Matthew part 27
The King and His Kingdom
A Sign of the Times | Matthew 16:1-4
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
Matthew 16:1-4
The Pharisees demand a sign, but they have continually missed the signs already given to them. Jesus has already performed numerous miracles, but they credited these to the devil. He has interpreted the Torah giving its true meaning and taught the greater ethics of godly living, but they have ignored his message. Ironically, Jesus says the only sign they will be given is the “sign of Jonah.” What is this sign?
You may recall from Matthew 12, Jesus explains this sign.
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40
Jesus is once again prophesying his death and resurrection.
The last sign Jesus will give of His identity is the resurrection from the grave.
The Pharisees are like many skeptics today who say, “Why doesn’t God just prove He’s real?” Or “Why didn’t Jesus just prove He was God?” Well, he did. He performed miracles, raised the dead, healed the sick, made the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear. And on top of all of that, he rose from the dead himself. He has absolutely proven he is who he says he is, and can do what he says he can do. The real question is whether we are willing to believe and see it.
Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation” just after noting they can tell the weather easy enough, but they can’t see the signs right in front of them. The same can be said of many today. We can read the sky to know the weather, create models for incoming storms and disasters, predict earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes. We have economists that can predict financial disasters and boons. We have doctors who can diagnose all manner of diseases and provide advice for prevention. There are a million experts in the world who can share all kinds of information, and yet the most important piece of life still eludes so many. Why?—because they all refuse to see the simple sign right in front of their eyes.
Jesus has come. He died on the cross for our sins. He rose from the dead proving he is the Messiah who can save us from sin and death. And one day He will return to restore this world to its rightful design. And each of these has been proven by the resurrection.
Beware the Wrong Bread | Matthew 16:5-12
When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew 16:5-12
This exchange is almost humorous, except it reminds us how often we forget about God’s goodness and provision, as well. The disciples are focused on food, and Jesus is trying to warn them about false teachings. The Pharisees are too caught up in their own religious pride to realize what they are doing to God’s people. Jesus warns the disciples to not get caught in the same trap. All they hear is “bread”.
Jesus reminds them of both times the crowds were fed with just a small bit of food. His lesson is a reminder to us as well:
We cannot let the necessities of this life distract us from the most important task of knowing Jesus and making Him known.
The Lord will take care of us. It is a reminder of Matthew 6:33,
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33
Our priority must always be in seeking the higher things. And to this point, we can transition to the next part of today’s story. Because at this point, Matthew’s gospel will begin to focus on Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem. Matthew 16 and 17 is the crux of the gospel in which the identity of Jesus is fully revealed to the disciples. In the last 15 chapters, they have had glimpses of the truth, and Jesus has demonstrated the truth, but the full realization had not come to them.
It can be helpful to consider our own faith walks with Jesus. When we first hear the story of Jesus, whether we are young or old, Jesus is simply a character in a story. We are like those Gentiles of Syria who hear stories of a miracle worker in Jerusalem. Then, as we learn more, and our hearts are bent towards the Lord, we begin to understand Jesus is much more than a miracle-worker, He is the Lord. And then the implications of such a statement emerge. If Jesus is Lord, then we must either choose to obey him as our Lord, or we reject his authority over us, and we walk away completely. But if we surrender to his authority, then we also will experience his forgiveness, because the gospel very clearly tells us the Lord wants to forgive us and restore us. We must simply turn away from the sin that is killing us and turn toward Him. And in that surrender and repentance, we find mercy and life, and then our relationship with our Lord begins, and we become like the disciples who are willing to follow Jesus and work alongside him to bring good news to all.
Now, we have a bit of an advantage over the disciples at this point in the story, because we already know the outcome. But if we put ourselves in the disciples’ shoes at this time, we realize they are where many of us were when we might have attended church or small groups, but we hadn’t actually made a profession of faith yet. We knew there was something really special about Jesus, but we weren’t quite ready to put our full faith in him, yet.
For this disciples, they are about to have the clarity needed to surrender in faith to Jesus.
He Must be Lord | Matthew 16:13-20
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, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Matthew 16:13-20
When Jesus asks who people say he is, the disciples’ reply is much like what people say today.
“Some say John the Baptist” refers to what some believed, that Jesus was a literal reincarnation of John the Baptist, but we can also think of it as a category. Like John the Baptist, Jesus is an eccentric prophet with a political message against the powers that be.
