Peter's confession of Christ Matthew 16:13-20

Gospel reading for Sunday 21st August 2011 Matthew 16:13-20

In this week’s gospel reading we have the opportunity to reflect on the importance of questions and how they can mark important moments or events.

In last week’s lesson we have seen the foreigner who challenges Jesus with her questions and shows ‘great faith’ in acknowledging Jesus as Lord. This week in Matthew we find it is Jesus’ disciples who are questioned and challenged about Jesus’ identity and mission.

After Jesus poses a more general question to his disciples about who the people say that he is,  Jesus poses a rather direct and personal question to Peter, ‘But who do you say that I am?’.  This question is surely at the heart of Jesus’ mission and a question that each of us must answer for ourselves. Peter, as always, is bold and confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus blesses Peter and confirms that on this confession of faith, Jesus will build the church.

Names and identity are important to Matthew. The gospel begins with the long list of names that provide the identities and ancestry of Jesus, the promised one. Jesus’ name at his birth reveals that he ‘will save people from their sins’. In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus’ name, identity and mission are questioned and confessed.  After Peter makes his confession, Jesus gives Peter’s name significance and says that on this rock he will build his church.  Jesus goes on to give Peter and the disciples a mission to exercise the power of forgiveness in the binding and loosing of sin in the name of the living God.

In Lutheran schools what questions can we ponder and take inspiration?

Firstly we can reflect on Jesus’ personal and direct question to each of us; ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Do we confess that Jesus is the Son of the living God who gives each of us a new identity and reconciles us to God?

Pastor James Boyce, Professor of New Testament and Greek at Luther Seminary, St Paul, poses these questions in his reflections on this Matthew passage:

·         What if we were to see ourselves, too, as called and blessed in our encounter with God’s Messiah?

·         What if we were to then know ourselves to be called by this promise and given a new identity as disciples     and ambassadors of the kingdom?

·         And what if we could then catch a glimpse of what it means to be a part of this new community,  authorised and empowered as agents to exercise the task of forgiving and welcoming in the name of a God who desires ‘mercy and not sacrifice’ (Matthew 9:13, 12:6)

Imagine how our responses to these questions could shape our school communities.

[Anne Dohnt]