“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Mathew 16:16
Imagine with me the following scene from the Gospels:
Jesus and his band of twelve ragtag disciples have just stopped on their journey to rest at a lush spring adjacent to the village of Caesarea Philippi, a terraced spot with vegetation located at the southern base of Mount Hermon. They are exhausted, very hungry, and grimy from their travels. They are grateful for a time to rest and reflect in the shade next to the trickling water. As they look around, they see many shrines dedicated to ancient gods, including Pan and Baal.
The last few months have found them embroiled in religious, social, and political controversies; and it is at this oasis filled with false gods that Jesus turns to his weary companions and asks, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” Perhaps they glance around at the many shrines and take a moment or two before answering.
“John the Baptist.”
“Elijah.”
“Jeremiah.”
“One of the prophets.”
Jesus presses them further, “And how about you? Who do you say I am? (The lesson quickly turns from a theoretical discussion to a very personal one!)
Peter, always impulsive, blurts out, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus responds with affirmation: “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.”
Today in the church calendar, we commemorate Peter’s important confession, and it’s a big deal! If Jesus is not the Messiah, the Son of the living God, then our faith is completely in vain and there is no hope of salvation and eternal life.
Many years after the scene above, Peter would stand before the religious leaders and once again declare: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Our faith is not an adherence to a set of beliefs or a strict compliance to a list of “do's and don'ts.” It is not a faith bound to a specific era or particular place. Rather, our living faith is in the person of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. There is salvation in no one else.
Now is the time, during these weary pandemic days, filled with their own political, social, and religious controversies, to turn to Jesus and proclaim, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!"
In Christ,
Lois
