by Rev. Dr John Evans
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
One of the first questions we ask when we meet someone is – where do you come from; where is home? Are you new here; where do you come from?
Place is important. We can make connections with someone because we might know that place, or someone else from that place. Of course place is not everything – but it is an important part of our identity. It tells us and others something. If I were to ask the question, perhaps an odd question, where does the church, the Christian church come from come; where was it founded? What would you answer? You might say Jerusalem – because of the story of Pentecost or where the rest of the Easter action took place. You might say Nazareth in Galilee, where Jesus began his public ministry and where he gave the quote from Isaiah and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And these would be good answers.
You might, however, say Caesarea Philippi – and that also would be a good answer. In Caesarea Philippi Jesus asks his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is? And who do you say I am?’ Peter replies,
“You are the Messiah, the Christ – the Son of the living God.” (A reply which Jesus acknowledges cannot come “from flesh and blood,” but it is a profound spiritual insight.)
Jesus then turns to Peter and says,
“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the powers of death will not prevail against it.”
Jesus announces the establishment of his church; in addressing Peter he says, “on you I will build my church”. To him he gives keys of the kingdom and he says,
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven.
These are verses which may be strange to our protestant ears. They are the few verses which our Catholic sisters and brothers take as being very important – indeed proof – of the role of Peter and the papacy and especially the binding and loosing on earth and in heaven, part. About all of that I guess I could say many things . . . and it is not really the focus of the sermon today . . . however, I would simply say there are many other models of “church” mentioned in the scriptures. Our reading from Romans today, for example, says,
We who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (Romans 12:5)
Our Basis of Union for the Uniting Church looks very strongly to this understanding of the church being the body of Christ – and especially the understanding that “the one Spirit has endowed the members of Christ’s church with a diversity of gifts, and that there is no gift without its corresponding service” (Basis par 13). A shared, and not a hierarchical role for order within the church. Even later in the Gospel of Matthew – Matthew 18 – indeed the only other point in the all of the gospels where the word “church” is actually used – there is a broader understanding of church. There in speaking about church discipline there is the famous verse “where two or three are gathered in my name; I am there among them.” In other words, it is not all about the authority of a lone individual – Peter.
However, for our sermon today – the point I wish to emphasise is that Jesus established his church. Whether that means there is only one structure for that church 2,000 years later, I don’t think so – but my point is, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, as Peter confesses, establishes us. Christ is our head – “in his own strange way he constitutes, rules and renews his Church” (Basis para. 4). At this time of insight, during the course of his ministry, at least according to Matthew, Jesus establishes the church. Amazing!
And many, many things could be said about how this church can be ordered and governed, but my point for today is – Jesus established his church in Caesarea Philippi.
Matthew specifically says this incident happened in “the district of Caesarea Philippi.” (Only Matthew has this account of the establishment of the church; Mark does have the confession of Peter placed at Caesarea Philippi. These are the only two references in all of scripture to Caesarea Philippi.) Perhaps this might just appear to be a minor detail in the whole story – but it is a detail that Matthew has chosen to include –and I think we can assume it is important. As I said at the start – place is important. Just think of the trouble that politicians go to today in choosing the venue at which they will make an important announcement: health policy in hospitals, issues with education at a school, sport in sporting stadium, “sorry” in the Nation’s parliament – place is a detail we should consider. The place here was Caesarea Philippi.
Caesarea Philippi, 35km north of the Sea of Galilee
So what do we know about Caesarea Philippi? First of all, it is about 20 miles – 35 kms – north of the Sea of Galilee – the region where most of the action takes place in the gospels about the ministry of Jesus: all that fishing and feeding and teaching at or in or by the Sea of Galilee. Of its history we know that early on it had been a site of Baal worship – the fertility cults, idols and the like. When the Greeks came, a couple of hundred years before Christ – it was known as Paneas because in the town there was a temple to the Greek god Pan. Later it was renamed by Herod the Great – not long before Jesus was born – as Caesarea – because Herod built a temple to the emperor Caesar Augustus. Roman emperors, after all, regarded themselves as gods! Then Herod’s son Philip, who was ruler of the whole region, renamed it after himself: hence the name Caesarea Philippi.
