It is said, whatever must rise, must also fall. Perhaps this is just another misconception
created by our sinful state, hopelessly bound to an addiction to failure … if
not for Christ. The prophet Nahum gives
us hope that affliction shall not rise up a second time, so once we are finally
and fully perfected by Christ, we can trust Him that we will not fall back into
the sin of who we are today. But before
that final perfection has taken hold, we remain subject to the weakness of our
selfish state. Even in matters of
religion, and our relationship with Christ this is true. The Pharisees represented the class of
religious leaders who despite lifetimes of studying, debating, and interpreting
scriptures; missed the Messiah who stood right in their midst. They were members of the “right” religion,
studying the “right Bible”, and worshipping the “right God”, but refused to see
perfection in the sacrifice of loving others that embodied Jesus Christ. Instead they held to their own wisdom on
matters of scripture, reasoning that no one could know them better than they.
But it is too easy to look only at the Pharisees and assign
blame, and avoid seeing ourselves in them from the scriptures we read. Peter too, suffered from weakness of our
addiction to sin, even while in the presence of Christ, even when only seconds
before having been in direct communication with our Father God. It is very hard for us to imagine this. For if being in a prophetic state with the
Father God is not enough to perfect us, what is? But perhaps that is the question Peter would
wish us to ask as he relays the series of event to John Mark in his gospel
chapter eight picking up in verse 27 saying … “And Jesus went out, and his disciples,
into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples,
saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?”
Only recently had Jesus and his followers been in Bethsaida, where Jesus
had revealed Himself in the role of our Creator as He had privately restored
the sight of the blind man. Now they
were traveling again on the roads and byways near the town of Caesarea
Philippi. As they traveled, and thinking
on recent events, Jesus poses a question, perhaps “the” question, to His
disciples about “who” He is.
As Peter relays this gospel to John Mark to transcribe, it
is obviously written from the perspective of hindsight. Peter already knows the end of the story, he
already knows now firmly who Jesus is.
In fact, as he recalls events to John Mark, nearly all of them are
intended to help the reader reach the same conclusion about the identity of
Christ, that Peter already knows. But
when this incident was happening in real time, things were not quite as
certain. Jesus had not disappointed his
own followers by not overthrowing Roman rule as yet. Jesus had not died or rose again yet. So no matter how excited the disciples were
about the prospect of who Jesus was, and perhaps all of Israel with them, there
still existed a lack of certainty, an echo of doubt that kept them all from the
potential they had yet to explore. So
comes the question of Christ to keep them thinking. Jesus carefully words the question asking at
first only “whom do men” say that I am.
In this way, He allows His disciples to offer answers that are popular,
or even controversial, under the cover of saying they were only repeating what
they have heard, instead of what they themselves are thinking. It is a clever way to reduce the pressure of
accountability when answering “the” question of any age.
So the disciples put forward the popular thinking of the
people, and as they do, they believe these answers to ALL be flattering to any
man. John Mark continues in verse 28
saying … “And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others,
One of the prophets.” John the Baptist,
the first cousin of Jesus, who also had miraculous signs even at his own birth;
was “the” most popular religious figure in Israel in that day. To assign and equate the identity of Jesus with
that of John the Baptist, should have been a great honor. The living ministry of John, the humility he
adopted in his clothing, and his diet, and long hair; was echoed only in how
great the Holy Spirit had infected his preaching. John preached a message of repentance, for it
was only repentance that could in any way “prepare” the people for contact with
God. For Jesus to be considered as John
in resurrected form should have been a great spiritual honor. Any man would have been flattered, but Jesus was
not.
To equate Jesus to Elias was more calculating. Elias or Elijah had been whisked away to
heaven on a chariot of fire and angels.
He never saw mortal death. He was
like Enoch in this regard. For Elias to
have returned to earth again was logical, and possible, and subtly required far
less faith to believe than in a virgin birth.
