Matthew 16:5–28
Peter gives the right answer about Jesus—and then immediately tries to tell Jesus how to be the Messiah. Matthew 16 reminds us that Christian faith is more than a correct confession. The Christ we confess must also reshape the way we think, define what we call victory, and lead us in the way of the cross.
Central truth: It is not enough to confess Jesus as the Christ; we must allow the Christ we confess to reshape our minds and lead us in the way of the cross.
In the preceding passage, we stood with the Pharisees and Sadducees as they came to Jesus demanding a sign from heaven.
They knew how to look at the sky. They could see a red sky in the evening and predict fair weather. They could see a threatening sky in the morning and predict a storm. But they could not discern what God was doing right in front of them.
They asked for a sign, but Jesus himself was standing there.
Then Jesus left them.
Sometimes that is one of the most sobering sentences in Scripture: Jesus left them and went away.
Now he and the disciples have crossed to the other side, and the disciples have forgotten to bring bread.
That is a very human thing to do. They forgot lunch.
Matthew does not tell us which disciple was supposed to remember the bread. Perhaps they had no committee for that. Perhaps everyone thought someone else had packed it. We do not need to solve the mystery.
The disciples forgot the bread, and Jesus used the occasion for teaching—because that is what Jesus does. He takes an ordinary moment and opens a window into something eternal.
Jesus said:
“Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
The disciples began talking among themselves.
“He must be saying this because we did not bring any bread.”
You can almost hear the mumbling. You can imagine them looking at one another and wondering who was going to be blamed.
But Jesus was not conducting an inventory of their provisions. He directed the conversation back toward faith.
“Why are you talking about having no bread, you of little faith? Do you still not understand? Do you not remember?”
Remember the Bread
That is the first spiritual issue in this passage:
Do you not remember?
Jesus reminds them of the five loaves that fed five thousand people.
“How many baskets did you gather?”
Twelve.
He reminds them of the seven loaves that fed four thousand people.
“How many baskets did you gather?”
Seven.
They had seen thousands of people fed. They had held the leftovers in their own hands. Yet one missed trip to the bakery had them worried again.
Little faith forgets what grace has already placed in the baskets.
Faith remembers.
Faith does not deny the present need, but it views the present need through the memory of God’s past faithfulness.
There will be times when we do not know where the next loaf is coming from. There will be times when our resources look inadequate. There will be times when we say, “We do not have enough.”
Jesus says, “Do you remember?”
Do you remember the five thousand?
Do you remember the four thousand?
Do you remember the baskets?
Do you remember the times when there was no apparent way, and God made a way?
The disciples were preoccupied with what was missing. Jesus called their attention to what they had already witnessed.
Beware the Yeast
But Jesus was talking about more than bread.
Yeast is small. It can be hidden. Once it is worked into the dough, however, its influence spreads throughout the loaf. It helps determine how the dough rises, how it grows, and what it becomes.
There is a lot of dough in the world, and we must be careful about the yeast that is being worked into our hearts and minds.
The Pharisees and Sadducees did not agree about everything. In some ways, they represented very different religious and social approaches. But both could exercise an influence that distorted the truth about God and prevented people from recognizing what God was doing in Jesus.
Jesus warned his disciples: Be careful what you allow to shape your thinking.
Be careful what gets mixed into your understanding of God.
Be careful about assumptions that sound religious but lead you away from faith, mercy, truth, and obedience.
Be careful about an influence that can teach you to ask for signs while ignoring the Savior standing in front of you.
Matthew says:
“Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Then they understood.
That is progress. But their understanding is not complete. Before this chapter ends, they will understand something wonderful and then misunderstand something essential.
Whom Do You Say That I Am?
Jesus and the disciples come into the district of Caesarea Philippi.
I have been there.
It is a beautiful walk along Banias Creek. The sounds of the flowing water are relaxing and conducive to conversation. Then suddenly the remains of that ancient place appear—the sanctuary associated with Pan, the city Philip developed and named in honor of Caesar, and the great cave that became associated in the minds of people with the underworld and the gates of Hades.
Caesar’s name was on the city.
Philip’s name was on the city.
Pan’s name was on the sanctuary.
The setting itself raised a question about names, identities, loyalties, rulers, gods, and claims to power.
And there, Jesus asked his disciples:
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
The answers began to flow.
Some said John the Baptist. Some said Elijah. Others said Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
Those were not insulting answers. They placed Jesus among some of the greatest figures in the spiritual history of Israel. But they were inadequate answers.
Jesus narrowed the question:
“But whom say ye that I am?”
How about you?
It is a personal question. It is a searching question.
We can report what our parents said, what our church says, what theologians say, what historians say, or what public opinion says. Eventually Jesus turns toward us and asks:
“But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answers:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Surrounded by the remains and claims of human power and pagan religion, Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ.
Not the son of an imaginary god.
Not the son of a dead ruler whom an empire had declared divine.
The Son of the living God.
Jesus says:
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”
Peter did not reason his way into this confession by human brilliance alone. God had opened his understanding. The Father had revealed the identity of the Son.
Peter has given the right answer.
But the right answer will not be enough.
Peter’s confession is the foundation, but Jesus is about to show his disciples what that confession means—and what it will cost to live inside it.
