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Matthew 16:13-20

Peter Knows Jesus Is The Messiah

August 27, 2023

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Year A

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ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning!
I have some questions for you about superheroes.
A lot of superheroes have two different names, right?
They have their normal name and then they have their superhero name.
For instance, do you know the normal name of the person who is Spiderman? (Peter Parker)
How about the normal name of the person who is Batman? (Bruce Wayne)
And the normal name of Superman? (Clark Kent)
You really know your superheroes! Can you tell me how you learned so much about them?
(If you don’t receive an answer, ask: Is it because you read, watch, and pay attention to stories about those superheroes?)

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

Even though you know both the normal and superhero names of those superheroes, most of the people who are in those superhero stories do NOT know both names of the superhero.
Instead, it is only the people who are closest to those superheroes who know both of their names, who truly know who the superheroes are.
In today's scripture story, something like this happens with Jesus and his disciples.
Jesus asks his disciples who other people say Jesus is -- and there are lots of different answers – answers that are incorrect.
So then Jesus asks his disciples who THEY think he is.
Peter says "You are the Messiah" and Jesus says, "You are right! And, because you know who I am, you will help others know who I am."

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

The reason Peter knows who Jesus really is and other people do not know who Jesus really is because Peter and the disciples are paying close attention to Jesus.
Peter is a student of Jesus. He follows Jesus and goes wherever Jesus goes. He’s watching and listening to Jesus.
Because he does this, then he learns both of Jesus’ names. He knows Jesus the teacher and he knows Jesus the messiah.
And guess what?
We can know Jesus in the same way that Peter does.
We, too, can follow Jesus and learn from him.
And the way we do that is the same way you learned both names of the superheroes we talked about earlier – by reading, discussing, and paying attention to the stories – in this case the stories about Jesus.
This is one of the reasons why we talk about the Jesus stories when we are in worship and in Sunday school classes...
...so that we can learn from Jesus and learn about who Jesus really is by reading and discussing the Bible stories that are about him.
And, the more we learn about Jesus, the more we can help others learn about Jesus, just like Peter did.
That's the good news for today. Let’s pray.

CLOSING Prayer

This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,
Dear God,

Thank you for stories of Jesus…

Thank you for stories of Jesus…

…that help us learn…

…who he really is…

…so that we can help others learn…

…about Jesus and you.

Thank you and Amen

Originally posted August 26, 2017

Updated on July 27, 2023
Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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