Year A
Isaiah 51:1-6
Psalm 138
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caesarea Philippi\u2026 where today\u2019s Gospel story takes place\u2026 is in the northern part of Israel\u2026 it\u2019s north of Galilee\u2026 north of the Sea of Galilee\u2026 much nearer to Lebanon than to Jerusalem\u2026 it\u2019s very close to the city of Dan\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonathan Greer\u2026 Assistant Professor at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary\u2026 writes\u2026 according to the book of Kings\u2026 Jeroboam\u2026 the first ruler of the newly seceded northern kingdom of Israel\u2026 established two sanctuaries to rival the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem\u2026 the first one was at Dan along the northern border\u2026 and the second at Bethel\u2026 along the southern border\u2026 not far from Jerusalem\u2026 it was generally understood that YHWH worship was to take place only in Jerusalem\u2026 at THE Temple\u2026 and so Jeroboam\u2019s sanctuaries were widely vilified\u2026 especially since he commissioned the construction of two golden calves\u2026 and installed one at each shrine\u2026 he also ordained a new priesthood\u2026 and established his own pilgrimage festival\u2026 and these two shrines were portrayed as places of active worship throughout the duration of the northern kingdom\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can get away with a lot more in the country\u2026 than you can in the city\u2026 wide open spaces\u2026 with smaller populations\u2026 mean fewer eyes\u2026 the Jerusalem Temple was right in the thick of it\u2026 and you probably couldn\u2019t swing a cat\u2026 without hitting a scribe or a Pharisee\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We think about how horrible the golden calf in Exodus was\u2026 such idolatry<\/em>\u2026 it was after all\u2026 what angered Moses so much that he destroyed the first set of tablets\u2026 but Greer also writes that scholars have found some subtle details\u2026 which suggest that Jeroboam\u2019s cult was traditional\u2026 and even Yahwist in nature\u2026 the calves\u2026 many would argue\u2026 are best understood as vehicles for YHWH\u2026 the invisible deity enthroned above them\u2026 just as the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant\u2026 served as a conveyance for the invisible deity enthroned above them\u2026 and all of this biblical and archaeological research\u2026 all of the evidence which either supports or disproves Biblical claims\u2026 all of it\u2026 is intended to reveal Truth\u2026 with a capital T\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s one of these Truths that Jesus is after in today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 Who do people say the Son of Man is<\/em>\u2026 was it John the Baptist who had just been killed\u2026 or Elijah\u2026 or Jeremiah\u2026 or one of the other prophets\u2026 No<\/em>\u2026 Simon Peter said\u2026 you\u2026 Jesus\u2026 are the Messiah\u2026 the Son of the Living God<\/em>\u2026 but what Simon Peter said wasn\u2019t all that mattered in this story\u2026 what mattered too\u2026 was where he said it\u2026 and that\u2019s part of the back story\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Ryan Fraser\u2026 at Church of Christ in Bethel Springs, TN\u2026 writes\u2026 Caesarea Philippi is situated on a terrace 1,100\u2019 above a fertile valley\u2026 and is one of the most beautiful areas in Israel\u2026 one of the four major headwaters of the Jordan River is located here\u2026 producing sparkling\u2026 turquoise\u2026 spring-fed water\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Hellenistic period\u2026 which lasted from 323 – 31 BCE\u2026 the city was originally called Panias\u2026 because of its close association with the Greco-Roman god Pan\u2026 and in the year 2 BCE\u2026 one of Herod the Great\u2019s sons\u2026 Philip\u2026 renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Emperor Augustus\u2026 but in order to distinguish it from the harbor city of Caesarea Maritima<\/em> on the Mediterranean Sea\u2026 it became known as Caesarea Philippi\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A cave immediately to the north was said to be the birthplace of the god Pan\u2026 the god of nature\u2026 fields\u2026 forests\u2026 mountains\u2026 flocks\u2026 