The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Matthew 16:13 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14 And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.’ 15 He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.” (NASB)
The Gospel lesson assigned for this Twelfth Sunday in Pentecost is one that is often overlooked and rarely quoted in modern Christianity. But as Bible passages go, Matthew 16:16-19 is an essential passage to the mission of the Christian Church and a flash point of division within Christianity. Matthew 16:16-18 contains Peter’s confession that Jesus is the “Son of the living God” and Jesus’s reply stating Peter was blessed because the Father revealed this truth to him.
During the Reformation Matthew 16:16-19 became a doctrine of great contention second only to the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Christ alone for Christ’s sake alone.
As you probably know, the Roman Catholic Church claims that the papal office was established by Jesus here in Matthew 16 and in John 20:22-23, where Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.’”
So my task this morning is to address two specific questions. The first is upon which “rock” is the church built – the Peter as the first pope or something else? Secondly why the answer to that question matter in the grand scheme of things?
One of the challenges in preaching on today’s Gospel is that the English translation doesn’t provide the kind of information we need to establish exactly what Jesus said and did here in Matthew 16:16-19. So the opening part of this sermon is going to take a deeper drive into the Greek grammar. The means that first part of this sermon is going to look a little bit more like a Bible class on the Gospel of St. Matthew. For your part, you’re going to need to be bit more of an active listener this morning.
Jesus asked the disciples the question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples told Jesus that some say He is “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked the disciples, “‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.’”
Now listen to what this sounds like if I replace the English name “Peter” and English word for rock” with the Greek words Jesus actually used. “… I tell you, you are Πέτρος (Peter), and on this πέτρᾳ (rock) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Πέτρος (Peter) and πέτρᾳ (rock). It doesn’t take much of a stretch to change Peter’s name to Rocky: Πέτρος, πέτρᾳ, To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to, Po-TAY-to, Po-TAH-to let’s call the whole thing off. The two words sound a lot alike, but grammatically speak there is a significant difference between the two words.
Now the Roman Catholics insist that when Jesus said that He would build the church on the πέτρᾳ, Jesus meant he’d build His church on the papal office that according to their argument Peter was the first to occupy.
Enter grammar. Yes the two words sound alike. But’s here’s the difference between the two words: Πέτρος (Peter) and πέτρᾳ (rock). When you hear an “AH” ending on a Greek word, think feminine – for example: Robert / Roberta; Marcus / Marcia; Paul / Paula. The “AH” sound at the end of the word πέτρᾳ means that it is a feminine form of the word for rock.
Peter’s name, Πέτρος end in an “OS” which is masculine. So when Jesus uses Πέτρος for Peter and πέτρᾳ for rock He was referencing two different subjects. It just so happens that Jesus also uses the feminine construction of the phrase build mou tan (the) church, ekklysian.”
The word rock, the silent “the” and the word for church are linked together by the grammar. Jesus wasn’t asserting that Peter, that is the office of pope is the rock upon which the church would be built. The grammar of the sentence forces us to look away from Peter as the rock to something else that might be symbolized by a feminine form of the word “rock.”
Enter another word, a word you here me reference a lot around here. The English word is “confession.” In the Greek it’s the word ὁμολογία, which is a feminine noun because it ends with an alpha, and “a.”
Who do you say that I am? Πέτρος answers “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That’s Peter’s confession, ὁμολογία, to which Jesus replies, “upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.’”
Jesus also says that Peter has been enabled to speak this good confession because God the Father has revealed it to him. Peter is blessed because God the Father has created faith in Peter’s heart and put the confession into his mouth.
By the way the sentence is constructed grammatically, Jesus is tell Peter, the other disciples, and the rest of us that His church, mou tan (the) church, ekklysian will be built on what the Father revealed and Peter said. Christ’s church is built on the confession of faith that God the Father had given and revealed to Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Later when St. John was given to write the Gospel bearing his name, he included Peter’s confession in this Gospel. John 20:30-31 “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
When Peter spoke the good confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he was confessing that Jesus is the anointed one, the Messiah, and that the anointed offices of Israel of prophet, priest, and king are filled by Jesus perfectly.
As the King Jesus not only established the law, but He keeps it perfectly. As the prophet He not only speaks for God, but He also fulfills all the words God spoke through His prophets. As the priest He not only offers up the sacrifice for sin, but He Himself is the sacrifice for sin. The confession of Jesus was the Christ/Messiah the Son of the living God includes all of these things and more.
No one can make this confession unless God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has revealed to and enabled a person to believe and speak the good confession. 1 Corinthians 12:3 “no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”
Here we have the second lesson of the Gospel reading. The church’s one foundation is the confession that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil. The church is built on one foundation. It’s all about theology first, the preaching and teaching. Everything else the church does flows from that.
Christ Himself is the rock on which the church is built. That is the Old Testament lesson assigned for this morning’s service. Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the Lord: Look to the rock [that is look to Christ] from which you were hewn And to the quarry [the church] from which you were dug.”
Having blessed us as individual Christians, members of the church, and the holy Catholic, that is universal Church with the good confession, Jesus puts flesh and blood on the forgiveness of sins. Jesus moves the conversation from Peter’s confession of the Christ, to the church and the distribution of the “forgiveness of sins,” which was and remains the main reason for His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection.
Jesus gives the disciples, soon to be apostles a promise. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The pastor exercises the Office of the Keys to the kingdom of heaven according to Christ’s instruction. It is not theirs to use as they see fit. No one, not even pope can administer the sacraments and holy absolution by virtue of their own authority.
It is as the liturgy says “In the stead and by the command, I (standing in Christ’s place) forgive you all your sins.” Jesus here provides a real physical link between His person and work two thousand years ago and our persons and works today. 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is what Christ promised to give us in His Word and in the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Now have you ever lost your keys or even forgotten that you need a key to get into something or someplace? We are prone to losing things and our tendency to lose things isn’t limited to material things. The truth is, the visit church is not immune to losing or forgetting things either. But, losing, forgetting, or forsaking the good confession and all that it means for us and for our salvation is the most eternally fatal thing a so called church and person can do.
Gifts like His real presence at the altar, His regenerative power in the water of baptism, His promise of forgiveness in absolution, even His assurance that what He says can and should be believed, trusted, and spoken.
Many churches and so call Christian denominations have lost the good confession of Christ. The assemblies and works no longer sit on the Rock’s foundation. They do not know what it means to call Jesus the Christ, the Son of the God.
It should not surprise us that many a congregations and denominations have forsaken the good confession. After all, “(Jesus) came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” That is John 1:11. But God did not stop there. The worlds rejection of the Rock of our Salvation did not negate what He has given to us. Jesus went on to say (John 1:12-13) “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Christ gave us something better and more sure than just a feeling or a theoretical or abstract knowledge of forgives. 1 Peter 2:19 says, “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”
In this Gospel text for this morning, Jesus teaches what it is that I as pastor am suppose to do for you and how you as the confessor of your sins ought to receive the words I speak. As the Catechism teaches, it is as sure and certain as if Christ Himself were speak directly to you.
Psalm 103:11-12. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Amen
May the peace that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.