Theme                        : He stands out!

“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it bad been slain, standing in the centre of the throne, encircled by four creatures and the elders”, (Rev. 5:6).

What do people think of Julius Malema? Some say, ‘He is just another Black Eugen Terreblache’. Other say, ‘He is an embodiment of the philosophy of Stephen Bantu Biko’. Others merely dismiss him is expressions such as, ‘he is merely a chameleon that knows how to change its colours depending on the environment’.

Almost a similar question was posed by our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples after almost two years traversing the territoryof Judah, Samariaand Galilee. At the River soon after His baptism, a voice identified him thus, “this is my Son’. At the Transfiguration the same heavenly voice identified him thus, “this is my Son”. However the disciples haven’t had the opportunity to publicly confess His identity. May God bless us as we consider this text under the theme, “He stands out!

Above cultic shrines: Caesarea Philippi seemed to have the magnetic power of pulling world religions unto itself. A beautiful town below the majesticMt.Hermon, right at the source of theJordan with its wonderful spring waters! This place used to be a shrine of Baal-Gad worshipped and adored by pagan Canaanites. Years later it was changed to be a locus of worshipping the Greek god Pan. A marble temple in honour of Caesar Augustus was erected here by Herod the Great. Philip the Tetrarch adorned it further and gave it the name, Caesarea Philippi in honour of both the emperor and himself.

Peter’s confession at this very place marks Christ as being above and distinct from everything that had been worshipped and confessed right here. It further marks the dethroning all the false gods and religions of the pre-occupation era byIsraelas well as the colonial Greek and Roman rulers that were venerated here.

He alone is confessed, worshipped and glorified. All other deities carry no divinity in them but are human creations and artistic works. We need to note also that this confession at this place, in these phrases, in this historical time was explosive and dangerous, yet it needed to be made. Christ stands out, he transcends all and everything Caesarea-Philippi is and represents.

2. Above all OT luminaries: The response from the general public to the question, varied from John to any one of the prophets. Some say when we look at this man, we see John.

2.1.          It was Herod who after he had murdered John first likened Jesus with John. It was a spiteful statement made with glee and derision. Jesus is the resurrection John, he mused and seemingly taken over by the populace. On the other hand there was an element of truth in the statement as John and Jesus in their preaching of repentance and administration of baptism, ushered in thekingdomofGod. Both rejected ritualistic baptisms as was common-place then and brought to light a sacramental one!

But John also confessed that Jesus is on a different plain altogether. He must increase and I must decrease he publicly stated.

2.2.          Some equated Jesus with Elijah. Indeed there are parallels between the two. Their greatness is in the prayers they offered, the deeds of power they enacted in healing as well as in their spoken words; they both waged vigorous campaigns against false religions!

However, Jesus would not wish to be like Elijah, he refused to emulate the great man when so asked. ‘Why don’t you bring down fire on these unbelieving people like Elijah did?’ They encouraged him. He turned down the fire just like in his ascension, he opted for a cloud!

The fire he carried was in his compassion for those imprisoned by their in their sins, as well as the broken, marginalized, unwanted, etc. His inner being burned with deep and great compassion for them. This is what makes him stand out, what makes him great and distinct, thus different from Elijah.

2.3.          Some saw some elements of Jeremiah in him: Jeremiah was the forever weeping prophet. What a ministry he had! Ridiculed, imprisoned, persecuted, pitted against false prophets in the public square by the politicians of his day. If Jesus wept overJerusalem, Jeremiah wept in secret, his eyes were reddened, his head throbbed! He served stubborn and unrepentant people.

Yet, he had hope of a New Covenant, he doubted God’s promised!

Still, he could, may, will not be likened with the Son of Man! He is greater than Jeremiah! [It’s intriguing why Moses was not mentioned. He will feature in the next chapter, but that’s message for another day].

Above great Confessors: The text does not inform nor suggest to us how long it took Peter to come up with such exact, appropriate and fitting words. Neither does it tell us why God our heavenly Father saw it fit to intervene and let Peter, let alone the other disciples to SAY IT ALOUD what THEY make of Him!

3.         In John’s gospel, Andrew told Peter, ‘Come we have found the Messiah’. However in the Synoptics this question had not been raised not answered until now.

3.2.          In relation to all the prophets, king, seers, judges, Jesus of Nazareth can and will be the only to carry and on this crown and title, “The saving Messiah and Christ”.  He does this by relinquishing his soul, not frowning the shame of the cross, but determined to risk it all for the redemption of the world. This is where he stands out above all. He was and still is ready to come to us and serve us. This is his call to the world of today and all people: To confess me you need to do the following:

• Let go of all your past and present religious treasures like Caesarea-Philippi.
• Let go of al the great men and women so easily hero-worship and deny Him that honour and glory.
• Let go of ourselves and give room to the Father to lead us by his Spirit into true confession of who Jesus is.

Prayer: We praise and thank you God Holy Spirit for not abandoning your church when you helped Peter and still wants to help us today, that we confess Jesus as Lord and the Lamb of God. Amen.