and shepherds\u2026 and a sanctuary\u2026 shown on the bulletin\u2019s cover image\u2026 was built there to honor him\u2026 and in the niche to the right\u2026 Pan appeared and played the flute to three dancing goats\u2026 a pagan rite which assured the fertility of the herds\u2026 and at the mouth of the cave\u2026 worshipers would make sacrifices to Pan\u2026 to the pagan mind\u2026 this cave was a gate to the underworld\u2026 also known as Hades\u2026 where fertility gods took up residence during the winter\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the New Testament\u2026 this region lay at the northernmost limit of Jesus\u2019 ministry\u2026 and here\u2026 in this non-Jewish region\u2026 away from the watchful eyes of Herod Antipas\u2026 Jesus and the disciples could find some privacy\u2026 and so it\u2019s significant\u2026 that Jesus chose to ask this immensely profound question here\u2026 since there were few areas anywhere with more religious importance\u2026 this was an area filled with the temples of ancient Syrian Baal worship\u2026 historians have identified at least 14 such temples\u2026 and while it may have been away from Jerusalem\u2019s watchful eyes\u2026 it was a place beneath the shadow of ancient gods\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraser wrote\u2026 just think about it\u2026 Jesus was standing in an area littered with the temples of the Syrian gods\u2026 a place where the Greek gods looked down\u2026 a place where the most important river in Judaism sprang to life\u2026 a place in which was located a magnificent temple of white marble built by Herod the Great to the godhead of Caesar\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And here\u2026 of all places\u2026 he stands and asks men\u2026 who they believe him to be\u2026 it\u2019s almost as though Jesus is deliberately setting himself\u2026 against the background of the world\u2019s religions\u2026 in all their splendor and glory\u2026 and asking to be compared with them\u2026 and when Peter responded as he did\u2026 Jesus said you are Peter\u2026 and on this mountain of rock\u2026 in this place which is emblematic of the denial of God\u2019s Truth\u2026 I will build my church\u2026 and not even the Gates of Hell\u2026 which are located right over there\u2026 will prevail against it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was quite a moment\u2026 so it\u2019s curious\u2026 isn\u2019t it\u2026 it\u2019s odd\u2026 in a way it doesn\u2019t make sense that even after affirming Simon Peter\u2019s insight\u2026 no\u2026 revelation\u2026 Jesus sternly orders them not to tell anyone that he\u2019s the Messiah\u2026 and I\u2019m reminded of the passage in Luke 22\u2026 when day came\u2026 and the assembly of elders\u2026 chief priests and scribes\u2026 gathered together\u2026 and they brought Jesus to the Council\u2026 and they said\u2026 If you are the Messiah\u2026 tell us<\/em>\u2026 Jesus replied\u2026 If I tell you\u2026 you will not believe<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So maybe Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone who he is\u2026 because no one they told would believe\u2026 I mean\u2026 look at how much time the disciples spent paddling around with Jesus\u2026 look at how much time he spent teaching them\u2026 look at the healings and miracles they witnessed\u2026 and still\u2026 even after Jesus tells Peter\u2026 on this rock I will build my church\u2026 and the Gates of Hades will not prevail against it\u2026 Peter\u2019s fear of social condemnation is more powerful than what he believes to be True\u2026 and he denies Jesus three times\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But back for a moment to the Gospel\u2026 who do we say the Son of Man is\u2026 because who we say he is\u2026 determines what we do\u2026 is Jesus a man who just seems to be God\u2026 or a God who just seems to be a man\u2026 or an incomprehensible union\u2026 a perfect synthesis of the two\u2026 as St. Anselm said\u2026 faith seeks understanding\u2026 and we are called into a consciousness that is coherent with the mind of Christ\u2026 we are called to do God\u2019s work\u2026 as Jesus said in John 14:12\u2026 the one who trusts in me will not only do the works that I do\u2026 but will do even greater works\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Book