"Cynic, Sage, or Son of God" Matthew 16:13-20
Introduction
An American missionary one day overtook one of his converts in the woods, and after some conversation asked him, ‘Tell me what your heart says of Jesus.’ The Native American stood still, paused awhile, and then replied, ‘Stop, and I will show you.’ Stooping down, he gathered some dry leaves into a circle, in the middle of which he left an open space, and dropped a worm into it: he then set fire to the leaves. The flames quickly ran round them, and the poor insect, beginning to feel the heat, writhed and wriggled about in all directions, seeking in vain some way of escape from the torment. At last, exhausted with its fruitless efforts, it sank motionless. The native stretched out his hand, lifted up the worm, and laid it on the cool ground, beyond the reach of its place of torture. ‘This Jesus did for me,’ said the native; "and this is what my heart tells me I owe to him.”
Transition
Who is this Jesus who plucks men, like worms, from the fires which seek to consume them? Who is this Jesus? We are living in times when it quite socially acceptable to talk about God, as long as it is in a rather generic sense. Few are offended when a friend says “God Bless You” when they sneeze. In fact, the ironic thing is that it is considered rude not to do so, even to an unbeliever!
“God talk” is, in most cases acceptable, but what about honest talk about the savior; about Jesus? What about honest dialogue about the truth claims of Christ? Is there, can there be, any question of any great importance than the simple question of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading; “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Mathew 16:13 ESV) “Who do men say that I am?”
Exposition
(Cynic) The title, Son of Man, is used more of Jesus than any other in the Gospels. With but one exception in John 12:24 when a bystander asks Jesus what He means in His referring to Himself as the Son of Man. There are several interpretations as to the meaning of the term “Son of Man” some 83 times in the Gospels.
Some scholars believe that this title alludes back to the book of Daniel chapter seven. In this view, Jesus is identifying with the prophecy of that book. This may be true but as this is only one of nearly two hundred times that the phrase “son of man” appears in the Old Testament, in every instance being a reference simply to one’s frail humanity, I am inclined toward the view that Jesus is identifying with humanity in calling Himself the “Son of Man.”
Some critics have asserted that Jesus is only a son of man; only a man. This is the view of the atheist, agnostic, or the modern mainstream unconcerned. They assert that the miracles spoken of in the Bible are false or if they are valid at all then it is only because Jesus was an extraordinary man, though still, just a man.
These same critics assert that Jesus was a man to be honored because He, like they, was a cynic, skeptic. It is true that Jesus was a rebel. At every turn He condemned the Jewish religious establishment. At every turn He condemned the Pharisees. The point here, though, is not that Jesus was merely a religious cynic condemning religion. The point is that Jesus had come bearing the authority of Heaven.
In Jesus condemning the religious establishment of His day, He was not condemning religious belief in general or even Judaism in particular; He was expressing the need for a radical shift in religious expression. He was communicating to humanity that a new era had come; the era of grace.
In referring to Himself as the “Son of Man” Jesus is not denying His divine origins or His divine nature; He is giving us a picture of His ultimate character – gentle humility – and He is identifying with the humanity He came to redeem. Jesus, the God Man, the Logos, is the perfect expression or communication of a Holy God to sinful humanity.
A. T. Pierson has this to say about communion with God: “a word is the manifestation of a thought. If I wish to communicate a thought to you that thought takes shape in words. You cannot see my thought, but what is there comes through the channels of speech, and so travels through your ear to your mind, and becomes part of your thought. Now Christ became the Word to take the thought out of the mind and heart of God, and translate that thought so that we could understand it, so that what was before invisible and inaudible and beyond the reach of our senses comes into our minds and hearts as something that was in God’s mind and heart, but now is in ours. Beautiful indeed is this as an expression of what Christ is to us. You want to know God; well, then, study Christ, and you will know all about Him. ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’ (John 14:9 KJV), said Jesus.”
Jesus is not merely a man who rebelled against the injustices of his day. He was not merely a cynic who highlighted social ills, although He did do that much to be sure. Jesus the Son of Man of the Gospels was, is, the full embodiment of the will, the grandeur, and the wonder of God! Jesus is was not merely a man, though He has a human nature; He is the God-Man; the Logos; the perfect expression of God’s character and nature to humanity.
In Matthew 12:6-8, speaking of His own nature, Jesus says, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (ESV)
(Sage) At this, many of the skeptics will say, “fine! He is not merely man but surely He is not the Son of God! He must be a prophet sent by God or a man deeply inspired by God to share God’s message.” Is that all that Jesus is? Is Jesus of Nazareth merely the wisest among so many wise sages of history?
In today’s Scripture reading the disciples said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Mathew 16:14 ESV) This is the view of many modern New Agers and Secular Mystics (Cosmic Humanists). Many New Age Religions interpret the teachings of Jesus in highly allegorical ways.
The interesting thing about these people is that they do not all proclaim to be of a certain religious persuasion; the lies of the modern worldview are often so subtle and so subversive that people assimilate them into their worldview without a second glance at the alternatives or a second thought as to the consequences. The easiest lie to swallow is one coated in a web of half-truths.