No one had really heard of Jesus before He was thirty (except His
parents, siblings, and a temple full of astounded leaders when He was twelve
and taught them for 3 days). So to
believe that heaven spit out a fully grown 30-year-old Elias to teach them
again and do miracles, required less faith than to believe that Jesus was born
here, and grew into “who” He was. In any
case, Jesus should have been honored to have equity of His identity assigned to
the great prophet Elias, for only Moses was greater in the minds of the
people. But Jesus was unmoved by this
attribution as well. So He challenges
them to get more personal with their answers.
John Mark continues in verse 29 saying … “And he saith unto
them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou
art the Christ. [verse 30] And he charged them that they should tell no man of
him.” Jesus now asks them directly, who
do “you” say that I am. This question
will now assign direct accountability to their answers. They cannot mask what they think behind the
accumulation of what they have heard the “people” saying. They have to fess up with a personal
answer. What if they get it wrong? He does not seem to be pleased so far with
that He has heard. It takes a certain
courage to answer this question first.
So Peter steps up, in his loud and usually boisterous way. But He says something, that surprises even
himself. He declares that Jesus is “the
Christ”. This term is meant to say, “the
Son of the Living God”. In his
declaration, Peter is stating the identity of Jesus is Creator, is God, is more
than Messiah, Jesus is everything and more.
This is not something Peter could “know” at that time. They all suspected it. They all were teaching it to those who would
listen, but not without harboring some level of doubt in themselves. But Peter was saying something out loud for
everyone to hear. And Peter is correct.
The response of Jesus is interesting. In this version of the gospel, the one being
relayed and recounted by Peter, he records only that Jesus tells them all to
keep this knowledge secret. But Matthew has
more to say on the incident, in chapter 16 and verse 17 the answer of Christ
includes high praise for Peter. Jesus
says there … “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven.” Jesus now calls
Peter “blessed”. This is a high honor,
as the reason for his blessing is that our Father God has given this bold
revelation to Peter. Perhaps this is the
first prophetic encounter Peter has had, it will not be his last. Though the disciple John is most known for
the prophetic gift, Peter too will have several prophetic revelations and
record them in his works. It is telling
that this recognition is left out of Mark’s gospel. Mark was not there, so he can only transcribe
what Peter recounts, and in this case, Peter is not eager to record the high
praise of Jesus as this incident unfolds.
Peter knows of a truth, that he himself is only a disciple, no more, no
greater than any other disciple. And
Peter also knows what happens next.
According to how Matthew remembered this event, Peter should
have been elated that he not only got the answer right. He did so, because the Father God was
revealing it to him. In our day, we
refer to this as a “spiritual high”. It
is a time when we feel as though there is no better feeling we could have. We are as close to God as we have ever been,
we feel His love and His approval, and to quote our Lego friends … “everything
is awesome”. But this is Peter’s
recollection of events. His memory is
undimmed. He knows what happened and
what was said. In the time he recalls it
to John Mark, already his audience attributes too much spiritual authority to a
man who is no different than you or I.
Being bold, is not supposed to translate into being right. Being a leader, is not supposed to take the
burden of taking decisions to God, instead of to men. Peter has seen the temptation that
accompanies leadership in the church, the Pharisees were living examples of
it. And Peter knows himself not to be
immune.
The story continues with Jesus Christ adding to the blessing
of revelation His Father has only seconds before, began in this encounter as it
continues in verse 31 saying … “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man
must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief
priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [verse 32]
And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.” God the Father had revealed to Peter who
Jesus was. Jesus took that cue, and
believed the disciples must be ready to hear the whole truth about what His
mission truly was. Knowing He was God,
should have allowed the disciples to know that death and rejection were not to
be feared. But in the minds of the
disciples, rejection of the leadership of the “right church”, that studied the
“right Bible” would discredit Jesus as the Messiah. Not only would the people be discouraged by
this formal rejection, but the disciples would as well. Add to that, Jesus was in the same breath
blowing away every hope they had, that He would rise to be the conqueror all of
them knew He could be if He just tried.
