The Keys to the Kingdom
MATTHEW 16:1-12
16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 ”And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? 4 ”An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.
5 And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring anybread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? 9 ”Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? 10 ”Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? 11 ”How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Testing Jesus
Test [G3985 pierazō] this term for test can be used in positive and negative ways. It can mean to challenge one to find their strength or to entice someone to sin. No doubt the Religious Leaders were challenging Jesus, but noto find his strengths but to expose a flaw or weakness they could exexploits hen we test someone to help them reveal a strength we don’t do it for personal reasons, we do it to help them find how much strength they inherent possess. Yet, there are those contentious people who have an interest in the failures of others. As if seeing someone else fall would justify their own shortcomings. We must be vigilant that we are people who consistently seek to reveal the strengths of others.
A great teacher — such as Jesus — pushed his followers to the limits of their abilities, but never beyond. A friend of mine who left special education in the States because she was asked to give tests to mentally handicapped students that simply served to embarrass them. It was a recipe for failure on children who already felt glaringly different and behind. The result was to leave them defeated and this was the purpose of the Religious Leaders testing of our Lord. They sought to embarrass him before his followers and the crowds that amassed around him. Instead, it nearly always wound up backfiring.
Now too, the Pharisees were aligning themselves with their disparate brothers the Saducees. Both generally enjoyed undermining each other in debates. Here they combine to attack Jesus thinking, no doubt, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Expedience has no loyalties.
The sign of Jonah
These leaders had already witnessed many signs but were determined not to heed them. So Jesus promised them the sign of Jonah. When the Ninevites rejected Jonah and threw him into the sea. Jonah disappeared for three days in the belly of a whale. Like the condemned Ninevites, Jesus was prophesizing his own death and resurrection but also the stubbornness of the Religious Leaders to see Christ’s Messiahship even in those circumstances.
Each day we awaken to a sign of God’s passionate love for us. Francis of Assissi once said, “You can’t be miserable and grateful at the same time.”
How often do I test God by appearing ungrateful for the many existing miracles in my life? Ingratitude is the primary expression of doubt and is, unfortunately, habitual.
“He said that because we did not bring any bread.”
This statement by the disciples shows how weak their faith had become. Who can blame them with the constant attack of the Religious Leaders and the continual pressing of the crowd. Could they not remember that Jesus had been able to feed thousands from a few loaves? We too can easily become like these disciples when we focus on what is wrong instead of what is right and what we can’t do instead of what we can. Where is my focus and what is the focus that leads to the miraculous?
“But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Leaven is a minuscule change agent that gets inside the bread and changes it from the inside out. Jesus knew that the constant attacks and threats of the religious leaders was doing its inner work on the disciples. They had shifted their focus from the miraculous of Jesus to the minimalist of the leaders.
Where will my focus be today? To whom will I give the reins of my self-esteem. The Lord that leads me to the great compassion of the Creator or those who would have me examine the smallness of humanity and my foibles in particular.
MATTHEW 16:13-20
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
MATTHEW 16:13-14
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Jesus was not interested in what the crowds said in the manner of an adolescent unsure of his identity. What Jesus was doing with these questions was helping his disciples differentiate him from others.
1. The prophets
2. Other historic religious leaders
3. The viewpoint of the religious contemporaries of his day—the interpretation that the Messiah would be a conquering king establishing Israel as the premier world power
It would be easy for Jesus to tell his disciples these things. However, by allowing them to wrestle with these differences themselves, their understanding immeasurably deepened. Jesus allows them to witness his works, hear the attacks of the Pharisees and come to their own understanding about his messianic claims. There is no better model of teaching than this four-part formula used by the greatest teacher in history. Invite, model, teach and send. Rather than telling, selling, or preaching; Jesus models the expectations he has of followers and then lets his action do the rest of the talking. Do we teach people like that? Do they watch the way we live and say; “You must be a follower of Christ?” Do they see Jesus’ type of Messiah in us: Sacrifice, service, compassion and justice? Do they say; “I know you are Christian by your love!”
All of us can use a little more focus on the consistency between our words and our behavior. We need to ask: “Can others tell what we believe by the way that we behave?”
MATTHEW 16:15-16
15 He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“But who do you say that I am?”
This is the confession that stands at the heart of Matthew’s gospel. In this revelation we see the divine revealed through Peter to history. We see that Jesus is the Messiah foretold by Scripture. The disciples had recognized Jesus’ unique abilities in Matthew 14:33: And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” However that seemed to be more a statement of momentary awe (they were, after all, sinking into the lake when Jesus rescued them). This personal statement by Peter is away from crowds, away from the prying eyes of religious leaders. This statement is not the product of amazement and awe; it is the admission of personal commitment, the key that opens the gate to heaven.
