Sermon Aug. 22-23, 2026

Title: Who do you say Jesus is?
Text: Matthew 16:13-20

Facebook live: Who do you say Jesus is?

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

In our Old Testament lesson, we read:

5 My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;

And here is the key.

but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

In our Gospel reading today:

13 … Jesus and his disciples came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,

Now, Caesarea Philippi during the time of Jesus was a lush, deeply pagan city located about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee at the base of Mount Hermon.

Ruled by Herod Philip, it featured a massive cliffside cave, a white marble temple to Caesar Augustus, and an active shrine dedicated to the goat footed Greek god Pan.

The ancient Greeks were very much a polytheistic culture and had belief in many gods. In fact, in polytheism, the more the merrier. Let us have a god for every unique need. Certainly, a very different belief than the Jews who hope is in the one true God, who created all things, delivered them from bondage in Egypt, and fed and sustained them in the wilderness for 40 years. It is in that context and in the district of Caesarea Philippi that,

[Jesus] asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Maybe even in this context we can also understand the answers the disciples give:

14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

In fact, the people see Jesus as one of the prophets even thinking John the Baptist, having recently been beheaded might be embodied in this Jesus who is speaking now, or one of the prophets of old, Elijah or Jeremiah who now speak through the voice of this new prophet Jesus.

They were familiar with the prophets of old and the word that was delivered from their mouths as the writer to the Hebrews would record for our benefit writing in Hebrews Chapter 1.

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

They might see God move as he had done in the past through men whom God had called to bring his word to the people - as it says, in time past, so that the people might hear, and that they might believe, and God could certainly do this again, they believe.

God speaks and we hear.

Maybe the people believe that this is who Jesus is? One of the prophets, sent to deliver God’s word, and so they listen, sometimes with belief and trust, and at other times, with doubt or misunderstanding.

In John chapter 6 Jesus calls himself the bread that comes down from Heaven to which,

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

So here, in the district of Caesarea Philippi, in the vicinity and among a polytheistic culture and Pagen gods, Jesus asks his disciples – which means followers:

15 [saying] to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

A hard question for sure.
What do they believe?
Didn’t they already answer about the people?
What might Jesus be getting at?
They possibly don’t really know or understand the question.

Maybe even thinking, “What should they say?”
And wondering, “What if we’re wrong?”

No one likes hard questions and wrong answers!

I know what your answer would be given the context of our gathering together here in worship at Peace, the Gospel account appointed for today, and Peter’s answer:

You and I like Peter would reply,

16 … “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

At least, I’d hope we would!

Many of those disciples with Peter heard and agreed as well, or at least they were waiting to see how Peter’s response was received by Jesus.

But for us in our day it might depend on the time and place, and the context in our lives and what those  attendance might think?

Would we speak safe answers calling Jesus one of the prophets, and a good man that lost his life in a most terrible way, but also fail to point to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? Our true hope and the hope for the world?

Unfortunately, some miss the connection.

Many years ago, I was watching the Phil Donahue show. If you are unfamiliar with Phil, he had a talk show and guests in the afternoon and I probably watched this in the 70s. His guest was Dr. Adrian Rogers who was a Baptist minister and theologian. At one point Phil asked:

“Dr. Rogers, can the Jew be saved?”
To which Dr. Rogers replied, “Apart from faith in Christ, no.”

This is how I remember it all these years later. No hope apart from Jesus.

Faith and trust in Jesus!
Like the mother from last week simply looking for the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.
Now to Peter’s confession Jesus exclaims,

17 … “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

As we discussed in the sermon last weekend, the woman who came to Jesus for healing for her daughter would not be deterred. Her faith in Jesus was given to her as a gift by the infinite mercy of God and the healing for her daughter was given immediately.

Jesus blesses Peter:

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

It is all gift, and it is all God!

Now to the part of the gospel lesson that brings questions both about Peter and the rock that Christ Jesus will build on.

18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The question of who do the people say that I am was addressed to all of the disciples who were with Jesus, and some answered about John the Baptist and the prophets as so also the question of, Who do you say that I am was addressed to all of the disciples as well - to which Peter gives reply:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The other disciples may not have understood this fully yet and Peter was certainly the one who stepped out of the boat, so it is not surprising that he speaks this truth on their behalf as well and for their benefit.

Because it was made clear by Jesus:

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

This is not something they or we can know outside of God’s working.

So, I would submit that the rock that the church is built on is not Peter the man but on Christ Jesus the Son of the living God and the gift of faith and trust in this God/man Jesus Christ our Lord, whom Peter confesses.

It is interesting to note that in Caesarea Philippi in the time of Jesus a massive cliffside cave where a deep spring was viewed by ancient pagans called the - Gates of Hades – was seen as a mystical portal or boundary where the god Pan traveled to and from the underworld, giving the site a heavy reputation associated with the realm of the dead.

To this Jesus replies to Peter:

That the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!

Trust in Christ will overcome the works of the devil to deceive and lead the faithful into bondage and captivity. For we who are given freedom through Christ’s work and by faith in him we too confess:

You are the Christ the Son of the living God!

To this the keys of heaven have been given to the Church to call to repentance with the binding key of the law, and to set free all who repent with the key of gospel, so that sin, death and the power of the devil would be overcome by Christ and his work!

This, dear friends - as Luther writes in the Small Catechism – is most certainly true!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen