The Scripture reading for this Sunday is Matthew 16:13-20.
“But what about you?” [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Last night I played in the first “playoff” game of the Windsor Ultimate (Frisbee) Summer League season. Since my team had the worst record throughout the regular season, we played the best team last night. And we got beat … bad (17-6 bad).
But that’s beside the point.
As the game got out of hand I got a little frustrated. I didn’t like the fact that the other team was trying to rack up points as quickly as possible, nor did I like the fact that some people on the other team weren’t being good sports about it. One person on the other team yelled at his teammate for dropping the frisbee in the end zone when they were up by 8 or 10 points and … well … it rubbed me the wrong way since it didn’t seem very sportsmanlike when they were winning by so much.
I was frustrated … and I didn’t think much about it at the time (other than thinking that I was right to be so frustrated). But then I got in the car to go home … and I got thinking about this passage for Sunday.
Jesus’ question to His disciples came into my mind: “Who do you say that I am?”
Hmm. That got me thinking. If someone took a one and a half hour clip of my time at Ultimate, I’m not sure that my actions and attitude and words sounded like how Peter answered Jesus’ question. I know that might be taking the question a little out of context, but it’s a fair question for us to reflect upon: “Who do we say that Jesus is?”
Around Christians and at church it’s easier to say with our mouths and with our lives that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But what about when we are at work, or playing sports, or at a restaurant frustrated by slow service, or when we are around people who are suspicious or even critical of Christianity? It’s a lot harder to answer with Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God with both our words and our lives.
The Good News, though, is that how well we answer Jesus’ question doesn’t change who He is. He is the Messiah. He is the Son of the Living God. And on that confession of faith He will build His church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Peter wasn’t perfect (just read Matthew 16:21-28 – our passage for next Sunday) but his confession at that time was, and wherever Christ is confessed today by similarly imperfect Christians, on that rock Christ continues to build His church (notice that He is the One doing the building, and it is His church).
May that promise encourage us to confess Jesus Christ openly and freely. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.