We live in a time of tremendous turmoil. There’s no need for examples of turmoil because there is so much of it around right now. Whether the turmoil we experience is national, international, personal or interpersonal, turmoil is everywhere. What we need to remember is this: turmoil has had free reign in human history since the beginning of time and it will continue to show itself until the reign of Christ in the new heaven and new earth. So, the question is, how do we find peace and stability in the midst of turmoil?
Matthew 16 holds the answer to this question. Jesus was surrounded with turmoil leading up to this conversation between Jesus and the disciples. Yet, somehow, Jesus remained unfazed by the things going on around him. Imagine the disturbances caused by the religious leaders challenging everything he said or the confusion and uncertainty about God’s power to intervene against Rome on behalf of the Jews. There was turmoil everywhere. But Jesus knew how to thrive in spite of circumstances.
He knew that not long after the conversation of Matthew 16, his disciples would face the greatest turmoil of their journey with Jesus – they would watch him die. It seems that this conversation is strategically timed to teach them how to survive the coming chaos.
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
By asking them to declare who he is, Jesus is teaching them that when they understand who he is, they have unlocked the kingdom of heaven. They are in the District of Caesarea Philippi, an area about 25 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee. The region had tremendous religious implications. It was covered with the temples of the Syrian gods. There was also an elaborate marble temple that had been erected by Herod the Great and tremendous the influence of the Greek gods along with the worship of Caesar as a God himself. The area was mostly pagan, and was representative of the political turmoil between the Romans and Jews, yet it was with this scene in the background that Jesus chose to ask the most crucial questions of his ministry.
In choosing this place and time to ask them, Jesus is teaching them that he is the rock that holds steady in the midst of life’s turmoil. In the Greek, Peter is petros, meaning a piece of rock. The word translated rock in verse 18 is actually petra in the Greek, which means a bedrock or a large area of rock, such as a rock projecting from a cliff. Petra does not move, petros can be moved like a stone that is thrown or rolled. Petra is also the same word Jesus uses in reference to the wise man who built his house on the rock. Paul uses petra in 1 Corinthians 10:4, “they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” Acts 4 and 1 Peter 2 also reference Jesus as the petra, or the rock.
Declaring who Jesus is makes us part of the rock. We become little pieces of the rock (petros), safe and sound in Jesus. There’s no reason to fear turmoil when we know who Jesus is. When people ask why we respond differently to turmoil, we can say, “Because I know who Jesus is. He is the Messiah – the anointed one of God with the power to redeem humanity; he is the son of the living God – a God who is ready and able to act in any situation. And I am part of the rock, so I will not be moved! Jesus is enough.”
Ask yourself this week: who do you say that Jesus is?
[1] Available online: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=turmoil&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=turmoil&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=-RtUTvboG4-SgQfqnvgw&ved=0CCgQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=3f90889223eaf04d&biw=1234&bih=766
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