Coming of the King: Week 35

Matthew 16:13-28: Who is Jesus?

• 16:13 What do people say about Jesus? Ask some random people and share what they say (do not be critical). Here are some examples:

  Liam: Jesus is God's Son
  Wikipedia: Jesus was a first century Jewish preacher and religious leader.
  Jesus Project: a historical figure mythologized in the gospels.
  Bart Erhman: The historical Jesus did not exist.
  

• 16:14 Compare what people said then with what people say today. Bart Erhman would be laughed out of town. The Jesus Project people (who doubt the historical accuracy of the gospels because of the miracles) would be looked at strangely. The miracles were a given, even for those those working to kill Him.
• 16:16 "Christ" - Messiah, Shiloh, the mission of Jesus. "Son of the living God" - the person and nature of Jesus.
• 16:18 "this rock" - refers to Peter's statement: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 424: "Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church. While some Catholics commentators suggest "this rock" "probably" refers to Peter, the words do not agree in gender (and the next verse clearly gives Peter special authority).

  Also, Christ Himself is the Rock, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:20. Moses struck the rock, that water might come out in Exodus 17:6, and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:4, they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

• 16:19 "I will give you the keys" - This is said only to Peter, giving him special authority, and is the Scriptural foundation for the Catholic doctrine of the Pope. Matthew 18:18 also speaks of binding and loosing, but in the context of a church dealing with unrepentant sin.
• 16:20 "not to tell anyone" - what were some possible reasons?
  1. The crowd would make him King
  2. the disciples did not yet understand the Suffering Servant
• 16:21 Actually accomplishing the Sign of Jonah is not easy or pleasant.
• 16:22 "this shall never happen" - why the disciples were not ready to proclaim Jesus as Messiah.
• 16:23 "the things of men" - They were still unclear on the full mission of the Messiah.
• 16:24 Not only must Jesus go to the cross, but His disciples also.
• 16:25 "whoever saves his life will lose it" - Jesus freely offers to take your sin and give you His righteousness. The logical prerequisite is that you must let go of your sin.
• 16:27 "His Father's glory" - when Jesus is transfigured, it is not a sign of His Deity, but a preview of what glorified humanity was before the Fall, and will be again. Moses also was glorified before Israel. Exodus 34:35 "according to what he has done" - Psalm 62:12 Romans 2:5-8
• 16:28 "some standing here will not taste death until..." - the next chapter!