Who Do You Say I Am.  (Matthew 16: 13-20)

I.             A Great Discovery in An Unusual Place.

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:13-16) 

Here we have the story of yet another withdrawal which Jesus made. The end of His ministry is starting to draw near, and Jesus needed all the time alone with his disciples that he could gain. He had much to say to them and much to teach them, even though we shall find there are some things which then they could not bear to hear and some other things that they could not understand.

To that end he withdrew to the districts of Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi lies about twenty-five miles north-east of the Sea of Galilee. It was outside the authority of Herod Antipas, who was the ruler of Galilee, at that time. But within the area of Philip the Tetrarch. The population was mainly non-Jewish, and there Jesus believed he would have more peace allowing time to teach the Twelve.

His days in the flesh were numbered. The problem was—not even the disciples fully understood him? Was there anyone who had recognized him for who and what he was? Obviously, that was a crucial problem, for it involved the very survival of the Christian faith. If there were none who had grasped the truth, or even glimpsed it, then all his work could be undone; if there were a few who realized the truth, his work was safe. So, Jesus was determined to put his followers to the test and ask them who they believed him to be.

It is of great significance to recognise the significance of where Jesus chose to ask this question. There can have been few districts with more religious associations than Caesarea Philippi. The area was scattered with temples of the ancient Syrian Baal worship. No fewer than fourteen temples dedicated to the worship of Baal were based in that neighbourhood. Here was an area where the culture of these ancient Pagan religions were rife, it was in the very atmosphere. The where literally often be standing beneath the shadow of the ancient gods via their temples and statues.

Not only the Syrian gods were worship there, but nearby Caesarea Philippi also there was a large hill, in which was a deep cavern; and that cavern was said to be the birthplace of the Greek God Pan, the god of nature and music. So much was Caesarea Philippi identified with that God that its original name was Panias, and to this day the place is known as Banias. Further, that cave legend said was the place where the sources of the Jordan sprang to life. 

But there was something else to bear in mind, Caesarea Philippi there was a great temple of white marble built to the godhead of Caesar. The place, which was already remarkable was boosted in importance by the erection of this temple, which was dedicated to Caesar. Roman historian Josephus describes the temple: "as huge and built of white marble, with matching fountains by the river Jordan. The place it is situated is called Panium, where there is the top of a mountain of immense height, and at its side, beneath, a dark cave opens itself; within which there is a horrible precipice that descends abruptly to a vast depth. It contains a mighty quantity of water, which is immovable; and when anyone who has tried to let down anything to measure the depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord was sufficient to reach it." Later, Herod's son, Philip further beautified and enriched the temple, changed the name of Panias to Caesarea, which means Caesar's town then adding his own name, Philippi. No one could look at Caesarea Philippi, even from the distance, without seeing the glistening marble of the temple, and think of the might and of the supposed divinity of Rome.

Yet against this backdrop a young penniless Galilaean carpenter, with twelve very ordinary men appear. At the same moment the religious hierarchy  are plotting and planning to destroy him as an alleged heretic. He stands in an area littered with the temples to the Syrian gods; in a place where the ancient Greek gods were said to looked down; in a place where the history of Israel crowded in yet all the while the white marble splendour of the temple to Caesar worship dominated the landscape all around. 

It is in a place such as this that Jesus now stands and asks his disciples, those who they believe him to be Messiah and the Son of God. 

As Barclay writes, “it is as if Jesus deliberately set himself against the background of the world's religions in all their history and their splendour, and demanded to be compared with them and asks them to give a verdict in his favour”. There are few examples of where Jesus' awareness of his own deity shines out more clearly or when he asks of those who follow him to make that decision also.

II.            The Inadequacy of Defining Jesus in Human Terms.

So it is here at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus demands a verdict from his followers. He must know where they stand before he sets out from Jerusalem and towards the Cross if they had really grasped who and what he was.  Yet he does not ask the question directly; he leads up to it. He began by asking them what people were saying about him, and who they took him to be.

Some said that he was John the Baptist. So, Herod Antipas was not the only man who felt that John the Baptist was back from the dead.