This statement is highly personal. It is not, “Who do the Scriptures say I am?” “Who do the crowds say I am?” It is the question which each of us must ultimately answer, “Who do you say I am?”
”You Are The Christ”
Jesus is not a great man, a leading prophet or the beginning of a movement (or even a religion). He is Son of God, unique in creation, salvation to sinners. He is either Son of God or delusional liar but he cannot be both. Like Peter, we too are asked the question, “Who do you say I am?” We are asked to differentiate Jesus from the masses or even the unique leaders of history. We are also asked to delineate between our understanding of the Messiah and the cultural ideal of a God who just saves me. This is exactly what the disciples were challenged to do. By saying Jesus was the Messiah they had to give up the concept of Christ as conqueror and embrace Christ as Servant. The Christ they knew came to suffer and die. The Christ the culture proclaimed would overthrow Rome and rule the world. Which one do I name as my Messiah? Do I see a Jesus that fits into my ideology of “getting ahead,” or a Jesus to whom I must bend my knee and serve? How do I define the “power” of Jesus? The power to rule or the strength to serve. That response, like Peter’s response, is the key to salvation.
MATTHEW 16:17-18
17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
“Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you...”
Lest he take any pride in his understanding of God’s way; Jesus reminds Peter that his revelation comes from God’s blessing—not from Peter’s intelligence. When we truly know Jesus as servant-messiah it neither comes from our scholarship or IQ. It comes from our humility. To truly know Jesus is to realize that although I am a sinner, he still loves me. This is what Nicodemus couldn’t comprehend with all his “head knowledge.” It is what the religious leaders couldn’t get with all of their political savvy. It is also what Pontius Pilate couldn’t figure out with all of Rome’s power behind him.
Peter got it because he had no one else to turn to, he had left everything else behind; “Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life [John 6:68].”
We fully know Jesus when we place ourselves in the position of Peter. When we finally realize nothing else will give us eternal life. After we have tried to find eternity in power, wealth or knowledge only to see how they all come up empty, then we are ready for the revealed Messiah.
“Upon this rock I will build My church”
Here is a play on words that is critical to research if we are going to understand the fullness of our Lord’s statement to Peter. In the Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary, authors Robert B. Hughes and J. Carl Laney put it like this: Peter (Petros in Greek) means “a movable rock or stone.” The word translated “rock” (petra in Greek) means “an immovable rock formation or rock mass.” Scholars have debated whether the “rock” was a reference to Peter or the truth of Peter’s confession—that Jesus was the divine Messiah.1
Was Peter a rock while Jesus is the rock upon which the church will be built? Was Peter The Rock upon which Christ would build his church? The apostle was unquestionably a leader in the early church, although not necessarily the leader. The leadership of the church fell to the “Apostle’s and the brethren” who were less authoritatively driven to lead the church than Holy Spirit influenced to be available to God’s will.
Examine how the Holy Spirit guides the church to extend beyond Jewish parameters. Peter was guided by an angel to see the power of the Holy Spirit had already descended upon a Centurion’s household. He then goes to tell the other apostles that they have to play catch-up with God. As the apostle’s were making rules about who could and couldn’t be baptized, the Holy Spirit was already out confirming Gentiles. (See Acts 10 and 11).
Later Peter backslides from his openness to Gentiles and it is Paul who castigates him. Brother to brother, there seems to be no hierarchal sense of power in these exchanges [Galatians 2:9]. Although Paul states that Peter was entrusted with the circumcised while Peter was entrusted with the uncircumcised.
Galatians 2:7
But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. Does this mean there were two churches and two leaders. Paul repudiates that:
1 Corinthians 13:13-15
13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name.
Hierarchical authority? Not according to Paul. Let your actions speak of the Spirit’s authority. What about Jesus? Here is how Jesus describes authority for his church:
Matthew 23:8-11
8 “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 “But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
Rather, here is image of authority that Jesus gives directly to Peter:
John 21:18
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.”
More important to most of us than lines of authoritative succession is this, Peter—the rolling rock—would be called to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. During his silent years, when Peter left Jerusalem, most scholars believe he traveled as far as Babylon, we know he also went to Corinth, Samaria, Lydda, Joppa, Caesarea, and Antioch before finally spending nine months in the worst Roman hellhole called Mamertine.
