Matthew 16: 13–28
A sermon preached at Geraldton Anglican Cathedral 31 April 2022
I don’t know if you have ever experienced psychodrama. Some of my first year of training in Perth was spent at Graylands Hospital with a group of first-year deacons. This particular day we were to learn about psychodrama. We were ushered into a room where a circle of psychiatric patients were hard at it. I imagined we were meant to join them, and quietly removed my clerical collar. Actually, they were about to leave, so we were just our own group and the therapist. She had seen me remove my dog collar and asked me why—was I ashamed of being a clergyman? I began to explain that as a child I had been afraid of black-clad ministers, In that group I wanted to be an ordinary person. I then found myself the subject of a psychodrama session, and my soul was turned inside out and put out to dry. One of the other deacons went home with a migraine just observing. It was a time when the church was in decline, and many ministers were struggling to know what their role was. That was because they had no understanding of what the church is.
Today we begin a series of talks on the Church. I thought long and hard about how to conclude my time in Geraldton. You are about to set out with a new leader on a new phase of your life as a Christian congregation; I figured it might be helpful for us to think together about the Church: what is, what is its purpose, how should it be led, what is its future? Today we look at Jesus’ words to his leading disciple: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”
If you visit the beautiful Roman Catholic cathedral down the road, you will see these words inscribed in Latin around wall in the central dome. What did Jesus mean by them? His words have been debated for more than a thousand years.
Matthew’s story is reaching its first climax: his disciples have watched him for more than a year, teaching, healing, and doing extraordinary miracles. The question in everyone’s mind was, “Who is this man?” It was clear he came from God, and he had a mission, but where did he fit into the plan of things? Their Scriptures foretold God’s plan to rescue Israel and elevate it to leadership in the world, but where exactly did Jesus fit in? This question was being debated throughout the country. Most people were clea he was not the Messiah. They had a clear model of the promised king: a thousand years before, King David had led their nation to victory, and rose to rule much of the Near East. Jesus was nothing like that. But he was someone. No one could do what he was doing unless God was with him—unless it was the Devil, who was empowering him! That’s what some people thought. Jesus put the question to his disciples:
Who do people say that I am?
They answered:
Some sayJohn the Baptist, others sayElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
Even the king had an opinion. He had arrested John the Baptist as a danger to public order, but enjoyed discussing things with him, until, to please his wife, he had him executed. But no sooner is John out of the way, than a new preacher comes on the scene, saying similar things, but this time doing miracles. “It must be John the Baptizer returned from the dead,” said Herod. We don’t know how serious he was.
What about you; who do you say I am?
Jesus addressed them all, but it was Simon who answered.
You are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the Living God.
Simon is sticking his neck out a long way. As I said, Jesus did not answer to their expectations of the Saviour King. And yet, he did not fit any of the other possibilities: what he was doing went way beyond any of the former prophets—Jeremiah, Elijah—he even seemed more powerful than Moses. So Simon, who has watched him for more than a year, tentatively, I think, says, “You must be the Messiah.”
This, as I said, is the first climactic moment in Matthew—also in Mark and Luke. Jesus has gradually brought his disciples to the point where the first of them acknowledges him as the promised king. Jesus is pleased.
Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
Jesus affirms Simon’s declaration. This was not something he had worked out for himself; God had revealed it to him. Simon has spoken true truth. He has identified Jesus for who he is. And now Jesus says something about Simon:
You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it.
These are the words we need to try to understand. In Roman Catholic understanding Jesus was creating the papacy. Peter and the popes he would appoint were to be the leaders of world Christianity. These days other churches are recognized, but are only partially legitimate until they recognize and come under the authority of the ruling pope.
On the other hand, modern liberal scholars doubt whether Jesus ever spoke these words. They point out that there was no church when Jesus was alive, and that in none of the other Gospels does he use the word. They think Matthew invented these words and put them in Jesus’ mouth.
