Daily Devotion – August 21, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Matthew 16:13-20
16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
16:14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
16:17 And 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.
16:18 And 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.
16:19 I 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.”
16:20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Peter’s declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, doesn’t surprise us very much. It’s a commonly told story, and among all the Peter stories, we have come to expect to hear it.
But remember, in the previous stories, Jesus has been kind of flummoxed by the disciples’ lack of declarations, revelations, or even basic understanding of what Jesus is up to in his ministry. And Jesus knows that God is whom faith comes through (as Luther says, “Not by my own reason or strength can I believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me…”). Human beings, on their own, cannot believe in the triune God. Only God can make that possible. Our faith does not begin by anything we do – it begins with God first speaking in our lives, whether we recognize it or not.
So the disciples’ delay in making declarations, revelations, and basic understanding is at least partly The Holy Spirit’s fault, perhaps. God hasn’t stirred them enough. Until this particular day. The day Peter declares, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
Imagine Jesus’s happiness! Imagine his excitement. These men he has been teaching, living with, traveling with, healing in front of – God has stirred up in them faith enough for Peter to say it aloud. It is a huge moment. And Jesus foretells the future that will come of it. Rapturously!
And then he tells them not to tell anyone else. Why do you suppose he does that?
Dear Lord, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us Peter’s witness to Jesus and Jesus’s reaction to that declaration. Thank you for letting us see how you work in human beings so we can better understand our own lives of faith. Help us not to let you down, and keep loving us when we do. Amen.
