“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’” (Matthew 16:16-18). Most of us are familiar with the pun Jesus uses in this conversation from Matthew. The name Peter is based on the Greek word for rock, so in English Simon might have been called Rocky.
“You are Rocky, and on this rock I will build my church.”
But is Peter really “The Rock”? Or does that term refer to anyone who comes to know Jesus as the “Son of the living God”? For me faith in Jesus Christ challenges each of us to become rock-like in our living, to stand firm in what we believe. We do not do the building–that job belongs to Jesus. But by grace we become the stones, the raw material with which God creates a new structure that will stand against the forces of sin and death. This is why the Christian faith can never be reduced purely to person terms. Faith is always a function of believers as a whole, joined together, accountable to one another, encouraging one another. We are all rocks together, and in our unity–as frail as it is–we display the good news of the gospel.
“On this rock I will build my church.”
Prayer: Lore, give us the strength to live lives of courage and unity, that your will may be done among us. In Jesus name. Amen.
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