“Upon This Rock”
“Upon This Rock”
Matthew 16:13-20
Matthew 16:13-20
In the name of the Living God and the Risen Christ. Amen.
We meet our Lord and his disciples about as far away from Jerusalem as they ever travelled in his earthly ministry—at least that’s been recorded. Jesus has gone all the way up to Caesarea Phillipi, twenty-five miles north of the northern tip of the sea of Galilee, and it is there that Jesus lays the cornerstone for the Church.
Not that it’s a remote place—this thriving capital of the region bustled with travelers, temples, tax-collectors, and tourists. But the epicenter of the Jewish religion—Jerusalem and its sacrificial system, its worship, its laws—lay a week’s journey by foot to the south.
What a wonder then that so many have travelled such a distance to figure out who this Jesus is! Is he John the Baptist raised from the dead? Elijah returning before the end times, as was predicted? Jeremiah or one of the prophets here again to proclaim God’s word?
What a greater wonder indeed that here we are, two millennium later, clearly confessing this same Jesus to be the messiah: Mesheeach in Hebrew; Christos in Greek meaning “anointed one”; and son of the Living God.
When Jesus lays the cornerstone for his Church here in Matthew 16, he had plenty of examples of great building rocks around him. There’s the major Roman road that passed right through Casearia Phillipi, with its solid foundations of many large stones—so solidly built you can still walk it today. Or there’s the exquisite temple to the god Pan with beautifully carved and colored stones, which you can also visit today.
Caesarea Phillipi was originally named in honor of the great Ceasar Augusta, and a great white marble temple honored him as “son of god” in the center of the city. King Phillip later made the city his own capital, adding his title “Philippi” next to Ceasar’s name; and adding many more magnificent buildings with many impressive cornerstones.
But Jesus is impressed with none of these, references none of them, and before this morning’s sermon you probably have never heard of any of them. Rather, our Lord lays a different kind of cornerstone in Matthew 16 upon which he builds his church—an edifice which encircles the globe, which is made up of peoples from all tribes and languages, and which lasts even until eternity. How puny Pan’s little temple, in comparison! How short that Roman road! How brief and fragile the buildings named after Ceasar or Phillip. For here we are this morning, a building of living stones filled with Christ’s spirit, beautiful in our diversity, unified in purpose, lifting our voices in praise to him and living our lives as sacrifices to him. No greater building has ever been built, nor ever will be.
The cornerstone Christ set on that day in Caesarea Phillippi was not Peter. Not Peter, the person, at least. No, this is the guy who we just saw sink on the sea, who will vow undying love but abandon Jesus and curse him like a coward, who will in just a couple of verses be called “Satan” because he works to distract Jesus from his true mission of the cross.
No, the rock upon which Christ builds is not Petros (little pebble), but Petra (big rock)—the divinely inspired confession of who Jesus is: Messiah, son of the Living God. It’s not about who Peter is, but about what he says, which the Lord commends as from God: the confession that this Jesus of Nazareth was God enfleshed for us; God dying in love for us; God rising in victory for us. Upon this Rock Christ builds the confession of who he is and what he’s done, and not even the hordes of hades will prevail against it.
You build upon this rock, too— the confession of who Jesus is and what he has done. Build your family upon it, making Christ the cornerstone and capstone of all you do. This congregation must remain built upon it—not a denomination, or a history, or a building, as rich and wonderful as these are all, but a confession and a witness. That is, a pointing to the messiah in all we do. Build your own life upon this rock, for all other buildings will fade and fall; every other false god will disappoint and destroy you; all other roads will lead you astray.
When you build upon this rock—who Jesus is and what he has done—what you build lasts for eternity. It can’t be taken from you when life is unfair; when you’re lonely or afraid; when the tasks ahead of you seem insurmountable; when guilt about the past or anxieties about the future constantly assail you like many minions storming out of the gates of hell; not even on your deathbed, when you can’t speak and can barely move and this world says you have no value anymore and no future.
No, when you build upon this rock—the confession of Jesus as messiah and son of the living God—you build something that cannot be taken or shaken; which can’t be partitioned off into politics or ideology; which can’t be confined to any tribe or race or nation; which even on this very morning encircles the globe and radiates to eternity.
So what about you, who do you say he is?
In the name of the Living God and the Risen Christ. Amen.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.