From this you can see Caesarea Philippi was the scene – even the centre – of pagan worship in that region of Galilee. Certainly it was NOT a town with a rich tradition of worshipping Yahweh – although there is some Jewish tradition that it is a place where divine revelation happens. However, the point remains this amazing declaration happens off centre stage: it was not in the temple in Jerusalem, or even at a local synagogue at Nazareth, or to one of the many crowds Jesus taught. It was to Peter at Caesarea Philippi.
But like a Demtel ad. – there’s more!
After Jesus’ death, and before the time we understand the gospels, including the gospel of Matthew, were finally written down, the Jews in 66-70 AD openly fought the Roman occupiers; and lost. Caesarea Philippi was where the Roman General, Vespasian – who eventually became the Roman Emperor, used to have Rest and Recreation. It was his staging post for the assaults that were made on Jerusalem. It was instrumental in the destruction of the temple and of then Jewish society. Indeed when Jerusalem finally was destroyed in the year 70, it was to Caesarea Philippi that Jewish captives were taken; and many were thrown to wild animals in the circus and killed during other Roman amusements.
Have you got the picture?
This, of all places, is the place where Jesus announced the establishment of his Church to that former fisherman Peter! It was like a politician announcing a child-health initiative at a polluted rubbish dump or some education program in a fast-food outlet.
Caesarea Philippi as the venue for this announcement would have greatly challenged Matthew’s community. Yes this church, of which they were now a part, literally should have been founded, or at least launched, anywhere else but Caesarea Philippi.
Jesus was challenging his disciples in a very awkward context to be the church, the body of Christ. He challenges us today, again to be the Church in a context which is not familiar, safe or religiously comfortable – indeed it looks very much like a Caesarea Philippi sort of world out there.
It still is a world of Empire – not the Roman Empire; or necessarily the American Empire, or following the Olympics, the Chinese Empire – but of a world of free market ideology and global capitalism; a world that marches to its own internal logic of materialism and is very hard to resist. Last weekend we were challenged about the situation in Zambia and the role of the World Bank as it affected the people for the villages of Zambia, who for us all of a sudden had a human face. These are powerful forces, and it is difficult to express other values – such as love, compassion and service.
Our society increasingly is without any value, other than these values of the market and wealth. Caesarea Philippi had a pagan history – it went after other gods. Our society is perhaps even one step removed from this; we find it difficult now to have a common language of the heart or spirit in which we can express our hopes and fears and meaning – whether pagan or Christian. Again it comes down to things, objects and money – and not hope, community, respect, life and truth.
Caesarea Philippi was a violent place. If you were to ask me the one thing I have found difficult in moving to Carlton – I would give you a possibly surprising answer. It is the violence; real or just played out in words or thoughts that I have encountered. This little corner of God’s kingdom is a violent place – perhaps not overt, but still it is there. From world-record drug seizures over the road from the manse (and guns, and explosions and flak jackets – let alone the violence drugs do to people’s lives), to the stories of the women who come to our drop in centre, and the anger of people we meet here during the week, let alone assaults that happen on our doorstep – violence, and the use of force is the way life is regulated and how problems are solved. I am not a wimp – just saddened and flummoxed – violence is so prevalent here. Again we present a different paradigm for community and life – and it is peace.
I guess from Caesarea Philippi to Palmerston Street Carlton this context has always been thus. It is however, where we are called to be, and be the Church. These now are daunting times – like they were for Matthew’s community. However, in establishing this community Jesus said it will be like this; do not worry – nothing, not even the gates of hell will prevail against it. Quite a promise.
Where do we come from – Caesarea Philippi or Carlton – it perhaps matters not; so long as into this situation we are the body of Christ bringing love and hope, sharing our gifts, supporting one another and being a place of sanctuary and peace.