Mamertine was a deep cell cut out of solid rock at the foot of Rome’s capitol. It had two chambers, one over the other. The only entrance was a small hole in the ceiling and the bottom hole was called the death cell. Light never entered it and it was never cleaned. The stench alone generated a poison gas fatal to many inmates. Peter is said to not only have survived nine months there chained upright to a pillar, but he also converted his jailers, Processus, Martinus and forty-seven others.
What allowed Peter to endure such persecution? It was the immovable rock; Jesus Christ. If he had any doubts about the Lord’s Messianic claims, wouldn’t it have been revealed in those nine months? But he was firm in Jesus, his doubts left on the shores of Galilee at Capernaum. He adamantly knew Jesus was “the Son of God.”
MATTHEW 16:19-20
19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
“I will give you the keys...”
The “church” [ecclesia] is a term that translates into “the assembly of those called out.”
Are we that church? Are we “the assembly of those called out” founded on a rock that will never be moved? We should be fearless in our efforts to live the good news. We should never hold back because, “I’m not comfortable” or “I’m not confident.” Comfort, confidence and ultimately competence only come with action and Christ has promised to give us the Holy Spirit to complete our cause:
Mark 13:10-11
10 “And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 “And when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.”
No matter what... Jesus is the Messiah—servant and savior—no matter what! Even “the gates of Hades will not overpower” that truth.
Jesus promises to give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Those keys open the door to the authority that God has invested in his son, Jesus Christ. It is the authority to do all that Jesus did if just two or three of us act in his character (the word “name” also means character). If we act with Jesus’ character, we will receive Jesus’ power. And, what is the character of Jesus? How is his power to be used?
Luke 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
To the extent that Peter served the mission of Jesus; he acted with the authority of Jesus Christ. But, this power wasn’t reserved for Peter; it was also given to the rest of the disciples later in Matthew:
Matthew 18:18
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Yet, before passing on that power, Christ made a very important statement. A conditional statement for reception of the power of God:
Matthew 18:3-6
3 And said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
To receive the power of God we must:
· Take on the servant nature of his son
· Humble ourselves like a child
· Become advocates of God’s littlest children—the most vulnerable of this world.
Am I acting with the authority (the keys) of the kingdom? Is my church? Are we the Ecclesia preached by Christ; “The assembly of those called out?” Is our authority marked by our humility and displayed in our servant attitude especially to the least, little one. The one Christ sat on his lap and loved so ardently? If yes, than we too are rocks built upon the foundation, we have the power that even Hades cannot overcome. We too are given the “Keys to the Kingdom.”
“What will it profit?”
MATTHEW 16:21-28
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.
28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
MATTHEW 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things
Until this point in his ministry, Jesus had been teaching (revealing) to the disciples that he was the Messiah. From this point on, Jesus began instructing the disciples about the role of God’s Messiah. The popular belief was that the Messiah would be the next King David establishing the Jews as a world power and freeing them from Rome However, Jesus’ teachings on the messiah were disturbingly different—more so to the disciples who would be identified as “co-conspirators”: “He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day [v21].” What Matthew aptly reveals are the obstacles Jesus must overcome so the disciples can a) identify that he is the Messiah, and b) fathom that God’s Messiah must become the suffering servant from David’s prophetic Psalm 22.
Our progress of faith must also take a similar process. First—like the crowd—we might acknowledge that Jesus is a wise man or—like the Pharisees—we might see him as a threat. Then, like the disciples in the boat [Chapter 14] we might accept that Jesus is God’s Son if he gives us respite from our trials. At some point, like Peter [Chapter 16] we might acknowledge that Jesus is an intimate Savior who died for our sins. But, finally, here in the latter part of 16, we see that Jesus is not just my Savior, but the bridge for all humanity to restore communion with God. He seeks nothing less than to lay down his life and die that all might cross into the embrace of God.
Our faith is richest when we finally transition from personal Messiah to communal Messiah accepting Christ’s charge to “go to all nations.”
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Where am I on this walk? How do I get to the full faith of those disciples that left the shivering huddle of the Upper Room and divided up the world, each going a separate way to carry out Christ’s charge? Am I with people who will challenge me enough to keep reaching beyond a personal Savior and out to a communal, “ends-of-the-earth-reaching” Savior?
MATTHEW 16:22-23
22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
“Get behind Me, Satan!”
In the space of one paragraph, Peter goes from being the rock of the church [Matt 16:18] to being the representative of evil unleashed. What happened? Jesus makes it clear. In verse 16, Peter is God’s human conduit in naming Jesus as the Christ: Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Then, Peter takes his eyes off God and turned them inward to self: “But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s [Mt 16:23].’”