Others said that he was Elijah. In doing so, they were saying two things about Jesus. They were saying that he was as great as the greatest of the prophets, for Elijah had always been looked on as the high point of the prophetic line. They were also acknowledging Jesus as at least the forerunner of the Messiah. As Malachi said, the promise of God was: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes" (Malachi 4: 5) To this day the Jews expect the return of Elijah before the coming of the Messiah, and to this day they leave a chair vacant for Elijah when they celebrate the Passover, for when Elijah comes, the Messiah will not be far behind. So, it would seem that some of the people looked on Jesus as the herald of the Messiah and the forerunner of the direct intervention of God, but not the actual Messiah himself.

It appears some other thought that Jesus was Jeremiah. Jeremiah had a curious place in the expectations of the people of Israel. It was believed and recorded in Jewish Apocryphal writings that, before the people went into exile, Jeremiah had taken the ark and the altar of incense out of the Temple and hidden them away in a lonely cave on Mount Nebo; and that, before the coming of the Messiah, he would return and produce them again enabling the glory of God to come to the people again. Jeremiah therefore was also seen as a forerunner of the coming of the Messiah, and his country's help in time of trouble.

When the people identified Jesus with Elijah and with Jeremiah they were, according to their thinking, paying him a compliment and setting him in a high place, for Jeremiah and Elijah were recognised as the expected forerunners of the Anointed One of God. When they arrived, they believed the Kingdom of God was near indeed.

So having heard who they believed the crowd thought he was then he askes the disciples themselves the all-important question: "And you--who do you say I am?"  And it is Peter who speaks up first and make his great declaration; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Hearing this I believe that Jesus then knew that his work was safe because there was at least someone who understood.

As an aside, it is interesting to note that each of the three gospels has its own version of the saying of Peter. Matthew has: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Mark simply says ( Mark 8:29 ): “You are the Christ”, and Luke is clearest of all ( Luke 9:20 ): “You are the Christ of God”. Jesus knew now that there was at least someone among his followers who now fully recognized him for the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the Son of the living God.  The word Messiah and the word Christ mean the same thing; one is the Hebrew, and the other is the Greek for “The Anointed One”. Kings were ordained to office by anointing, as they still are in the UK, we shall in fact see that happen to King Charles here in the UK in May 2023. But this is “ The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One” and he is anointed as God's King over all men and woman on earth.

Essentially Peter's discovered something that everyone who wonders who Jesus was need  to grasp hold of, and that  was that human categories, even the highest, are inadequate to describe Jesus Christ. When the people described Jesus as. Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets they thought they probably thought they putting Jesus in the highest category they could think of. 

Remember when we did the overview of Malachi, back in Season 1 of this podcast adventure by was of introduction to the project we discovered that iIt was the belief of the Jews that for four hundred years the voice of prophecy had been silent. So, they were in fact saying that in Jesus people had once again heard the direct and authentic voice of God for the first time in half a millennium. These were great tributes; but they were still not great enough to describe who Jesus was. Peter had discovered that there were in fact, no human categories which were adequate to describe Jesus Christ or who he was.

It's interesting to me that most would agree that Peter because of his background as just an ordinary fisherman could not have given a theological account and a philosophic explanation of what he meant when he said that, Jesus was the Son of the living God: But the one thing of which Peter was quite certain off was that no merely human description was adequate to describe him.

This passage reminds me that our discovery of Jesus Christ must be a personal discovery. Jesus' question is a personal one : "Who do you think I am?" 

Later when Pilate will ask him, if he is the king of the Jews, his answer was: "Who Do you say I am, or are you just repeating what you had heard others say it to you about me?" ( John 18:33-34 ).

Our acknowledgement of who we think Jesus must never be at second hand. Someone might know every though and every verdict ever passed on Jesus; They might know every theological argument about him that all the great minds of history have come up with. They might be able to give a competent summary of His teaching or about what every great thinker and theologian has said about him but still not be a Christian. Christianity never consists in knowing about Jesus; it always consists of just knowing Jesus. Jesus Christ demands a personal response and a personal verdict as to who he is. 

In this passage he appears to ask only Peter but read it closely and you will see he asks everyone every disciple the profound question. Who do you say I am.