Separating Rumor from Reality

The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture (semicontinuous)

Old Testament: Exodus 1:8—2:10

Psalter: Psalm 124

Epistle: Romans 12:1-8

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

Scripture (complementary)

Old Testament: Isaiah 51:1-6

Psalter: Psalm 138

Epistle: Romans 12:1-8

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

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Prayer

God of Miriam and Moses, you are our help from age to age. Accept our worship, our living sacrifice, and transform us by your Spirit, that, being many members of one true body, we may dare to pray together in the name of Christ the Lord. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)

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Reflection

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[a] the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was[d] the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-20).

Just as today, the rumor mill was alive and well in the first century. Jesus and his disciples are approaching the city of Caesarea Philippi. Jesus wants to know what the scuttlebutt is out there about him. “Who do people say that I am well?” The rumor mill is in high gear. No doubt there were conspiracy theorists in Jesus’ day too. The disciples respond with several options likely leaving out others—John, the Baptist come back from the dead, or one of the long gone prophets of the Old Testament. It’s difficult enough for people to believe who Jesus truly is, but they also have to sort through the fiction. They have to separate rumor from reality.

Peter responds correctly to Jesus. You are the Messiah. Jesus indicates to Peter that his affirmation can only be the result of divine revelation. In order to understand who Jesus truly is one must be opened to the voice of God. There is no way to bring oneself to believe in Jesus with reason alone. Reason is not unimportant, but there must be an openness to more. There needs to be a willingness to hear the voice of God to believe who Jesus is in reality.

Later on in Matthew 16 Jesus will start describing to the disciples what his messiahship means—betrayal, suffering, and death. Peter, who was open enough to the revelation of God a little earlier is now closed to that same revelation of the nature of Jesus’ mission. Sometimes Revelation is a process. Peter has learned Jesus’s name— Messiah— but he still has to embrace what that name means.

That will take some time; but at least he has separated rumor from reality.

PRAYER: O God, you blessed Abraham and Sarah, and made them a great nation. Keep us in remembrance of the rock from which we are hewn, that the waste places of our lives may blossom to your glory. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)

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