When Peter’s eyes turn inward—on his own wants—he attempts to trap Jesus into his own reality. How often do we step into the same paradigm? We don’t want to go on Jesus’ path to sacrifice and servanthood. We rebuke or ignore those who would challenge us to leave behind our own comfortable model of a personal Messiah. We even try to recreate him in our own image assuming that my needs are his responsibility! That is when we are least like a conduit for God and most like the Manipulative One.
Peter’s example teaches us that our inner strength or outer abilities cannot sustain us. The same man who steps out of the boat in faith sinks into the waters of self-protection. The man who names Jesus the Christ then tries to manipulate God.
Yet, we must never forget from where these stories came! The Gospel writers each write for different purposes and thus highlight different events. However, it has been calculated that Mark contains about 93 percent of the material the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) have in common. Mark may have known Jesus as a teenager, there is evidence that the upstairs of his house was the upper room and that he was the boy who fled naked from the guards in the Garden of Gethsemane. But we know for sure that Mark was Peter’s scribe, mentored at the Apostle’s feet. In 1 Peter 5:13, Peter goes as far as to call Mark; “my son.”
These stories about Peter were told by Peter to Mark. Can we see how amazing that is? In his latter years as servant to the church, Peter didn’t hide behind pride or position as he tried to do when he blurted out to Jesus: “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
In his waning years, Peter tells these stories to his young scribe without guarding his weaknesses. It was as though he is saying to John Mark; “Tell future generations the whole truth. How much I failed but how much more our Lord loved me.”
Peter is a leader — not because he is without fault — but because he un-wincingly reveals how foolish his actions were when he tried to lead and not follow Jesus. Peter insists that everyone knows how obstinate and blind he could be but how great and merciful God could be as well. Does that sound like our leadership? Are we courageous enough to say; “Listen, I am a failure without God. The only smart thing I have ever done was fall on his grace.” I constantly say to the guys in jail: “It is all about getting up one more time than you fall down.” Ultimately, that’s faith. That God has a plan for the expansive universe; but also a plan for fumbling old me.
I can follow the wrong gods, I can become self-focused, I can even try to manipulate the words of Jesus. Yet ultimately, will I admit my error and come humbly before the Lord? That’s what counts—getting up just one more time than I fall down.
MATTHEW 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
“Take up his cross and follow Me”
We must not underplay the significance these words would have on the Apostles: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me [v24].”
The disciples would have no appropriate context with which to understand that statement. We have hundreds of years of imagery referencing the cross. We see the symbol of the cross but sometimes not the cruel instrument of torture and death that the subjects of Roman occupation experienced. We’ve seen it on paintings, icons, statues, and necklaces, but to the Jews of Jesus’ time it meant political domination and cruelty.
Christ used this imagery once before in Matthew [Matt 10:38] when he sent the Apostles out to the twelve tribes with the power to cast out demons and heal all manners of sickness and disease. He tells them in that reading that they would be the most hated of all men, persecuted and hunted down. Why is Jesus doing this? Why is he giving them such harsh news?
To prepare them for what lies ahead.
Jesus never did a “sales job” on his disciples. He never told them that his was the easy path. In fact, he tells them that no path could ever be so hard. We must never think Christianity is the easy way. Following Christ to the cross is not comfortable, popular, or prosperous. If that is how our life becomes, it is quite possible that we are completely ignoring the Gospel.
Christianity is the way of self-denial and constant trials. If our path is easy and comfortable we may be citing Jesus as Lord but not following his path.
To further differentiate his role as Messiah.
Ever since Matthew 9:35, Jesus has been clarifying his role as Messiah to the disciples. What happened in 9:35 that started this phase of Christ’s ministry?
Matthew 9:35
Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
From that moment on, our Lord’s ministry switched from teaching to sending; from discipling to “apostle-ing.” At some point in time, the mature faith must also switch from discipling to “apostle-ing.” We must go from sharpening our sickle to using it.
Matthew 9:37
Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
At some point in time we must go from being “in the crowd” to being “on the road.” We must switch from comfortable Christianity to cross-bearing Christianity, from commentators to participants, theologians to advocates. This is what Jesus was pushing the disciples to do. He pushes them to become leaders of in the harvest, not maintenance workers in the grain elevator. Have we moved from comfort to cross yet? Is that where we are pointing the communities of faith around us? That is the purpose for which Christ prepared his followers; are we preparing for the same?
MATTHEW 16:25-26
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
“What will it profit?”