of Acts (ch.7 v.51)\u2026 when Stephen recounts our salvation history\u2026 just before he\u2019s stoned to death\u2026 he affirms what God said to Moses in Exodus 32:9\u2026 I have seen this people\u2026 how stiff-necked they are<\/em>\u2026\u00a0 we too are a stubborn and stiff necked people\u2026 both individually and corporately\u2026 we spend more time and money preventing God\u2019s will from being done on earth as it is in heaven\u2026 than we do making it happen\u2026 we worship the ignorant\u2026 shortsighted\u2026 superstitious\u2026 and idolatrous\u2026 gods of power\u2026 and we don\u2019t always hold people accountable in a way that\u2019s commensurate with the power they wield\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what Jesus is saying\u2026 is that his Truth can help us overcome all of the little theologies of position\u2026 and authority\u2026 and prestige\u2026 like those represented where Jesus and the disciples were in today\u2019s Gospel\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are theological creatures\u2026 we make our own meaning\u2026 but there are just some understandings we\u2019ve just got to come to in our own time\u2026 some conclusions we\u2019ve got to draw on our own\u2026 some Truths that must be illuminated from the inside out\u2026 because until we\u2019re ready\u2026 unless we\u2019re open\u2026 we can be presented with irrefutable scientific facts\u2026 and if they don\u2019t fit our agenda\u2026 if they reveal our weaknesses\u2026 we can deny and deflect them\u2026 but when our collective voices aren\u2019t stifled\u2026 when they\u2019re given the chance to be heard and counted\u2026 we can deny the Pans of the world and embody more of the Gospel\u2026 and like Peter\u2026 stand fast in the Truth for which Jesus died\u2026 without denying it later on\u2026 once\u2026 twice\u2026 or even three times\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Isaiah 51:1-6 Psalm 138 Romans 12:1-8 Matthew 16:13-20 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 Caesarea Philippi\u2026 where today\u2019s Gospel story takes place\u2026 is in the northern part of Israel\u2026 it\u2019s north of Galilee\u2026 north of the Sea of Galilee\u2026 much nearer to Lebanon than to Jerusalem\u2026 it\u2019s very close to the city of Dan\u2026 Jonathan Greer\u2026 Assistant Professor at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary\u2026 writes\u2026 according to the book of Kings\u2026 Jeroboam\u2026 the first ruler of the newly seceded northern kingdom of Israel\u2026 established two sanctuaries to rival the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem\u2026 the first one was at Dan along the northern border\u2026 and the second at Bethel\u2026 along the southern border\u2026 not far from Jerusalem\u2026 it was generally understood that YHWH worship was to take place only in Jerusalem\u2026 at THE Temple\u2026 and so Jeroboam\u2019s sanctuaries were widely vilified\u2026 especially since he commissioned the construction of two golden calves\u2026 and installed one at each shrine\u2026 he also ordained a new priesthood\u2026 and established his own pilgrimage festival\u2026 and these two shrines were portrayed as places of active worship throughout the duration of the northern kingdom\u2026 You can get away with a lot more in the country\u2026 than you can in the city\u2026 wide open spaces\u2026 with smaller populations\u2026 mean fewer eyes\u2026 the Jerusalem Temple was right in the thick of it\u2026 and you probably couldn\u2019t swing a cat\u2026 without hitting a scribe or a Pharisee\u2026 We think about how horrible the golden calf in Exodus was\u2026 such idolatry\u2026 it was after all\u2026 what angered Moses so much that he destroyed the first set of tablets\u2026 but Greer also writes that scholars have found some subtle details\u2026 which suggest that Jeroboam\u2019s cult was traditional\u2026 and even Yahwist in nature\u2026 the calves\u2026 many would argue\u2026 are best understood as vehicles for YHWH\u2026 the invisible deity enthroned above them\u2026 just as the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant\u2026 served as a conveyance for the invisible deity enthroned above them\u2026 and all of this biblical and archaeological research\u2026 all of the evidence which either supports or disproves Biblical claims\u2026 all