Oh, Peter!: Peter the Rock

Matthew 16:13-20

“Peter the Rock”

Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus declares, “on this rock I will build my church.” Join us for the second of three weeks with Simon Peter.

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Trinity.

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August 23rd, 2026. Our primary reading is Matt 16, 13 through 20. I'm actually recording this on Tuesday the 25th. It has been a scorcher all week. It will continue. Super hot. The emergency sirens have been going off in town, calling all the volunteer firefighters in, so that means that there is a blaze. The dogs have been barking because of the sirens and now each other. And this whole experience of oppressive heat in Northern California in late summer and a fire siren is a little bit terrifying. I also find today's gospel a little bit terrifying. Seriously. In today's reading, Simon Peter passes a pop quiz, and Jesus promises to give him the keys to the family car and the authority to decide who can use the seat belts, ostensibly to ride in the back seat past the gates of heaven. Great! Someone without the wisdom and compassion of Jesus will decide if there is space for me in the car. This is the place in scripture where we get this idea of St. Peter at the pearly gates looking up your life in a book to see if you get inside. What if he doesn't like how I think about Jesus? What if he doesn't like my race or gender or sexuality, which these days all serve as political proxies? What if he doesn't like the way I've shared the good news? Terrifying. So in today's reading, Jesus hands off authority to someone else to bind and loosen. And what else was Jesus supposed to do? You know, he knows he's going to the cross, he knows his time is limited, and when this sort of thing isn't explicitly laid out, people will spend some time fighting about it later. So Jesus gives authority to someone else now. Whoever has this authority to bind and to loosen ostensibly has the ability to choose who gets to go through the gates of heaven and who is destined for Hades. The text doesn't say that, but that is how it has historically been interpreted, right? And that kind of authority is scary in its implications. This is the idea that one of us, a human who is not Jesus, carries the authority of God to condemn or forgive. And look at how many people have spent centuries scrambling to claim Peter's keys. Look at how many people want the authority of God to condemn or forgive. Seems to me if you want that kind of authority, you are the last person who should have it. And how many people have died or had their lives disfigured defending the person who says they hold those keys? Wars have been fought over who is the one true Pope. People lose everything as Christian cults rise and fall. 500 years ago, reforming Protestants, jaded from religious corruption and megalomaniac leaders, argued the Bible itself carries Peter's keys. That belief has also maimed, killed, and disfigured. Because even to claim the Bible holds the key to the kingdom of heaven without also conceding that the Bible itself requires interpretation and may be faithfully read in different and conflicting ways is to recreate the problem of corrupt authority. When conflicting, faithful interpretations carry big practical consequences, which interpretation, which interpreter should we follow? Many people will follow the one who promises we'll escape those terrible consequences if we just buy what they're selling. And never mind what happens to the rest of those suckers. Terrifying. But in this scripture, we also get something delightful. Jesus gives someone a nickname. Jesus loves nicknames, probably because he had a bunch of followers with the same name. Thomas is a nickname. Thomas's real name is Judas. How confusing is that? So Jesus calls one of the Judases Thomas. Thomas means the twin. Mary Magdalene is a nickname. Several Marys were on Team Jesus. Magdala was a town, but it also means tower. Mary Magdalene could be the Mary from that town or Mary the Tower. Maybe she was a tall woman. Maybe she had a towering intellect. Peter is a nickname too. It means the rock. As in, and I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church. The Bible actually calls this same guy, who we call Peter by many names. Peter's parents probably called him Simeon, not Simon. Simeon was a common name from the Hebrew Bible, it means obedient one. Acts and 2 Peter both call Peter Simeon. At the time of Jesus, a common short version of Simeon was Simon. Similar, how to a guy named Michael might go by Mike. In today's scripture, Jesus calls Simeon the rock. And Jesus spoke Aramaic. So Jesus' nickname for Simeon is Cephas. The word rock in Aramaic is Cephas. Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Galatians also call Simeon Cephas. However, the New Testament was originally written in Greek. So there's this guy in the Bible with the name Simeon, who goes by Simon, gets nicknamed the Aramaic Cephas by Jesus, and then his story gets told in Greek, so his name is translated as Petros, the rock. And then we translate that Greek into English and call the guy Peter. You got that? Simeon, Simon, Cephas, Petros, Peter, same guy. The way the Bible just swaps out names for this guy without explanation shows us that the early Christians all knew the family lore and history around the beloved Peter and his many names. Peter's story stretches across the New Testament, but in this sermon series, Oh Peter, we are reading from the Gospel of Matthew specifically. Following along in Matt's gospel, let's recall that a couple of weeks ago we read how Peter jumped out of a boat and walked on water to get to Jesus. Peter gets scared and then he starts to sink. Jesus calls out Peter's lack of faith even as he lifts him back up. Then last week, Peter asked Jesus to explain himself after I think Jesus said the obvious. So the scene is Jesus was teaching that what we say to each other means more than appearing holy or religious. I don't care if you tithe to the church and attend every Bible study. If you are an enormous jerk, it doesn't matter. Jesus said basically the same thing. And Jesus then goes on to say, don't mess with those people. Those people are more concerned with appearances than substance. They are blind guides. They will eventually go into a ditch by themselves. You don't need to interfere, just let them do their thing. And Peter didn't get it. In this week's scripture, after being called out for lack of faith and lack of understanding, Simon Peter says, Jesus is the Messiah. And Jesus talks about how Peter didn't come to this through his meaty human brain or having been told it by Jesus. His understanding that Jesus is the Messiah is of the Spirit. And then Jesus gives Peter his nickname, the rock. Cephas, Peter. Jesus tells Simeon slash Simon, he is his nickname. Peter is the rock. On this rock he will build his church. This rock will hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Again, in today's reading, Jesus hands off authority to someone else to make decision. And what else was he supposed to do? He knows he's going to the cross. He knows his time is limited. And he knows people will fight for leadership positions in power. Jesus also knows Simon Peter is a person of such great faith. He will jump out of a boat to follow Jesus out onto the surface of the sea during a storm. Peter may have doubted, but Peter walked on water. Whether metaphorically or literally, Peter followed Jesus out into the chaos and walked atop its surface. No other student of Jesus had the guts to even try. Simon Peter was so open to the Spirit, he could directly discern that knowledge that came from God. He discerned that Jesus was the Messiah. So Peter senses the Spirit's movement. Peter will follow Jesus into a storm. And Peter has a good heart. Jesus picks Simon the Rock, Simon Peter to hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Notice that Peter is not the A plus student in the back of the class, making sure they know the correct answer before raising their hand. Notice that Peter is not the son of a rabbi raised in the heart of Jewish tradition. He was a fisherman from Bethsaida. Notice that Peter is not disciplined. In John 18, 10, it's Peter who cuts off the air of Malchus, that enslaved guy who came out with the soldiers to arrest Jesus. Jesus has to tell Peter to knock it off. We don't even have to look all the way over into the Gospel of John to find Simon Peter out of pocket. Right here in Matthew, just two sentences after today's Gospel reading, Jesus calls Peter Satan, the adversary, because Peter wants Jesus to be a messiah of military might, not a suffering servant. We'll talk more about that next week. Oh, Peter. Peter is not worried about saying the wrong thing. Peter is not well connected. Peter is not disciplined or subtle. If anything, Peter has a foot-in-mouth problem. Peter is also not arrogant, wealth-oriented, or power hungry. Look at how many people have spent centuries scrambling after Peter's keys who were arrogant, wealth-oriented, and power hungry. The very opposite of the person Jesus chose for the task. And right here in this passage, we have Jesus calling him the rock. The rock isn't a polished marble step in a grand church. The rock is the person who jumps in and sometimes sinks. In today's reading, Jesus continues telling Peter, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The Greek word for keys here is clis. The Greek word can also mean wrench, bolt, or latch. Clice are pieces of metal that help fasten or bind things together temporarily. Bind and loose, tie and untie, shut and open. Jesus didn't say to Peter, I will give you the rebar and cement of the gates of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, I will give you the keys. The things linked on earth and in heaven are not set into cement permanently. They are not welded together, they are brought together with a latch. Keys require us to take intentional action. When do you keep the door locked? When do you keep it unlocked? Keys are more than pieces of metal. Keys are a great metaphor. In the metaphorical use of the word, a key opens a point of access. We talk about the keys of knowledge or the keys to a good life. A key opens something, it is never the entirety of the place it opens. You can't fit your house in your pocket, but you can fit your keys. And this reveals a bit about Jesus' choice to pass authority. Jesus did not give Peter the full knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, but he says he will have access to it. He will be able to open and shut, to tie and untie, to bind and loosen that access. People scrambling after Peter's keys have missed the point. A key is a tool. A key is a kind of leverage, a wrench that helps us get at something we seek. The kingdom of heaven. Jesus promises Peter the tools to unlock the door. The tools are for use by this very ordinary guy who happens to be the rock on which the church is built. But the tools are not the full authority of heaven. Keys imply entry and easy