“Others say Elijah, and other Jeremiah or one of the prophets” could be construed as another prophet of God in keeping in the long line of prophets who had powerful messages with accompanying powers. Interestingly, these two specific prophets are named which are two almost opposite types. Elijah was well-known for his miracles, though he only performed a few, while Jeremiah performed no miracles at all. It may be that many people believed Jesus was a prophet, but they disagreed on whether any of his miracles actually occurred. Regardless, it demonstrates many people’s willingness to acknowledge the message and faith of Jesus, but disregard his lordship.
But then Jesus asks who they say Jesus is.
Peter recognizes Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is Lord. And Peter is blessed because the Father has revealed this to Peter. And this confession will be the basis for Jesus’ ekklesia, or church/assembly/gathering. Contrary to our Catholic brothers and sisters, this declaration is not about the first pope, it is about the confession by which the people of God will be gathered together. The Church consists of wherever the people of God gather together to worship and celebrate the King of Kings.
A church is an assembly of people who proclaim Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world.
If you will permit me a bit of a language tangent, I would like to explain why we call churches “churches” and why it would be better if we called ourselves “gatherings.” Now, I realize we can’t change the language overnight, but it will help us understand the truth of what Jesus is saying to Peter.
First, “church” is the English word which is based on the Old English cir(I)ce which is related to the Dutch word kerk and the German Kirche—all of which come from the medieval Greek word kurikon. And the medieval Greek is based on the older Greek phrase kuriakon doma—which translates to “Lord’s house.” Which is a long way to say, the church is the Lord’s house—to which if you have been in church for awhile, you might say ‘duh’. But I say all of that to remind you, at the end of the day, the building is just that—a building. But Jesus doesn’t tell Peter, “On this rock I will build my building.” In fact, He says, “On this rock, I will build my ekklesia (my gathering).”
Jesus is building a kingdom of people to represent heaven on earth.
It is about the people of God, not the building of God. In fact, if we do a little more digging on this word, ekklesia, we find it has a secular function in the Roman world and an Old Testament Hebrew counterpart, Qahal. Qahal and ekklesia both serve to define a group of men who have authority to execute laws and make judgements on behalf of the government. The Roman Empire was vast, and it required these legal gatherings in order to maintain the peace and execute justice. In the US, we have a similar system, but it is inverted. Instead of a king sending representatives down to the people, the people send representatives up to the President and Congress.
Now, Jesus has already said his kingdom is not of this world, but He is going to build a gathering of people who will have heavenly authority to represent heaven on earth. That is why he adds the bit about the keys of heaven and binding and loosing. The Church, the true Church who are the Gathered People, has the authority to bind and loose, to exercise heavenly authority because they are representatives of Jesus, the King.
Our responsibility as citizens in Jesus’ kingdom is t0 represent our King with excellence and accuracy.
Now, this means the Church has an amazing power and amazing responsibility. If Uncle Ben was right, “With great power comes great responsibility,” then we must take responsibility for the power that God has given us. We must be ready to exercise heavenly power by binding the demonic, proclaiming good news, healing the sick, and doing all the things God has called us to do.
We have a responsibility to pray for the lost and witness every chance we get, because heaven is seeking after them.
We have a responsibility to minister to the poor, the sick, and the oppressed, because Jesus said these are the “least of these,” and whoever cares for them has cared for Jesus.
We have a responsibility to love the unlovable, because Jesus loved us first. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Before I close, I want to leave one last thought with you. Many Americans complain about the government. And, let’s face it, there’s much to be desired these days. But one particular complaint is that many of our representatives are completely clueless about the circumstances and lives of their constituents. A perfect example is how laws that govern education and the classroom are written by people who have never actually taught in the classroom. I find that ridiculous, myself, but it goes to my point. There is a disconnect between the legislators and the people. How can we expect them to represent the people well when they don’t understand or listen to the people?
Now, let’s take that thought and flip it back to Jesus’ kingdom. If we are his representatives on earth, how can we best represent him, if we are not paying attention to Him when He speaks? How can we live a heavenly life when we don’t understand what a heavenly life even looks like?
There is tremendous power in heaven that is available to each and every Christian. But I am convinced we do not see that power at work in our lives because we have not taken the responsibility to understand that power. And we will not experience that power on this earth until we are willing to seek after the kingdom of God first.