The Feast Day of the Confession of St. Peter the Apostle

Today is the Feast Day of the Confession of St. Peter the Apostle. Saint Peter was one of the first disciples Jesus Christ called to follow him (Matt. 4:18-20; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11; John 1:40-42). He worked as a fisherman in the Sea of Galilee with his brother Andrew. Jesus called him to follow him telling him  “I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19; Mark 1:16 ESV; cf. Luke 5:10). Saint Peter, along with Saint John and Saint James, was part of Jesus’ inner circle. They witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration (Matt. 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28) and his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane before his death (Matt. 26:37; Mark 14:33). Saint Peter became one of the prominent leaders in the early church (Acts 1:15, 15:6-7; Gal. 2:9). When the disciples were baptized by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, Saint Peter preached a sermon about Jesus Christ with 3,000 people embracing Christ, getting baptized, and being added to the church (Acts 2:14-41). He not only witnessed the inclusion of Jews in the church (Acts 2:14, 41), he also witnessed the church’s inclusion of Gentiles (10:44-48; 11:15-18). Church tradition says that he was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified the same way Jesus was crucified. Numerous theologians regard Saint Peter as the one who wrote 1st and 2nd Peter.

In Matthew 16, Jesus and his disciples went to Caesarea Philippi. Jesus suddenly asked them “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (v. 13 ESV). This is a significant question because Caesarea Philippi featured a temple for the god Pan and a temple for Caesar Augustus. The disciples give him a variety of answers such as John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah. Then Jesus then asked them a further pressing question: “But who do you say that I am?” (v. 15). Saint Peter answered “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (v. 16). Saint Peter was calling Jesus by his designation as the Messiah, the Anointed One of God sent to redeem humanity from sin. He further confessed that he was the Son of God, the one who has had strong intimacy with the Father from all eternity. Upon hearing this, Jesus commended Peter for this divinely inspired confession (v. 17) and bestowed authority over the church to him based on this confession (vv. 18-19).

Takeaways

1. What we think of Jesus Christ matters. As mentioned earlier, many people thought that Jesus was like the prophets. Today, some people consider Jesus as a mere prophet or a good teacher. However, he is much more than a prophet and a teacher. Jesus declared that he and the Father are one (John 10:30). In other words, he is God just as the Father is God. Jesus came into the world as a Man to save humanity from its sins. Jesus stated that believing in him as the Son of God will save people from eternal condemnation while rejecting him as the Son of God will result in eternal condemnation (John 3:16-18).

2. We must be ready to proclaim Jesus Christ to people as God gives us the opportunity. There will be times when God will put us in situations where people will question our Christian faith. There may be unbelievers in our lives who observe the way we live our lives for the Lord and question why we may act differently from the rest of the world. This gives us the opportunity to demonstrate who Jesus is and how he can save us from our sin. Some of us may be called to endure overt persecution for our faith in Jesus. If so, we must confess Christ as the Son of God and resist the pressure to reject him. Jesus stated that “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33 ESV).” Thus publicly confessing Christ demonstrates our faithfulness to him. As we observe the Feast of the Confession of Saint Peter, let us ask the Lord for boldness to confess Christ to a dying world as we live our lives for him.

Collect (Prayer) of the Day

Almighty Father, who inspired Simon Peter, first among the apostles, to confess Jesus as Messiah and Son of the living God: Keep your Church steadfast upon the rock of this faith, that in unity and peace we may proclaim the one truth and follow the one Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Taken from the ACNA Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

Bible Reading

Matthew 16:13-20 (ESV)

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 Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

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