Living God
The Son of the Living God: Matthew 16
In our reading today Jesus says, ‘Who do people say that I am?’
The poor apostles can’t report any especially insightful comments. Some people think Jesus is a bit like John the Baptist; others are reminded of Elijah; others think Jesus is a sort of Jeremiah mark two. It seems everyone had missed the vital things which made Jesus unique. Liken him to someone else, explain him away, and thus everyone could crack on and evade the challenge which he posed.
People do the same thing today, of course. They say, ‘Jesus was a good person and religious leader, like Moses or Mohammed or Buddha.’ But to categorise Jesus in this way is to tidy him up and allow us to avoid the things about Jesus which make him different from other religious leaders.
Unlike Moses, Jesus did not attempt to teach simply a code of laws. Unlike Mohammed, he did not gather his followers into any sort of organisation. Unlike Buddha, he did not withdraw from this world. Unlike any of them, he persisted in acting and speaking as though he was more important than his message, as though being loyal to him was the most important thing.
So Jesus says to his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’
Who is Jesus?
Peter suddenly knows the answer. All the different things he’s been noticing about Jesus come together and fuse into one blinding revelation: the teaching, with authority; the miracles; the power over wind and water; It all coalesces, and Peter blurts out, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
And Jesus replies, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’
This insight of Peter is supernatural, and by this confession of faith, Peter is changed. He is no longer simply Simon the fisherman, friend of Jesus and lovable idiot. He is Peter the rock, the one who will found the church around the knoedge that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
Have you noticed that one word of that title has dropped out of the way we normally talk about Jesus? I suspect that if I asked you to write down your answer to the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ most of us would write the phrase, ‘the Son of God.’
The trouble is that for us, this phrase, ‘Son of God’, can simply become the correct answer to a question. We can make the statement, ‘Jesus is the Son of God’, without feeling particularly excited.
But Peter ‘Son of the living God.’
That one word changes everything.
What difference does it make, day by day, that Jesus is the Son of the living God?
Before we go any further, I want us to hear something which captures something of the sheer wonder and majesty of who Jesus is.
Video: DR S. M. LOCKRIDGE: That's my King
All those names, all those descriptions, all those things we could say about Jesus – and then, after spending several minutes trying to describe him, Dr Lockridge says, ‘I wish I could describe him to you.’
If Jesus were merely an important historical figure, we could admire him. We could read his teachings, study his life and try to follow his example. But Christianity is not simply about following the example of someone who lived two thousand years ago.
Jesus is alive.
The resurrection means that the Jesus who walked the roads of Galilee, who ate with sinners, who touched the sick, who welcomed children, who wept at Lazarus’s tomb and who stood before Pilate is not simply a memory. He is alive now.
That means that when we pray, we are not talking into an empty room.
When we come to church, we are not simply remembering something that happened in the past.
When we face a difficult decision, we are not simply trying to work out what Jesus might have said if he were here.
He is here.
And that changes ordinary Monday mornings.
It changes how we face the doctor’s appointment, the difficult conversation, the empty house, the worry about someone we love, the uncertainty about the future.
The living Jesus is not just present in church on Sunday. He is present in the kitchen, the workplace, the hospital waiting room, the care home, the car and the quiet moments when we wonder whether anyone is listening.
And confessing the living Jesus changes us.
Look at Peter. Before this moment he is Simon. After this moment Jesus gives him a new name and a new calling: Peter, the rock.
We are strengthened around that belief of a living God in us, to live our lives and build the church.
Let’s get back a bit of Lockridge’s passion this morning! Who is Jesus ‘I wish I could describe him’!
This morning Jesus says ‘who do you say that I am?’
Don’t just say ‘the Son of God.’ Say ‘Son of the living God.’
That’s the best description, because he is here, in you and me and the comforter, the strengthener and he is changing us and empowering us.