Confession in the Shadow of Power
Naming Christ as King where the world worships its own.
I have a friend who is visiting Rome at the moment. He’s been posting pictures on his social media and yesterday, he wrote, “Rome isn’t real. It can’t be.” He wasn’t trying to push a conspiracy theory about the historicity of Rome. He was simply marveled by the sheer scale and spectacle of it. And to think that it existed in such power a couple thousand years ago.
Caesarea Philippi was certainly not on Rome’s scale. But it was still impressive, a monument to both the reign of Rome and the gods’ approval.
So picture this: a rabbi from Nazareth, dusty from travel, arriving in Caesarea Philippi with a small band of disciples. Surrounded by shrines and symbols of imperial power, he asks them just who he is. It’s quite a scene, not in grandeur, but in a bit of absurdity.
At least, in that moment.
There’s no doubt that the Christian faith holds Jesus’ supremacy high now, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Yet it is important to hold on to the picture of the rabbi from Nazareth, standing in the shadows of temples and tributes to Rome and Caesar, while a fisherman declares his Kingship.
Too many Christians rush toward a dominating Jesus. Again, he is victorious indeed. But his reign is not like the Caesars, Kings, and Presidents of the world. (Again, Revelation 5 makes this characteristically clear - a Lamb, standing as if it had been slain.)
This is not a recipe or strategy for his disciples to conquer the nations of the world, but to stand amidst the powers of the world as a power that is different. No less powerful, but of an entirely different nature.
All who want to come after me must take up their own cross and follow me.
Matthew 16:13-28
Now when Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Human One is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
He said, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Then Jesus replied, “Happy are you, Simon son of Jonah, because no human has shown this to you. Rather my Father who is in heaven has shown you. I tell you that you are Peter. And I’ll build my church on this rock. The gates of the underworld won’t be able to stand against it. I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? For the Human One is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One coming in his kingdom.”
Psalm 2:1-6
Why do the nations rant? Why do the peoples rave uselessly?
The earth’s rulers take their stand; the leaders scheme together against the Lord and against his anointed one.
“Come!” they say. “We will tear off their ropes and throw off their chains!”
The one who rules in heaven laughs; my Lord makes fun of them. But then God speaks to them angrily; then he terrifies them with his fury: “I hereby appoint my king on Zion, my holy mountain!”
Prayer1
Lord Jesus Christ,
You have called us to follow you, even when the path leads through the thrones and powers of this world. Strengthen our hearts against fear, that we may confess you before all, and never be ashamed of your cross.
Keep us from trusting in the might of princes or the splendor of empires. Fix our eyes on your kingdom, where the crown is life, and the victory is love.
Amen.
This is a prayer attributed to St. Cyprian of Carthage. He was a a bishop martyred under the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.