Mark 8:27-30 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying to them… The brief record of St. Mark leads us to turn to the fuller statements of St. Matthew. Jesus tests the faith of his disciples "as they were able" to bear it. First, "in the way he asked, Who do men say that I am?" What is the general opinion? Then, more closely," But who say ye that I am?" It was a day of testing. There had been a general blindness. Immediately before he had occasion to say, "O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have no bread? Do ye not yet perceive?" But there was amongst them one discerning spirit; and he who "knew all men" saw the elevation of character, the quick perception, the sympathetic, sensitive soul. "Who say ye?" "Simon" - of whom it had been early said, "Thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)," which is by interpretation, "Rock," or" Stone" - "Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." It is enough. Here is one who, seeing, can see the true character of the Sent of God; not a mere teacher, or rabbi, but the Hope of Israel - the long looked-for Christ, "the Son of the Blessed." The wise Master-builder stood ready to lay the firm foundation-stones of his enduring Church - "a spiritual house," built up of "living stones;" and in this first confessor, the first to acknowledge his exalted person and high office, in this man who is a rock, Jesus discerns the suitable stone to lay first on the prepared earth. "Thou," of whom it was once said, "Thou shalt be," now "art, Peter: and upon this rock I will build my Church." Not upon Peter's mere confession; not upon Peter apart from his confession; nor, indeed, upon Peter alone. For the Church of Jesus is not a column, a pillar, of stones. But of those "twelve foundations," of what afterwards was seen by one of them in be a city, and on which are the "twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb," this was the first to be. laid. Or of that "household of God," which is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief Comer-stone," this stone gained the honorable position of being laid immediately next to the comer. The house is spiritual, the stones are spiritual, the total idea is spiritual - every stone is a "living stone." Here is no dead body of rubbish; but spiritually discerning men, who, like Peter, can discern and confess The Lord's Christ. There need be no hesitation in acknowledging the high position assigned to Peter - the prince, the very primate of the apostles - by his Lord and ours. An immeasurable gulf lies between this and the assumption of the exclusive authority of Peter by Rome. Yea, though the improbability of Peter's ever having visited Rome were exchanged for a certainty that he both visited the city and founded its Church, yet would that claim be baseless. Nor does the putting into his hands "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," with which, by God's good grace, he opened the gates of the kingdom to Jews and Gentiles, which work, done on earth, was truly confirmed in heaven, give Rome the slightest warrant for her assumption, I. The first great lesson for every Peter obviously is - TO SEEK A PENETRATIVE DISCERNMENT OF JESUS AS THE, CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. The beholding Jesus, the Son of Mary, as the common eye may, is a primary step. A life so pure, so beneficent, so exalted, justly claims the attention of all. It stands pre-eminently above all It is out of the common category. But this is not the perfect view. There is more hidden in the word "Christ;" and this demands a fuller insight. Some, like Nicodcmus, acknowledge him to be "a Teacher come from God." But in their view he is only one of many; with whom Homer, and Shakespeare, and Dante and a thousand others rank as sent of God, and filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and all knowledge, like a Bezaleel of old, to work in all manner of work for the building up of an outer temple of God. But he stands alone in Peter's judgment, and in that of all who are "blessed" like Peter, in that the truth is revealed to them not by" flesh and blood," but by the "Father which is in heaven." But even this falls short of the final term: "Thou art... the Son of the living God." "God of God,... very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;" he "being the Effulgence of his glory, and the very Image of his substance." Yet let every discerning one acknowledge, "no one knoweth the Son save the Father." II. A second lesson is for every one who sooth the Son as he is revealed of the Father, To CONFESS HIM IN PRESENCE OF THE WORLD'S ERROR, SELF-SEEKING, CONFUSION, AND SIN. This each, who having seen Jesus has seen the Father in him, is called to do. And thus shall the kingdom of heaven be opened more and more. Thus shall the great Church be extended, whose inviolable security is pledged to every one who, in the spirit of Peter, can hear and receive the assuring words, "The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." - G. Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? |
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