Sexagesima
Dear friends in Christ. Our readings for today both have a vital question in them. In the epistle, we hear the jailer, in great both great joy and despair, asking Paul and Silas, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Then in the Gospel, we have Jesus’ question to the disciples: But you, who do you say that I am? As we examine today’s Gospel, we will see that in a sense these two questions are related.
1. Especially as we look at the question of the jailer: Sirs, what must I do to be saved? –we remember that God created people as spiritual beings; that is, we desire fellowship, communion, oneness with God. St. Augustine probably put it best in his well-known statement: Our souls are restless, O Lord, until they rest in You. The point is that we will never have true peace, true rest of soul until we know the Lord rightly as our dear heavenly Father and our Savior; we are incomplete until we know the Lord rightly and trust in Him.
That’s why we have all the different religions of the world. People know instinctively that there is a God; people long for fellowship with this God. That’s how God created us! On top of that, God by the creation gave us all sorts of evidences of His existence. Then God also gave people a conscience, that is, He wrote on our hearts His will so that when we act contrary to His will, our conscience condemns us; and when we do good, it commends us. We recognize that [LC 1, 17]: There has never been a people so wicked that it did not establish and maintain some sort of worship; for example even the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, says [De Mundo, VI]: Though God is invisible to every mortal creature, He is visible from His very works. So you combine all this—the instinctive knowledge that there is a God and our conscience that tells us there is a God to whom we must give an account of our lives—is it any wonder that the jailer in despair cries out to Paul, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? That’s the basis of the religions of the world—people seeking that fellowship with God—their souls being restless—and yet knowing that there is something not right; and so you have the various religions trying to placate God and seeking fellowship, communion, with Him by their various works: Sirs, what must I do to be saved.
But not every religion is correct and true. Our text: When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" 14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Not everything calling itself religion is the one true religion; not everything calling itself faith is true saving faith. A person could be the most devoted to their religion but if their religion is not the true one, it will do them no good. It all depends on who/what it is that we have faith in. A person could have the strongest faith—but if what or who the person has faith in is wrong, it does the person no good. That’s why Jesus began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? He wasn’t asking for information—He’s the all-knowing God, He already knew—but He was asking to test their faith, so that the disciples could see the contrast between truth and falsehood; between a true object of faith and a wrong one; between a false religion and the one true one.
So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." The people regarded Jesus as no more than an extraordinary man equipped by God with special gifts and powers, yes, but not as God. Even today, many Jews will regard Jesus as a good teacher of that day; even Moslems hold Jesus in high regard; secular people, even, will regard Jesus as a great teacher of morality, a moral example, as a model of someone who stood up for what they believed and died for it. But all these do not know Jesus as true God and true Man and the world’s Savior from sin. That means no matter how highly they may regard Jesus, it is not true saving faith; it is not the one true religion.
We do well to place ourselves among the disciples and hear Jesus asking each of us: But you, who do you say that I am? That is the vital question for each of us. Yes, we may live outwardly decent lives and be respected by all; yes, we may even be a member of a church and even regularly be in church; but our honest and thoughtful answer to that question determines whether our religion is the one true religion; whether our faith is the one, true saving faith. Remember, the jailer asked Paul and Silas: Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. There is only one true object of faith—Jesus Christ. All around us will be pressure to accept the notion of our day that all religions are equally valid and that one dare not say/ believe that only one is true and all the others are false. But by the Holy Spirit, the apostles boldly proclaim about Jesus [Acts 4.12]: Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. All depends on knowing and believing rightly in Jesus, true God and true man, and our only Savior from sin, devil and death.
He said to them, "But you, who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter speaks for the 12 then and he speaks for all Christians down through the ages. Here Peter gives the one and only correct answer to Jesus’ question: "But you, who do you say that I am?" What Peter here confesses is also the faith of each Christian; the faith of the holy Christian Church, the one true religion, because she and she alone knows and believes rightly in Christ. Although at that time Jesus was found in the likeness of man and people took Him as mere man, Peter and the rest recognized that not only is He true man—like the other people did—but that He also is the true God, the Son of the living God, and therefore the Christ, the the long-promised and awaited Savior who would rescue us from sin, death, devil and hell.