of it\u2026 is intended to reveal Truth\u2026 with a capital T\u2026 And it\u2019s one of these Truths that Jesus is after in today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 Who do people say the Son of Man is\u2026 was it John the Baptist who had just been killed\u2026 or Elijah\u2026 or Jeremiah\u2026 or one of the other prophets\u2026 No\u2026 Simon Peter said\u2026 you\u2026 Jesus\u2026 are the Messiah\u2026 the Son of the Living God\u2026 but what Simon Peter said wasn\u2019t all that mattered in this story\u2026 what mattered too\u2026 was where he said it\u2026 and that\u2019s part of the back story\u2026 Dr. Ryan Fraser\u2026 at Church of Christ in Bethel Springs, TN\u2026 writes\u2026 Caesarea Philippi is situated on a terrace 1,100\u2019 above a fertile valley\u2026 and is one of the most beautiful areas in Israel\u2026 one of the four major headwaters of the Jordan River is located here\u2026 producing sparkling\u2026 turquoise\u2026 spring-fed water\u2026 During the Hellenistic period\u2026 which lasted from 323 – 31 BCE\u2026 the city was originally called Panias\u2026 because of its close association with the Greco-Roman god Pan\u2026 and in the year 2 BCE\u2026 one of Herod the Great\u2019s sons\u2026 Philip\u2026 renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Emperor Augustus\u2026 but in order to distinguish it from the harbor city of Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean Sea\u2026 it became known as Caesarea Philippi\u2026 A cave immediately to the north was said to be the birthplace of the god Pan\u2026 the god of nature\u2026 fields\u2026 forests\u2026 mountains\u2026 flocks\u2026 and shepherds\u2026 and a sanctuary\u2026 shown on the bulletin\u2019s cover image\u2026 was built there to honor him\u2026 and in the niche to the right\u2026 Pan appeared and played the flute to three dancing goats\u2026 a pagan rite which assured the fertility of the herds\u2026 and at the mouth of the cave\u2026 worshipers would make sacrifices to Pan\u2026 to the pagan mind\u2026 this cave was a gate to the underworld\u2026 also known as Hades\u2026 where fertility gods took up residence during the winter\u2026 In the New Testament\u2026 this region lay at the northernmost limit of Jesus\u2019 ministry\u2026 and here\u2026 in this non-Jewish region\u2026 away from the watchful eyes of Herod Antipas\u2026 Jesus and the disciples could find some privacy\u2026 and so it\u2019s significant\u2026 that Jesus chose to ask this immensely profound question here\u2026 since there were few areas anywhere with more religious importance\u2026 this was an area filled with the temples of ancient Syrian Baal worship\u2026 historians have identified at least 14 such temples\u2026 and while it may have been away from Jerusalem\u2019s watchful eyes\u2026 it was a place beneath the shadow of ancient gods\u2026 Fraser wrote\u2026 just think about it\u2026 Jesus was standing in an area littered with the temples of the Syrian gods\u2026 a place where the Greek gods looked down\u2026 a place where the most important river in Judaism sprang to life\u2026 a place in which was located a magnificent temple of white marble built by Herod the Great to the godhead of Caesar\u2026 And here\u2026 of all places\u2026 he stands and asks men\u2026 who they believe him to be\u2026 it\u2019s almost as though Jesus is deliberately setting himself\u2026 against the background of the world\u2019s religions\u2026 in all their splendor and glory\u2026 and asking to be compared with them\u2026 and when Peter responded as he did\u2026 Jesus said you are Peter\u2026 and on this mountain of rock\u2026 in this place which is emblematic of the denial of God\u2019s Truth\u2026 I will build my church\u2026 and not even the Gates of Hell\u2026 which are located right over there\u2026 will prevail against it\u2026 It was quite a moment\u2026 so it\u2019s curious\u2026 isn\u2019t it\u2026 it\u2019s odd\u2026 in a way it doesn\u2019t make sense that even after affirming Simon Peter\u2019s insight\u2026 no\u2026 revelation\u2026 Jesus sternly orders them not to tell anyone that he\u2019s the Messiah\u2026 and I\u2019m reminded of the passage in Luke 22\u2026 when day came\u2026 and the assembly of elders\u2026 chief priests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions\/908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}