Romans would stay in power.
Romans would kill Him. Romans would
be around to tax, torture and kill them forever if this all this came to pass.
These words spoken by God, went against everything Peter and
the others wanted to believe. They
countered their own interpretations of scriptures they shared with the
Pharisees about the role of the Messiah.
Instead of accepting the validity of God who spoke only truth, Peter
thinks Jesus needs a good shaking to snap Him out of this nonsense. So again, Peter acts in his bold and decisive
manner, he will grab Christ and snap Him out of this nonsensical diatribe of
prophecy that must surely be wrong, as it counters everything in scripture they
all understood. Jesus must be in some
sort of shock, from the exhaustion of preaching all day and praying all
night. But the rebuke of men as to the
veracity of the words of God, never goes as planned.
Peter recalls what happens next in stunning clarity, a chill
still goes up his spine as John Mark transcribes verse 33 saying … “But when he
had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get
thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but
the things that be of men.” Peter has
fallen from Blessed of the Father God, to equity with Satan himself. For indeed it was Satan who prompted Peter to
act in order to defend the religion he was so fond of. Satan often prompts men to be extreme in the
defense of a faith that has no basis in truth.
He goes so far as to convince them they should kill to defend the word
of God, and men accept this lie and act on it.
In this case, Peter’s rebuke of Jesus is nothing next to the clear
rebuke of himself. Peter is not the
greatest disciple by any means, Peter is not the stone of the church, only
Jesus could be that. Peter instead is
equated with Satan, for Peter has just espoused the very doctrines of Satan,
and he has done it loudly, boldly, and with confidence in front of the others.
But here is the arrogance of us … that we should believe
Peter rose at all because of anything he said or accomplished. And that we should think that Peter fell,
because of anything that God did to see that happen. The wisdom that resulted in Peters
declaration about the identity of Christ came from God the Father. Everything we “relay” that comes from God is
good, is a blessing to us and the world.
We “relay” His love to others, it passes through us, it does not
originate within us. We are not
infallible, only God is. When we can
submit and be transformed to be devoid of self, a perfect vessel in the service
of God, we can reveal God’s truth instead or our own. It was the truth of Father God about the
identity of Jesus Christ. It was the
doctrines of Satan and Peter’s own self belief that came in the rejection of
the words of Jesus about His own mission and destiny. When Peter accepted what God told him, he was
blessed. When Peter offered his own
wisdom, he was rebuked. It was the
injection of self that made the difference.
It is the injection of self that makes us fallible, everyone from abject
sinner, to the pope.
We can be perfect, we can make no more mistakes, when we can
submit ourselves fully and know no more of self, revealing only Him in us. This ultimate state of perfection is
possible, it is the journey we are on.
The issue Peter faced was no different for you or I. For too often we savor not the things that be
of God, but the things that be of men.
This doctrine is the doctrine of Satan.
The wisdom of men is the mouthpiece of Satan. The reason why the identity of Jesus is “the”
question of any age, is because the role of Jesus as our Savior and our Creator
are the basis of our salvation. As our
Savior, Jesus died in our stead, and paid the price of justice Satan demands
for our choices. As our Creator, Jesus
re-creates the core of our character, of who we are, as we submit to Him. In this, he not only pays for our sins, He
provides us the means never to want to commit them again. That is salvation, to be saved from who we
are. If the identity of Jesus is not
God, not Creator, not Savior, then we are destined to remain slaves to self. This is why every other competing ideology
lacks a viable plan to achieve utopia.
Man must be saved from himself, he cannot do it himself.
Whether we are an abject sinner, a regular church attendee,
or leader of a large congregation, our fallibility is determined by how much of
His revelation we accept, and how much of our own, we interject …
No comments:
Post a Comment