One of the rules of interpretation is that words mean what they meant for those who heard them first. In other words, if there was no such thing as a church at that time, his disciples would not have known what he was talking about, and it is unlikely that Jesus would have said it. But there was a “church.” “Church”, of course, is a Christian word. Today we think of a building for Christian worship, or an institution, or a community. That didn’t exist when Jesus spoke. What then would his disciples think he was talking about?
There are two quite common words in the Old Testament both of which mean a congregation, or assembly, or community. The one is edah, and the other qahal. The later Greek translators and the early Christians rendered them as sunagoge and ecclesia. In our English Bibles ecclesia becomes “church.” Both words are used of the Israelite community that Moses gathered at the foot of Mt Sinai for a meeting with God. You know the story. They saw the top of the mountain burning with fire, and heard the voice of God. Moses went up into the mountain and received the ten commandments. In the book of Deuteronomy this is called “the day of the Church” (Greek: ecclesia – Deuteronomy 9.10) So, Jesus was not using a strange word, or saying something they would not understand. Any national gathering was called the qahal or edah, meaning the assembly or congregation. When William Tyndale translated the Bible into English he used “congregation” instead of “church,” which is one reason they hunted him down and killed him.
Jesus now says something striking about the church. He says he will build “his church.” The nation Israel gathered at Mt Sinai is the original church; it is God’s church. How dare Jesus call it his church? Or is he thinking of a different community? And what does he mean that he will build it? We can cut things short and say there is only ever one Church. It is all of God’s people, past, present, and future, gathered together, not now at Mt Sinai, but in the presence of its king. It is God’s church, but it is also the Church of God’s King, the Messiah. And Jesus will build it. Actually, the Son of God has been at work building it since our first human ancestors walked on the earth, but in the course of time, God sent him into the world to die for the sins of all his people—Old and New—and to draw them to himself.
Jesus spoke mainly of his kingdom. A kingdom consists of king, a community, and a land. The Church is the community of those who belong to the kingdom. Jesus’ disciples could have understood this, though it would have taken their breath away when he said that he would build it. The land that belongs to this kingdom is the future restored universe.
Why does Jesus change Peter’s name? Peter is the first to openly declare him to be the King. Jesus is indicating how his church will be built. Peter is the first stone in a spiritual house. He will be followed by many others; I hope even you and I. That is why in his first letter Peter says, “As you come to him, the Living Stone … you also like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house …” (1 Peter 2) The Living Stone is Jesus. He is the Rock of Ages, on which the Church is built. “Whoever hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man who built his house on rock.” (Matthew 7) Jesus is the foundation. Peter was the first stone to be laid on top of that foundation. He was first to declare Jesus to be his king. In that sense he is the beginning of the Church.
Next, Jesus declares that this Church will last forever.
You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell (Hades) will not overpower it.
Jesus is not speaking here of Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, where the Devil and all his followers will be destroyed at the end of the age. Hades or Sheol is the underworld, the place of the dead. To speak of “the gates of Hades” is to speak of death. Whoever passes through those gates never returns—at least that is what people thought then, and mostly still do. People today talk about going to a better place. But the ancients didn’t think it was a better place. Life was much better than death.
In saying the gates of Hades will not overpower his Church Jesus is saying that every attempt to kill the Church will fail. His community will live forever. This is an extraordinary claim for a man to make, even if he could see far enough ahead to know that there would still be a Christian church 2000 years later.
Many attempts have been made to destroy the Church. Nero tried to shift the blame for starting the fire that destroyed large parts of Rome. He was frustrated in his plans to rebuild a section of Rome and was the obvious suspect, but he fastened the blame on the Christians, because they were mostly foreign, and new, and unpopular, and talked about the end of the world. Thousands were put to death in the Coliseum. But three years later Nero was assassinated and Christianity continued to grow. Christians were sporadically persecuted by later emperors, but in AD 249 being a Christian became illegal. The Emperor Decius passed a law requiring everyone to have a certificate that he or she had sacrificed to the state gods. A bit like our vaccination certificates, except if you didn’t have one, you were executed. Worshipping the state gods is something Christians would not do and many died. But Decius didn’t last long and the killing stopped. Other waves of persecution followed.