Okay let’s discuss the Profit/Loss sheet of Jesus Christ. This is the Savior who exchange the regional economy of the Geresenes to save one man from demon-possession:
Mark 5:12
The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.
That’s two thousand pigs! Even by today’s standards that’s a huge farm! Yet, their worth meant nothing to Jesus in comparison with the soul of one man—and the most rejected man of a detested country at that! That is Kingdom Economics.
In fear, the Gerasenes plead with Jesus to leave but when the Lord returns; the whole region has been converted to our Lord [Mark 6:53-56]. People throughout the area ran to bring their sick and diseased to be touched by Jesus. Do our economics work like that? Do we believe without hesitation that anything we have is worthless compared to recovering someone from the Manipulator’s clutches? Is there anything we wouldn’t gladly give away if it meant one more life could be drawn to our Savior?
Jesus says to the disciples that it is not just giving up our things to follow him (the disciples had already done that). Our Lord insists that we give up our very souls—for our sake! The Greek term for soul is Psuche [G5590] and it means our eternal being and our last breath. It meant vitality—the very essence of everything living, even the plants and animals had a soul.
To the Hebrew, the soul [H5315 nephesh] was also the very essence of the living being but also the root of a person’s passion and desires. That is what Jesus says we must offer to him if we are to find the fullness of meaning; our very passions and desires. From the root of self comes all worship and all selfishness. Christ is inviting us to liberate ourselves from ourselves so that we might be completely free to love selflessly. It is to this freedom of humble service that Jesus calls us; the freedom that only occurs when we no longer live to take but to give; we live forgiving.
That is Jesus’ profit/loss sheet. Give up self; gain eternity.
MATTHEW 16:27-28
27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILLTHEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. 28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
“According to his deeds...”
Some theologians draw a line between works and faith; Jesus did not. In fact, to him the worst hypocrite was the one whose works did not correspond to his/her words. Jesus clarifies that in this statement: First; “The Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels.”
The term glory [NT1391 doxa] not only means the majesty of God; but it also means the approval or authority of God — even the “opinion” (like a legal ruling) of God. Jesus is coming in God’s authority to make a legal ruling upon humankind.
Secondly, we will be “repaid [G591 apodidomi]” based upon our “deeds [G4234 praxis].”
Repaid means we shall receive payment based upon work performed. If our life has been one of selfish taking—then our selfishness shall consume us. If our life has been measured by radical hospitality—then God’s glory (majesty, approval and authority) will liberate us.
Glory is repaid for selfless deeds. Selfless deeds that flow from a heart of compassion. Jesus offers no confusing theology to debate here about faith verses works. If we have faith, it will be revealed by our deeds. If we love God; our works will reveal it.
“Some of those who are standing here...”
We know that Jesus had many more than 12 disciples. He was followed by both men and woman from multiple walks of life. At one time he sent out just the 12 apostles representing each tribe of Israel. At another, he sends 72 (one for every nation in the Septuagint—Jew and Gentile alike). Some of those stayed with Jesus throughout his journey to Jerusalem, some endured his torture and execution, some witnessed his resurrection from the dead, and some were present at his ascension into glory.
The group may have been winnowed as each step of the path became increasingly more difficult to endure; but those who endured, witnessed firsthand “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Will we endure?
· Through the difficult refinement of our expectations to the true nature of the Messiah? The disciples had to lose their expectations of a dominating king and embrace the role of suffering servant.
· Through constant battles, attacks, and even retreats as Jesus shaped his disciples, often taking them to foreign lands to teach them a global gospel—not just a nationalistic ideology and also simply to flee the religious rulers.
· Through the tortuous times of desperation and death when Jesus was left isolated and completely alone except for his assailants. Will we endure even if the whole world seems against us?
· Through the dark days of separation when Jesus was lost to earth and separated from the Father (hell)? Will we endure the darkness of abandonment when all seems utterly lost?
If so, if our deeds show our love was consistent despite the inconsistency of the world about us, then we too will be “counted among those who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Imagine the face of Stephen when it lit up with God’s glory as he was being stoned. I have seen that face upon those dying. Men and women who—prior to departing—witnessed the light of their heavenly Savior. Death did not take them; Jesus did. Let us prepare to be among those saints who never taste the sting of death.
Let us forego the empty promises of this life and it’s version of the messiah: a broker of comfort and pleasure. The real Messiah awaits us on the other side of Jerusalem if we can get beyond the “rock (Petra).” We have to get beyond the part of our lives that doesn’t want to pick up a cross of self-denial with Jesus. “Lead on, Lord. We are weak but we will follow.”