This is the season of Lent and we are 4 weeks away from Easter. A
week ago I took a partial fast and spent time beginning to review Jesus' final
journey to his death in Jerusalem. These last events in his life are so
momentous that they take up almost half of some of the Gospels.
The way I see it, this journey begins after Jesus has taken his
disciples as far north in Palestine as he probably ever did, to the region of
Ceasarea-Philippi, and then Mount Hermon, which I believe is Israel's tallest
mountain. Commentators note how significant this was because of what happened
here in this area of great Greek
influence. There were shrines to the Greek shepherd god Pan in caves in the
hillsides here, along with many large Greek buildings in the cities in this
area of northern Galilee, including temples King Herod had built and dedicated
to the Roman god Roma and the Emperor Augustus. In other words, in some ways,
he was moving away from the safety (?) of God-fearing Galilee into heathen
“enemy” territory.
It is here that Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say
that the Son of Man (meaning himself) is?" They give him some answers but
then he asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter is the
one to give the famous answer, "You are the Messiah, the son of the living
God."
Jesus, knowing his time was coming, doubtless also knew he needed
his disciples to know who he was if they were going to be able to carry on his
mission. In the Gospel according to Luke, this exchange is placed after
comments on King Herod's wondering who Jesus was. In the Gospel according to
John it is placed in the context of a number of his followers abandoning him
because they could no longer accept everything he was saying. He then asks the
12 disciples if they too will leave and Peter says they have nowhere else to go
because they “have come to know and believe that [he has] the words of eternal
life and [is] the holy one of God, the Messiah."
Then Jesus, knowing that the majority do not recognize him for whom
he is and the potential for misunderstanding if he allows himself to be
identified as the Messiah, sternly warns the disciples not to tell others that
he is the Messiah.
Only in the gospel according to Matthew is Peter's confession
followed by his receiving a blessing from Jesus. He changes his name from Simon
to Peter, which in Greek means "rock." He then also says he will
build the church on this rock and adds 3 statements about it: 1) the gates of
Hades (hell) will not prevail against it, 2) they would be given the keys to
the kingdom of heaven and 3) whatever they loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven whatever they bind on earth would be bound in heaven. Over time, The
Church, especially what would become the Roman Catholic Church after the 4th
century, has used this passage to undergird its authority and power. Some link
this talk of loosing and binding to forgiveness and church membership and even
practices such as banning, sunning and excommunication.
Then Jesus begins to tell his disciples about how he must go to
Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders, chief priests
and scribes and be killed and raised again on the 3rd day. Peter, perhaps flush
with having come up with such a great answer just before this, and feeling even
closer and more loyal to Jesus as a result of what he might have perceived as
his new standing in Jesus eyes, rebuked him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord!
This must never happen to you." Jesus in turn, says to Peter, "Get
behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are setting your
mind not on divine things but on human things." Whereas Jesus had just
called Peter a rock in a positive foundational sense, he now calls him a
stumbling block for seeing things through a human lens. Knowing what he was
going to go through, Jesus did not need to be tempted by his own followers to
the contrary. How difficult it must have been to move from that wonderful
mutual acknowledgment of his identity to now being challenged with respect
turning aside from future activities that Jesus knew would come about precisely
because of who he is, and which actually included the fulfillment of his
mission on earth.
Indeed, this has been the weakness of The Church ever since. As a
human organization, we naturally strive for self-preservation. This
self-centeredness, sometimes overt maintenance of power and control, taking
Matthew 16:19 too far is indeed a stumbling block to many, who reject
Christianity precisely because the church falls into that trap, the temptation
of Satan to usurp power for ourselves. The divine way, as Jesus was about to
gloriously demonstrate, is to trust fully in the power of God, be totally
obedient to his plan, even if that means giving up everything including our
earthly lives. Indeed, this is precisely what Jesus then expands on and
clarifies in the subsequent passage (Matthew 16:24-26).
The ultimate understanding of what Jesus is saying in this passage
is what too much of Christendom has failed to grasp after the bloom of the
first 3 centuries of the church wore off. Instead of the purity, poverty and
humility that were seen as virtues then, the church no longer remained the pure
bride for Jesus but has too often become the harlot of politics, power and
money. As the Dark Ages moved into the Middle Ages and the Period Of (so-called
by Eurocentric whites) Discovery, the church abandoned its hope of a place in
God's future redeemed earth for its support of imperialism and colonialism
which placed the church, not Jesus, as even the many indigenous believers who
suffered at the hands of the colonialists will attest, in a bad place in the
minds of non-Europeans around the world, including our own First Nations
neighbors in Canada.
Indeed, the church has too often focused on the rock as a place,
which quickly leads to ideas of edifices, organization and land. This is where
the church loses The Way. A rock sitting in a place will definitely be
something that can be stumbled over. But Jesus had spoken about the rock as a
person, a person who knew who Jesus is. The true Church is the body of persons
who knows who Jesus is, a body of persons on The Way. If we know whom we are
following our rock-like faith will carry us through. If we stop moving forward,
not really following, we again become stumbling blocks. To modify an old
proverb, we need to be “the rolling stones that gather no moss.”
