Sunday 27 August 2023

Psalm 138

Background

This is a dynamic and exciting passage which has huge implications for the future of the Church. Coming towards the end of Jesus' Galilean ministry, it is found in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) with some notable discrepancies. For example, it is only Matthew who uses it as a springboard to Jesus identifying Peter as 'the rock' in the second half of the passage (verse 18) and handing him the keys to the kingdom of God.

The first two verses serve as a summary of how Jesus has progressed in terms of public perception from a carpenter from Nazareth to an almost supernatural figure. They also show how Jesus is understood not only by those immediately near him but by the wider population. It is interesting that some see him as the resurrected John the Baptist – especially since many must have known Jesus and John the Baptist had been publicly seen together.

The fact that some think that Jesus is Elijah shows that they were still seeing Jesus as a forerunner to the Messiah rather than the real deal. All the synoptic gospels go for the "one of the prophets" catch-all description (verse 14), testifying to the wide range of expectations people had at the time about how the world would end. But no group was clearly entertaining the idea that Jesus was the Messiah himself.

Jesus' heavy emphasis on “Who do YOU say that I am?” is exactly the same in Mark and Luke's Gospels – perhaps showing that this was part of a repeated liturgy in the Early Church, and it also marks a key stage in the development of Christian theology. Here Peter is raised to the next level of discipleship – distinguishing him from the others with his insight into the true nature of Christ, although he didn’t realise at the time the kind of Messiah Jesus would turn out to be.

To Ponder:

• Why do our Jewish friends not accept Jesus as the Messiah?
• After this astonishing declaration of faith, why do you think Peter messes up so badly during the Passion narratives?