Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel of Matthew, the 16th chapter:
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.”
Thus far the text.
Dear friends in Christ,
Who do people say that the Son of Man is? For Jesus and His followers that day in Caesarea Philippi, that was like asking who is going to be the next Bachelor. Yes, I mean the TV show. Everyone is checking the internet, reading the blogs, getting the magazines, all to find out some hint of who the next Bachelor is going to be. It’s rabid. People get obsessed over this. They can’t wait to find out the information, and they’re trying to be the first of their friends to know.
So, when Jesus asks who people say the Son of Man is, it’s a celebrity thing for this culture. Everyone is trying to figure who the Son of Man is. Is it John the Baptist? I heard it’s Elijah! No, it’s Jeremiah! They all want to know, but no one has been looking at Jesus. No one was thinking it was this meek rabbi-carpenter from Nazareth. After all, can anything good come from Nazareth?
Here, Jesus wasn’t asking a question that was trying to refer back to Himself. It wasn’t like He was saying, “Who do people say that I am,” and then asking, “Okay, they’re wrong, now who do YOU say that I am?” Jesus was polling His disciples to see what the people were saying about the Son of Man.
And what is the Son of Man? What is this concept? Many times in the Scriptures, God addresses His prophets with this phrase, son of man. So, what’s that mean? Literally, you’re the son of a man. No big deal. Pretty common thought when you’re God and no one else is. But that’s not really what Jesus is talking about here. So, what is it?
Well, this all goes back to a vision of Daniel. Daniel, you remember, was an exiled Israelite living in Babylon. He was a prophet, a seer, a magic man, a magi. And in the 7th chapter of the book named for him, he wrote:
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”
Here, Daniel sees the Ancient of Days, God Himself, opening the books of judgment over the people. Everything about this Ancient of Days screams of importance, honor, glory, majesty, brilliance, otherness. This is God. And this God will judge the peoples.
But, where’s the Son of Man? Daniel goes on:
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
This Son of Man, mentioned in Daniel 7, was for the Jews, and for us, a clear prophecy of the Messiah, the Christ, the Deliverer, the one who is coming to save His people. And this Deliverer was hoped for, longed for, in ways we can’t even begin to comprehend. This Messiah was promised all the way back in Genesis 3, in Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, and every Hebrew, Israelite, and Jewish woman hoped that it would be her son who would be the Messiah. So, everyone was on the lookout.
This Messiah would be great, for the Ancient of Days would give Him everything, a dominion, the glory of God, and a kingdom, and all the peoples. His rule shall never pass away. And if that has been given to Him by YHWH, God Himself, this rule will be very good, and we would celebrate under it.
When you are living in Israel back in Jesus’ day, this is good news, because you’ve been living in a land that has been run over by so many different countries, ruled by outsiders, made unclean because foreign rulers mean foreign gods, you’re so anxious for the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Christ.
You’re looking everywhere. Is it going to be John the Baptist? He’s popular. What about Elijah? After all, he never died. What about Jeremiah? Well, God called him the Iron Prophet, standing firm, and we call him the Weeping Prophet. Perhaps God puts those together for the good of His people. Who’s it going to be?
And so we get back to Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah, but He’s hidden. He doesn’t look like the Deliverer. He doesn’t go around cutting people’s ears off, boxing out Roman Soldiers. He doesn’t go around striking people dead by calling down lightning from heaven. He doesn’t go around beating people up, unless you mean theologically. Jesus doesn’t look like the Messiah that people were wanting, hoping for, expecting. They wanted the Son of Man to save them from their enemies; they just had no idea who their enemies were.
Do we? Do we know who our enemies are? I mean, we think we do, right? We think that we’ve got a good grasp on who hates us, who doesn’t like us, who makes our lives miserable, who we could do without, who we hate, who we get angry at. Those things point us to our enemies, right? Well, maybe. But those enemies of yours, well, they’ll pass away. They’ll fade. It may stink being under their wrath for now, they may kill the body but they are not enemies that will kill the soul.
