Matthew 16:13-20
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17And 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. 18And 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. 19I 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.’ 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Reading some online commentaries on the above passage, I found that Jesus’ first question was understood differently by the different commentators. One started off by saying: ‘Jesus asks the disciples who others think he, the Son of Man, is.’ ‘He, Jesus, the Son of Man is.‘ Another commentator differed in as much as he felt the question was simply asking what the people understood by the term ‘Son of Man.’ Not who they understood Jesus to be.
Son of Man is a term Jesus borrowed from prophetic and apocalyptic texts of the Old Testament. In over a dozen places in the Old Testament the term the “Son of Man” is used as a mysterious, symbolic identification of God bringing salvation to Israel and the world. Now Jesus uses the term “the Son of Man” some 30 times in Matthew’s Gospel. When we read that term in those passages, we think “He’s talking about himself.” But this is really what is called ‘dramatic irony’ because we know the rest of the Jesus story, while those initial hearers did’t, nor, at this point, do the disciples. What makes it worse is if you look at the passages you will see that sometimes the term seems to be about Jesus — but even then, it is a bit weird, as he seems to be talking about himself in the third person, almost as if talking about someone else. Other times it seems more like Jesus is referring back to the OT apocalyptic and prophetic texts, saying something about how they will be fulfilled.
So, yes, the people identify the Son of Man with dead prophets sent by God who did miraculously deeds, who stood toe-to-toe with kings and delivered to them words of doom, opposition, and hope from God. In the eyes of the people John the Baptist was the last powerful man of God but others had to search all the way back to Jeremiah. We who know Jesus as the son of Man might think the answers given by the disciples merely show how ‘dof’ those disciples were. But I would like to suggest that they had the right answer to the question as given, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Or to put it more colloquially, ‘You know, that strange figure in the prophets? Are people talking about apocalyptic figures at all around here now?’ and the answer given by the disciples was ‘The Son of Man might be one of the prophets? Maybe Elijah or Jeremiah risen from the dead?’ The answer Jesus was hoping for was: ‘YOU Jesus! People think YOU are the Son of Man!’ The crowd has not yet figured out that Jesus’ convoluted references to the Son of Man as he preached and taught was referring to himself. So is Jesus like the prophets of old? Did he stand ‘toe-to-toe with kings and delivered to them words of doom, opposition, and hope from God.‘
Some of you might know that I’m interested in genealogy. Matthew, the Gospel-writer was as well. In the beginning of his Gospel he gives Jesus’ genealogy. Genealogies are not just simple accounts of past ancestors. They are ways that we construct our identity, ways in which we relate to our past. Jesus’ identity is inextricably linked in Matthew’s genealogy with Abraham and David, with exile and deliverance, with kings and extraordinarily faithful women. Also if we look at the birth narrative we can see a closeness between the Jesus story and Moses’ story. Basically, for Matthew, identity is not just about who you are but who is around you, who is accompanying you, who has come before you.
When Jesus asks his disciples about public opinion, they recount that many think he is John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah or another prophet risen anew. The crowds have got an important part of Jesus’ identity exactly right. His ministry is a continuation of the narratives of God interacting with God’s people. In many ways, Jesus is not a detour on God’s plans. Instead, Jesus belongs in a long line of faithful servants of God, prophets willing to stake their lives for the sake of God’s people. As I said just now, the people hadn’t worked out that Jesus identified himself with the Son of Man.
However, Jesus has another question. A more direct and personal question for his disciples. He asks ‘But who do you say I am?’ The disciples are silent. With the exception of Simon Peter, they don’t seem to have an opinion of their own. Peter emerges as spokesperson for the Twelve: “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God”. Jesus blesses him calling him, Simon Bar Jonah, and he sounds a bit like a teacher praising the courageous student for giving the correct answer. Jesus says that Peter’s answer did not come from human beings or what he heard from others. Peter identification of Jesus was based on personal encounters with God. The same goes for us. How we identify Jesus should be grounded in a lifelong personal conversation with God. Our denomination’s theology, our church practice, our priest churchmanship, our spiritual directors’ advice, our mothers or fathers, our siblings, our Sunday school teachers and others will all have their opinions, but in the end we have to decide for ourselves in conversation with God how we will identify Jesus.
A living God is a dynamic God and not a static God whose clearest communication happened in the past. Jesus is the Messiah of the living God. Jesus, as Son of Man, means that God continues to speak and to act. God does not have to bring back to life John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or any other prophet to speak. God never ceases to exist and to create and to anoint.
We could say this reading asks three questions about people’s identities. Who is Jesus – the son of Man; who is Peter – the rock (petros) on whom Jesus will build the church and who holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And so that leaves one final question: “Who are you?” and “Who am I?” And the answer is: we are people who, like Peter, also hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven. We are people to whom has God a given a mission to carry on the work of Jesus. If you, like Peter, recognize Jesus as the Messiah, you, too, have been given the keys of the kingdom.