23rd August 2020
Dear Friends
‘Who do people say that I am - who do you say that I am?’
These are two pretty blunt questions that Jesus asks his
disciples in our gospel reading today. Jesus was probably only too aware that people
were trying to figure out who he was, and some were trying to identify him with
the great prophets.
But when Jesus asks the disciples directly – ‘Who do you say
that I am?’ It is Peter, so often the
spokesman for the twelve, who replies, ‘the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’
This is one of the great moments of revelation in the
gospels of Jesus as Christ and it begs the question why here?
Jesus and the disciples are in Caesarea Philippi, which was
about 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, standing on a very high area of
cliff – it had been a centre of worship for the god, Baal – and was in Jesus’
time also a place of worship for the God Pan. There were both Greek and Roman
sanctuaries to Pan there. In the cliff
was a huge cave which sent water gushing out and was seemingly bottomless,
which led it to be named the gate of Hades.
This seems like a strange place for Jesus to take his
disciples and reveal his identity as the Messiah to them. It is likely the disciples would have felt
rather out of place in Caesarea Philippi and yet here Jesus reveals himself as
the Messiah and Son of God. Why? Well
perhaps, precisely because of where they are this revelation establishes Jesus
as the Messiah beyond the land of Israel and its religious leaders and even to
the worshippers of Baal and Pan.
And what of Peter?
For it is here that Jesus speaks of the church that will be founded,
with Peter as its rock, a church against which even the gates of Hades will not
prevail.
In our gospel reading two weeks ago we read of Jesus telling
Peter that he had little faith, Peter like the other disciples has often
misunderstood Jesus and needs the parables explained, and shortly after today’s
reading, in a few verses on from here,
Jesus will call Peter Satan as he sets his mind on human rather than divine
things. Peter who denies Jesus three
times.
Yet Jesus is speaking to Peter of his witness and his
testimony. After the coming of the Holy
Spirit Peter goes forth and bears witness and testimony to Jesus as the
Messiah. And it is here, in the strange
setting of Caesarea Philippi that Peter bears testimony to Jesus.
The church will be built, Jesus says on Peter’s witness and
testimony to him.
And so today where and why are we called to bear witness to
Jesus, the Son of the living God. Well,
in our homes, or at church on a Sunday morning is one way we do it – but there
is a greater challenge for us all. Peter
is asked to bear witness in a place that is probably unsettling and
uncomfortable, and we too are called to do the same. In church it is easy, but we are challenged
by Jesus to bear witness to him in our own Caesarea Philippi, in places where
we may not be comfortable, or even be heard, and like Peter we will not always
rise to the challenge, but we will be called to do so and it is up to us how we
respond.
Let us take heart from Peter’s story and know that we won’t
always get it right, or have courage, or enough faith. But, like Peter, Jesus has faith in us, and
he calls us to be witnesses to him in whatever circumstances and places we are
in.
Can we rise to the challenge?
Blessings
Ann
