Dear Friends in Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God,
Our Savior masterfully leads his disciples to confirm their belief in him. Theirs is a confident confession full of happiness and strength. Unlike the masses who held a variety of false views of Jesus’ person and work, the disciples knew Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So it is with us. In the Scriptures, we have seen Jesus’ miracles and heard his powerful Word. The Spirit has led us to confirm our faith in Jesus as we confess him the Son of the living God. We confess this truth about our Lord surrounded by the din of false ideas about who Jesus is.
We are happy and strong in our faith because Our Blessed Happiness and Strength Rests on God’s Son. Not every opinion concerning Jesus is valid. The real authority of the church is God’s Word. The work and goal of the church is forgiving and retaining sins.
Jesus and his disciples were near the Galilean city of Caesarea Philippi. Gentiles populated the region. The wealth and power of the area also fanned the false Messianic hopes of the Jews in the region. This was a good time and place to discuss who Jesus is. This was important because from now on our Savior would reveal more and more about the mysteries of suffering and death.
Jesus asked his followers a direct question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? He uses his most common designation for himself, “the Son of Man.” Implicit in that name is his true humanity. He became our brother in the flesh so he could be under the law, obey it perfectly, and then sacrifice himself on the cross to pay for our sins. Jesus’ work and service on our behalf lies in that name.
Jesus knew the other opinions about his person. He asked the disciples so they could compare what they knew about him with the false opinions. Those opinions varied from John the Baptism to Elijah to another prophet. In every case, those opinions did not include the Messiah, the “Son of Man” the prophet Daniel had said was coming.
There are many opinions about Jesus today. Not every opinion concerning Jesus is valid. For example, Jesus began to exist when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb. Jesus had a human father. Jesus’ body still lies in a tomb outside Jerusalem. Jesus is only a great teacher and example. None of those opinions about Jesus is valid. Those things are not true of the real Jesus, “the Son of Man” who came to seek and to save lost sinners.
Our blessed happiness and strength rests on God’s Son come into the flesh. He exists from eternity. He has no human father. His body now lives and fills all things. While he is a great teacher and example, Jesus mainly is my Substitute under the law and under God’s wrath and punishment for my sin.
This is the confession St. Peter made as representative for all disciples including us. The confession we make in the creeds echoes Peter’s confession. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Son of Man is the Father’s anointed one; perfect Prophet, Priest and King. He is true God and well as true man.
Our blessed happiness and strength rests on God’s Son. Jesus Christ is the “rock,” the bedrock on which the church builds. Simon already was “petros” a stone. A false opinion of Jesus here is that he set his church on the authority of one human being, and on the succession of human beings taking Peter’s office. Jesus did not set the real authority of the church on humans and their councils and decrees. The real authority of the church is God’s Word.
Peter and we do not have our conviction about Jesus Christ because some human being convinced us. It is not because we convinced ourselves and decided to believe. We have our truth about who Jesus is because our Father in heaven revealed him to us in his Holy Word. That is why we are “blessed” or happy in a specifically spiritual sense.
Jesus Christ, the real Jesus Christ God’s Word reveals, is the solid rock on which we build our happiness and strength as the church. The Holy Spirit works through the Word so that “the gates of Hades, or hell, will not overcome it. “ Gates is a metaphor for power. God has prevented and will prevent any powers or authorities of evil whether in the spiritual realm or on earthfromovercoming the church. This is our blessed happiness and strength as God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus.
God has given us his authority to use so that through us he accomplishes the goal of his work. The work and goal of the church is forgiving and retaining sins.
Jesus gives to his church what we learned in catechism as “the Ministry of the Keys.” The Ministry of the Keys is the unique power and authority Jesus gives to every believer to forgive and to retain sins. Our happiness and strength to do this rests on God’s Son. This is not an authority we have of ourselves; as some in the church claim through certain offices and councils. The Ministry, or use, of the keys, the gospel, is by divine right,and when we act, it is God acting through us.
Jesus Christ through the believer declares forgiveness to the sinner who acknowledges sin and looks to Jesus’ work alone that is my forgiveness. Jesus Christ, through the believer, absolves sin. I do this in my daily life as I forgive those who sin against me. The pastor does it publicly when he acts as the church’s called servant of the Word.
Jesus Christ through the believer also retains the sin of the person who through impenitence and unbelief despises the forgiveness there for them in Christ. As an individual believer, I warn such a person of the eternal danger of clinging to a sin. Jesus Christ, through the church, excommunicates that person, declares them outside of the saving church so long as they do not repent. When they repent, the church applies the gospel gladly and freely for their blessed happiness and strength that rests on God’s Son.
Jesus’ final command may seem odd, that the disciples were not to share their confession with others. Jesus did not want them to make any claim about him without supporting evidence. People might draw false conclusions. In our case, that means we always back up our confession of Jesus’ person and work with the authority of God’s Word. This way we expose the false opinions out there.
When you witness, begin with the question who do you say Jesus is? Then, in your blessed happiness and strength, confess the Son of Man, the Christ, the Son of the living God. Amen. <SDG>