But notice what Jesus here says in response to Peter’s answer/ confession of faith: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven”. Jesus accepts Peter’s confession of faith as being correct and true. Jesus does not correct Peter but happily receives his confession of faith. He tells Peter and each Christian that they are blessed; Peter and each Christian has received the glorious gift of God—the gift of faith.
Knowing Christ rightly—that He is true God and true man and the Savior of the world/ my Savior—is not something that we come to on our own. The one true faith is not something we can conjure up in ourselves; or, as Luther puts it in the catechism: we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus our Lord or come to Him. Remember, all people instinctively know there is a God; but because of sin, because of the sin of Adam and the corruption passed down from him to us all, we don’t know who that true God is. That’s why people have come up with the various religions of the world: they desire fellowship with God but because of sin they don’t know who that God is—so they come up with their own notions of God: allah, Vishnu, the Great Spirit etc.
But to know the true God rightly—the holy Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that the Son became also true man to be our Savior—that is something that must be revealed to us. It is a divine mystery; it did not just dawn on Peter, nor did it simply dawn on us. Instead, but My Father who is in heaven revealed this to us. This is a glorious divine mystery; not something that people dreamed up. With Peter Jesus uses the phrase: flesh and blood to show that man, in his natural weakness cannot “come up with” the one true faith: flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. Jesus reinforces that when He calls Peter by his given name/ birth name—Simon, bar Jonah, that is, son of John. Here He stresses that Peter—and all Christians, you and me— as he was/ as we are by nature according to our inborn, natural condition, as we are as we are born into this world could not come to this saving truth; but God, in grace, revealed this truth to us and through it He worked faith in our hearts to believe it. This faith, this one true saving faith that Peter, the disciples and all Christians have is a glorious gift of God. Paul tells us [Eph. 2. 8]: by His grace you are saved through faith. It was not your own doing; it is God’s gift.
2. Not only does the Father testify of Jesus, reveal to us that He is both God and man and our Savior and by this draw us to Him and give us faith in our hearts to know Him rightly believing/ trusting in Him; in short, not only does He give us this glorious gift of faith but He also crowns that gift of faith with great blessing.
Remember: Jesus calls Peter Blessed. By revealing Jesus to Him and giving Peter that glorious gift of faith to believe/ receive that revelation, God gave Peter—as He does all His dear Christians—the great gifts of His kingdom. Speaking for the 12 and for the Church of the ages Peter gave that beautiful confession of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." For Peter to make that beautiful confession, for him to have that glorious gift of faith that God alone gives, Peter also had the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who works through the word and sacrament to create faith in our hearts to know and believe Christ rightly and to confess Christ, as Peter here did. The apostle writes [1 Cor. 12.3]: No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit. Peter, as do all Christians, has the Holy Spirit.
What comfort we take from Jesus’ words of the Father: for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Our faith is of divine origin. It has been revealed to us by God and by His Holy Spirit Whom He has given us He created faith in our hearts to believe in and come to Jesus our Savior. Because this faith is a gift of God, it is not the product of our human imagination. It is not a mere human opinion, view or conviction; instead it is the power of God.
Dear Christian, because of the gift of faith, because the Father revealed the Son to us—who Jesus really is: true God and man and our Savior; because the Holy Spirit created faith in our hearts to believe and accept the revelation of who Jesus is, we are truly blessed. That gift of faith that God alone gives, He crowns with blessing.
Just as Jesus declared Peter blessed, so too are we. We, have the great gifts of the kingdom. Through that faith, we have the forgiveness of sins. That’s because faith, trusting in Jesus and His work, receives that very forgiveness Jesus brought about for us on the cross and receives His very righteousness. We are declared forgiven and righteous in the eyes of God. Through that faith that rightly knows and trusts in Jesus, we are receiving that constant flow of joy because in faith we know that things are right between us and God; we are, in Christ, reconciled to Him.
Our souls can finally have that rest as they rest in the true God and have and enjoy His peace and forgiveness. That perfect peace and forgiveness, that resting in the Lord our souls so desire, is always with us. Even when we are going through times of trial, even when our Lord seems to be our enemy, we have perfect joy because we know in Christ He is our dear loving heavenly Father working all things for our spiritual good and working to bring us safely to Himself in heaven.
"But you, who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." The one true faith is a glorious gift of God that He alone gives and which He crowns with blessing. INJ