passage, not ownership. The keys to the kingdom are not the kingdom itself. You can have a key to my car, you can drive it around, you can put gas in it, crash it, fix it, but you still don't own my car. So Peter is the rock. Peter holds the keys, but he does not own the car. It's this guy, this fisherman from Bethsaida, who just quit one day to follow an itinerant preacher. This impulsive student with all the energy and all the questions. This man who has to be bailed out. This guy is the foundation of the church, the rock. This guy is gonna get the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Isn't that just like Jesus? Jesus' ministry is all about reversal. The last shall be first. We hear him including everybody from the margins. But his reversal is even subtler than this. It's not only who Jesus includes, but who he picks to lead that is astonishing. Jesus entrusts the church to Peter, a guy who was never a conventional A plus student, a guy who challenged him, who questioned everything, who tested everything out himself. Jesus picks engagement over agreement. Jesus picks an evolving faith over blind faith. Because Peter thinks and experiments and is persistent, he is the right guy to hold those keys. He is not afraid to open and close things, to tie and untie. Peter will not cement the gates of the kingdom of heaven in place. Peter will not impose a permanent understanding. Peter's flexible, if not yet mature. He's flexible, and he can hear the spirit. The choice of Peter makes total sense. Being a student of Jesus includes struggle, contradiction, uncertainty, mistakes, questioning, and a willingness to go for it. Why wouldn't Jesus pick someone to lead whose life mirrors ours? Why wouldn't Jesus have picked Peter? Of course, Jesus picks Peter. Sidebar, as a result of really testing and questioning things, we see Peter mature in the book of Acts into this very balanced guy. Peter adopts this live and let live attitude while at the same time being completely convicted that Jesus is the Messiah who redeems the world. Of course, Jesus picks Peter. The long-standing Christian tradition of some singular person or group of people having the authority to decide what is acceptable to God, whether because of their position or their authority to interpret scripture, is incredibly problematic. I find it terrifying. Methodists are a flavor of Protestant. We're Roman Catholic twice removed. We are so prone to schism. We do so a few times every century. But the upside of our Methodist tradition is that we are well aware that one person does not and cannot possess singular access to the kingdom of heaven. The keys were given to Peter. Jesus did not lay out an inheritance scheme. We Methodists as a group are well aware that one interpretation of Scripture is not and cannot be the only path of salvation. The Bible is read through the lens of our own life experience, religious traditions, and reasoning minds. No human can comprehend God, much less form a definitive understanding of God based on their reading of the Bible. This text cannot be read without interpretation. And every reader brings their own baggage. There are some very bad reads out there. There are some more accurate ones, but no particular understanding is the definitive key to the kingdom of heaven. We are also well aware, as Methodists, as people so committed to our own methodical spiritual practices, we would sooner tear our denominations into pieces over disagreements than cede our own hard-won understandings. As these people, we know that the institutional church does not own the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Who owns the keys? God. Who is free to use the keys? All of us. Fundamentally, we are the church. You are the church. A church built on the rock of a vulnerable human being who tried and failed, who got stuff wrong, who got stuff right. A human being rooted in seeking his Messiah, trying to do God's will and open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in his life. We are called to be this type of church, a group of ordinary people who are growing. We keep trying, keep screwing up, and keep trying again. Because the rock on which the church is built is an ordinary person who kept growing, who kept trying, kept screwing up, and kept trying again, just like us. The keys were given to Peter. Jesus did not lay out an inheritance scheme. But I don't think the keys disappeared when Peter died. I just don't think anyone person, tradition, or interpretation holds them. I think the keys are out there. And I think there's billions of copies floating around. Because if you let me borrow them, I actually will make a copy for myself. And I mean, it's been thousands of years. And it seems most of these copies work, although sometimes, you know, you have to know how to turn them just right. Apparently, God never changes the locks. The keys were given to Peter, but of course there are copies. And you can hold on to a set too. Probably every sincerely searching person who, like Peter, is not arrogant, wealth-oriented, or power-hungry can hold a set. But as soon as we start holding our copies of the keys too tightly, thinking we have Peter's original keys, as soon as we start reinforcing the gates with rebar and cement, or even worse, building walls. Who is in, who is out? We are reminded that Jesus tore walls down and handed off the keys of the kingdom of heaven to a person so excited to go for a drive they were willing to risk getting lost. Let's go for a drive. Amen.

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