Our enemies are larger than that, they loom over every human being and we never see them. They are as gods to us, because they seem to direct every path we take, every turn we make, and we never see them. They are hidden from us because we don’t want to see them. We like being under their tutelage. We like being under their direction. Our enemies are great, and they are lurking around, seeking whom they may devour. Our enemies are sin, death, and the devil, and they will kill you where you stand if you tick them off.
Our enemies are great. They work to guide us into sin, tempting us, not with God, but with one another. They take us to death, thinking, “Eh, death isn’t so bad for anyone. Everyone gets saved if you’re good enough. Everyone gets to be happy in death. It’s like a release.” But, lurking behind sin and death is Satan himself, eagerly seeking to snatch you away from your Father in heaven, taking you away so that you will roast in the fires of hell with him, where there is no medium-rare, only charcoal-briquette-well-done.
But this is why the Son of Man, Jesus, has come. This is why He came to take on our flesh, bear our sin, be our Savior, die upon the accursed tree. For His perfect life, He gives it freely to us, and He takes our sin upon Himself so that His cross is the punishment we deserve. And He was raised then, from the dead, for our justification. He was raised for our eternal life. He was raised for us.
You see, in Christ’s death, He has defeated death for all who would believe in Him. There is, in Christ, no eternal death, only sleep for a little while. Death is no longer the enemy of a Christian, but a double-agent who is being used for our good. And Satan is defeated in Christ’s death and resurrection, as well, for Satan cannot stand in the way of God doing the work that Christ has set out to do. Satan is done. This enemy, this lion, has no teeth. The worst he can do to one who is receiving Christ in Word and Sacrament is gum you. And that would just tickle.
But what of sin? What of our enemy sin? What does the Son of Man do with this enemy? Certainly it is defeated at the cross, yes? Yes. But, Christ, also, in our passage today tells us what to do with sin. This is the dominion of the Son of Man. This is His glory. This is His kingdom. Because He is God, Because Jesus is God, because He is the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Christ, the Deliverer, He can tell us exactly what to do with sin.
And He does this in Peter’s wonderful confession, making clear that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. And as such a Son, this Son tells us this is good that Peter, and even the Apostles, see this. For when you see this, when you have Jesus as He is, as He is the Son of Man, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, He can tell you exactly what to do with sin.
Forgive it. Or retain it. One of the two. When sin happens, and the person will not repent, they will not confess their sin, then the Church retains that sin. You are not forgiven. This is what Jesus says. The Church cannot forgive a sin when it is not repented of. They will not. They may not. We’re not given the option. I can’t just forgive all the sins of the world. That would be irresponsible and it would go against the command of Christ. So, the Church does not forgive sins that people want to hold on to.
But, when sin happens in the life of a believer, which happens all the time, the Church wants to absolve this sin, forgive this, upon the confession of the person. You are forgiven. Christ has told me that I can forgive sin. Whatever you loose, free, forgive, on earth is forgiven in heaven.
This is the office of the keys. This is the dominion of the Son of Man. This is His glory. This is His kingdom. The ability to bind or loose sins. And it is a great responsibility. It is a heavy responsibility, and so the Church treats it with respect and great awe. For in the power of Christ, the Church may tell someone that the sins they will not repent of will damn them. We speak for Christ. And, in the power of Christ, the Church forgives sins. It sets people free from the condemnation of sin, death, and the devil. It sets them free from their enemies.
This is why Jesus asked the question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” If the Son of Man is anyone other than Jesus, there is no forgiveness of sins. There is only fear, doubt, and self-loathing. There is only violence, mayhem, and anarchy. There is only sin, death, and the devil. If Jesus is not the Messiah, then there is no hope. But Jesus is indeed the Son of Man; there is no other. There is no other Messiah, Redeemer, Deliverer, Christ.
This is what the Son of Man says to us today. Because He is the Redeemer, because He is the Deliverer, He says we are free. Because He is the Messiah, He says we are forgiven. And so, I say, on the basis of your confession, in the stead, and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is joy. This is the dominion of the Son of Man. This is His glory. This is His kingdom. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. You are forgiven in the peace of Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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