However, the survival of a Christian institution is not the point. The Book of Revelation hints that the Church as a witnessing institution might even die before Jesus comes again. The greatest danger to the Church has always been from within. Jesus warned of false prophets who would seem like angels of light, but inwardly would be ravening wolves. Paul warned against leaders who would rise from within the Christian movement, who would destroy the flock. Much of the persecution that has been suffered by Christians has come from inside the Church. The point is, God will defend his people. Jesus promised that not one would be lost. All his children will be there at the end. They will be an eternal community of people who will live with him forever. We need have no fear for the true Church of God. Societies may turn against us and hound us. Denominations will come and go. But this thing which Jesus called “my Church”—his community—will not be defeated even by death itself. The gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
It used to be said, “No salvation outside the ark!” Only those who entered the ark with Noah escaped the flood, meaning you need to be in the Church if you want to be saved. This is true, so long as you are not thinking of one particular denomination or church. When people get the idea that their church is the only true one, you get what we call a sect. But the idea that salvation belongs to those who belong to the true Church of Christ is correct. Jesus is drawing people of every nation to himself to join with the historic people of God, and has promised that they will inherit the earth. There is no salvation outside this community. It stands to reason that those who belong to his kingdom are those who recognize him as their king. Of course, it is not yet complete, and no human being knows its final composition. Jesus said many who are first will be last and the last first. () Many will say, “Did we not cast demons out in your name,” to whom the Lord will say, “Depart from me, for a never knew you.” (Luke 13.22–27) Many will come from the east and the west to sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but many of the sons of the kingdom will be banished to outer darkness. (8.11–12) These are frightening warnings of our Lord. What matters is to know in your heart that you are one of God’s people. It sounds selfish, but it’s like when they tell you before you fly, “In the case of loss of cabin pressure masks will fall from above you. Fix your own mask first, before you try to help someone else!” You can’t help your children when you are gasping for breath yourself. Only when you are at peace with God yourself will you be able to help someone else. John wrote his first letter, “I write this so that you may know that you have eternal life.” It is possible to have assurance of salvation; it is perhaps the most precious of all gifts.
So how may I know? Let me start by pointing out a common mistake. Many think because they belong to a church, they are safe. I mean, it stands to reason: if there is salvation only in the ark (the church), and I belong to the church, I should be safe. The problem with this is there is a difference between what we call the invisible Church and our denominations and congregations. When the time for judgement comes Jesus will not be separating one denomination from the other. There are people of God in most denominations and congregations, and there are also children of the Devil. When Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, he will be separating person from person.
So how can I know I am safe? The answer is not to look to the church.
Peter became the first stone in the spiritual building, not when he believed in the church, but when he recognized that Jesus was God’s king and declared his faith in him. You don’t become a member of Christ’s church by believing in the Church, but by believing in Christ. Everyone who puts their faith in Jesus as God’s king—as their Lord—enters the true Church, where salvation is assured. Read John’s Gospel and see for yourself! Jesus solemnly pledges that he will receive all who come to him—not to the Church, but to him—and give them eternal life; they pass from death to life; he will raise them on the last day.
Jesus told Peter he would give him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. How, then, did Peter open the door into the kingdom? In his first letter he says, “Come to him, the living stone … and you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…” (1 Peter 2) Come to Jesus, he says. Come to the Rock! Become a living stone. Heaven is open to all who accept Jesus as their king and Lord.
Of course, Christians will want to belong to a believing congregation. There is an indissoluble relation between the invisible Church of the future and our congregations and denominations now. It is a terrible mistake to think we can do without a church in the here and now. We belong to the Church, and we must be the church as best we can—until the day when we see our all our dreams come true, and the bride of Christ will be revealed in her true splendour. But that is a subject for another day.