Matthew 16:15-19 A Truth that Allows For Change

 

Observation: Today, January 18, commemorates the "Confession of Peter," a crucial moment in the Gospels in which Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" and Simon Peter speaks up to say, "You are the Messiah." Jesus tells Peter that it is none other than God who has revealed this to him, and on the "rock" of Peter's witness Jesus will build a church. Jesus then promises Peter "the keys to the kingdom of heaven," saying whatever he binds or looses on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven.

Application: A couple of years ago (In those storied pre-pandemic times) I read a book called Canoeing the Mountains, on the subject of adaptive leadership. The principle of adaptive leadership is if you know your own personal values and the values of your community well enough, it makes it easier to change quickly in an unpredictable future. If you don't know what truths are central for you, then it's hard to change anything for fear of losing everything. But if you DO know it, then almost everything can change and you'll still be right at home. 

God has revealed a central truth to Peter--and to us--that Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the Living God. Once Peter gets this right, Jesus actually gives him permission, in the context of his community, to change almost everything else as the situation dictates. If Peter holds fast to the truth of Jesus as Messiah, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 

This is both liberating and terrifying at the same time. As long as we confess Jesus as Lord and Messiah together, literally anything else can and will change, and sometimes it will need to change. What grounds me is the promise that this confession is what makes Peter "a rock". It was strong enough to keep him centered, and it can keep us centered too. As the world changes, the church can change too, with prayer and conversation, if we know the rock on which we stand. 

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for the witness of Peter, and the rock on which he stood: the truth, that you are Lord. Help me to stand firm, too, when I need to, and also to be flexible and change when I need to. I pray this in your name, Messiah, Son of the Living God. Amen.