Son of the living God call[s] us to bear witness to the One who sets the captives free, brings sight to the blind, humbles the rulers of this world, and defeats even death”.

“Who is Jesus Christ?” It is an important question to answer…not just with what other people have said, but what we believe. “Who is Jesus Christ to YOU?” That is the confession we make every time we pray “In the name of Jesus.” To pray in the name of Jesus is not to get status before God. We don’t pray “in the name of Jesus” to get God’s attention. It’s not like we are on our CB radio signing off, “10-4 good buddy” tagging on “in the name of Jesus. Amen.” To invoke the name of someone is to align yourself with that person. “Who is Jesus Christ?” To pray in the name of Jesus is to acknowledge that what we need is for God to stop the car, for God to come down here. It is to pray with a heart seeking to be permeated by Jesus’s teachings and ways. To pray in the name of Jesus is to lock out our worldly, sinful ways that lead to death and to open the gate of our heart to God. When we pray “in the name of Jesus” we are praying with the keys of the kingdom in our hand – to bind what is antithetical to God’s vision for creation and to unlock and open the doors to the kingdom here and now.