Preston (11:43)
Yeah, we kind of want a dialogue about the latter. Not the latter end of his life, but the latter end of Peter's role and in the Gospels, just because I think his. What he displays in these narratives can really find a lot of symmetry and probably what is displayed in our own particular lives. And I think one text that was really intriguing to me earlier, probably last year is Matthew 16. And I'm going just read some of it because I feel like it's helpful. Matthew 16 starting at verse 13. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven. Keep that in your mind, and I tell you, you are Peter. This rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Keep that in your mind, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. And he strictly charged the disciples not tell. So there in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus is like, hey, who do people say that I am? Elijah, John the Baptist? Peter, quick to talk is like, you are the Messiah. You are the Christ. If anybody knows anything about the Torah, they have been looking for this messiah, prophetic, kingly figure for a very long time. And it isn't purely that Peter has reasoned his way into this understanding and awareness. It is that it has been revealed to him, like he is seeing who Jesus is by proxy of God's revelation. Then God commissions him and tells him, you know what? On this rock, I will build my church. He establishes him as kind of a fundamental foundational feature in the church that God is going to build. When Christ Jesus resurrects, then he tells him, I'm gonna give you the kingdom of heave bound on earth. Da da da. And a lot of Catholicism. I think Catholicism has its roots in this text because they say that Peter is the first pope. We're not going to go there. But yeah. So why that's significant to me is because right after this, Starting in verse 21, it says from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. Mind you, imagine you was just imagine so who you want to be, Bartholomew, because don't nobody be messing with Bartholomew. Let's say you, Bartholomew, you with 11 people. One of them is a traitor. You don't even know that yet. And y' all accessoria Philippi in front of all this idol worship and stuff like that. And then Jesus is like, hey, who you say I am? And you like, oh, I think he Elijah. That's what you said. Some people say you Elijah. And then you hear Peter, like, no, you the Messiah. And then you sitting there like, oh, my goodness, my rabbi is the Christ, my rabbi is the Messiah. And let's just say you have perceptions and frameworks about what a messiah is that's still present in your mind that you're going to. You're going to overcome overthrow wrong Rome, that you're going to set up some earthly kingship, that you're Going to do something here presently. But then God takes you somewhere. Jesus takes you somewhere. Whether that's y' all walking or y' all going to the other room, I don't know. And he says, oh, by the way, I'm gonna die.