For example, there are many New Age followers that contend that “The Christ” is something that resides within each of us; Jesus, the Christ, is merely an expression of something which we all can seek to attain through several concurrent reincarnations. In other words, through spiritual enlightenment gained as we are reincarnated time and again, we can awaken the Christ within us.
They believe that when Jesus referred to Himself as “I Am” He was identifying that it was at that very moment He had attained spiritual enlighten. In John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (ESV) Rather than the plain interpretation that Jesus was referring to Himself as one with God, as having divine origins, they allegorize this to suit their own preconceptions.
New Age Philosophy also carries over into what some have referred to as the modern day “Cosmic Humanist” or the modern day “Secular Mystic.” These are folks like the late Carl Sagan who wrote the tremendously popular book, “The Cosmos” which also spawned a video series that was widely in use in the public school systems Science curriculum in my generation and had a wide influence on the thinking of many young people.
Cosmic Humanism, or Secular Mysticism, asserts that a man like Jesus is just more highly aware of Himself than most people are. He is not divine any more than any of us are divine; He is merely more aware of the spark of the cosmos, the life of the Universe within him.
This view asserts that the Universe is very mystical, even magical, but not of divine origins. To paraphrase Sagan, “We are made of star-stuff. The Cosmos is all there ever was, ever is, and ever will be.” You can see the crossover between the first of these two views of Jesus and world views in general. Both view Jesus as a type of sage, a wise man, even a sort of prophet, but they both reject fully that he is anything more than a man; albeit an extraordinary man.
(Son of God) During Jesus earthly ministry He made the most outrageous claims; that is unless He is the very Son of the Living God. If Jesus was merely a cynic, that is a radical social liberator who was merely looking to confront the social ills of His day; which He did do. If Jesus was merely a wise man sharing incredible wisdom; which He also did do. If Jesus was merely either or both of these things then He is also an outright, verifiable, lunatic!
In our society those who claim to be God find their way into straight jackets and hotels with nurses, locked doors, and alarms. Jesus claimed to be one with God. And not only that, He claimed to have the very same nature as God; He claimed to be of divine origins; to be God.
Matthew 22:42-46 records the words of Jesus, “saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.” (ESV)
Jesus basically says to them, “How can I be a son of the great King David when David calls me Lord?” The Greek word used here is Kurios, meaning, Supreme Ruler and God. Jesus claimed to be divine. What’s more, He proved it. No other man on earth had ever spoken the way Jesus did prior to His coming; no other man had ever had the kind of impact on the world prior to Jesus or since.
The message and record of Christ stands radically distinct and separate from all other world religions. You see, while the other religions of the world are about building Ziggurats, temples, high enough to reach God, in Christ God reaches us.
During His ministry Jesus exercised power of nature when He calmed the storm in Mark 4:37-39, where it is recorded, “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” (ESV)
He calmed the storms raging in people’s lives as He exercised dominion over sin. “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:5-7 ESV)
The New Testament writers ascribe divinity to Christ time and again. Here are but a few examples: In John 1:1 Jesus is the Logos, the Word of God; in John 20:28 Thomas says to the resurrected Jesus, “my Lord and my God!” In Acts 20:28 speaking of Jesus Paul the Apostle says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church God, which he obtained with his own blood”
Though skeptics of every age and generation have doubted and continue to doubt, Jesus nature as revealed by Peter, is proven overwhelmingly historically, theologically, and practically. The weight of evidence is overpowering.
Today’s reading says, “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.” (Matthew 16:16-18 ESV)
Here God reveals to Peter that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and Jesus says that it is on this truth, this He will build His Church. While I apologize to my well intentioned Catholic friends, this verse does not say that Jesus will build His Church upon Peter as the chief patriarch. This verse has nothing to do with the Papacy and every thing to do with the truth of the divine nature and truth of Christ.
Verse 18 represents a play on words in the original Greek language. What Jesus actually says is “You are Peter (petros, a little stone) and on this rock (petra, massive rock) I will build my Church. The Church is build upon Christ alone.
Conclusion
“I know men,” said Napoleon in exile on the island of St. Helena to Count Montholon, “I know men, and I tell you that Jesus was not a man! The religion of Christ is a mystery, which subsists by its own force, and proceeds from a mind which is not a human mind. We find in it a marked individuality which originated a train of words and actions unknown before. Jesus is not a philosopher, for His proofs are miracles, and from the first His disciples adored Him. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires but on what foundation did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth, to become food for worms. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and is extending over the whole earth!” And turning to General Bertrand, the Emperor added, “If you do not perceive that Jesus Christ was God, I did wrong to appoint you general!”
The original disciples were no only willing to die but many did lose their life defending the validity of the truth of Christ. The Son of Man, as Jesus so often referred to Himself was not mere cynic. He was not merely a wise man or even a prophet of God. Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Son of God; the Logos; the expression of God to humanity. When we see Jesus, we see God in the flesh.
Today, I encourage you to continue to press ever forward in your knowledge of Him and in your total and absolute dependence upon Him in this life. Amen.
