When We See the Truth, Part 1
The First Telescope
In the 1600s there was a man who made eyeglasses living in the Netherlands in what was then a large trade city called Middleburg.
One day, as the story goes, he was watching some children play with the lenses. They discovered that by looking through two lenses they could see a weather vane on a nearby church larger and clearer than they could before. He tried it for himself and began to imagine the possibilities.
His name was Hans Lippershey. While there is some controversy over who exactly first invented the telescope, many historians give Lippershey the credit for inventing a device where you can place a convex lens and a concave lens at just the right distance from each other so that an image can be magnified.
Lippershey put those lenses in a tube and in 1608 the first telescope was invented.
As you can imagine, this was a huge innovation at the time. Before this, if you wanted to see something that was far away, you had to move closer to it so you could see it.
Some of us understand this better than others because… well, it’s because we’re getting older! In order to see things better, we have to get closer.
A few weeks ago I went in for my normal eye appointment to get my eyes checked. I needed to order some more contacts so I had to get my eyes checked before they would place my order. After I met with the doctor I went to meet with the people up front because I also needed to see about getting some new glasses.
That’s when she broke the news, I didn’t just need glasses, I needed bifocals!
What!?
Can You See?
Its interesting isn’t it, that for some of us the older we get the harder it is to see. And sometimes we can’t even see what’s right in front of us.
I think that’s true for people of faith too.
Sometimes, and this also happens to me so I’m not casting judgment here, but sometimes its the older people of faith, people who have been walking with Jesus for the longest, who sometimes have a hard time seeing Him.
Sometimes it’s those of us who have been walking with Jesus for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years or more who aren’t living lives of faith, we are living lives in fear!
Why is that?
You would think that the longer we walk with Jesus the more faith we would have. The more courage we would have. The more resolve we would have.
Thankfully, we live in a day and age where we can get prescription lenses to help us see. But those lenses only fix our ability to physically see.
What happens when we need help seeing something that’s not physical?
Sometimes in order to see clearly, we have to move. Sometimes we have to physically move so we can be in a position to clearly see what otherwise cannot be seen.
Jesus & the 25 Mile Out of the Way Field Trip
This is what happened with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus needed his disciples to see clearly, but in order for them to see clearly what they could not see otherwise, He had to physically move them into a place where they could see what He wanted them to see.
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has been busy in and around the area of the Sea of Galilee. But when we get to Matthew 16.13, we find that Jesus has taken his disciples on a field trip.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Now if your reading this like I have for so many years you may not think much about the fact that Jesus and his disciples have gone on to another city. You’ve seen this over and over again as you read the story. They go from this place to that place and you probably haven’t paid much attention.
I never did either. But when we were in Israel we actually went to this city, to Caesarea Philippi. For the first time, I realized just how out of the way it was!
Just to show you, here’s a picture of a map. If you still carry an actual Bible to church you probably never look at the maps in the back! But they can be helpful. And in this moment the map in the back is really helpful.
Before this moment Jesus and his disciples are at Magdala. (Matt 15.39) That’s on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. That’s not surprising. That’s in the area where Jesus did A LOT of his ministry.
But then we find out that they crossed the Sea of Galilee and went to the other side, probably to Bethsaida. (Matt 16.5) Again, not too surprising. Jesus did a lot of his ministry in this area as well.
But now we find that they’re in Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi is 25 miles north of Bethsaida! There’s nothing really up here in the northern part of Israel. Nothing that they would want any part of, at least!
Jesus has just led his disciples 25 miles north to a city largely filed with Gentiles which, by the way, is the center of worship for numerous different gods. It was the ancient version of “Sin City.”
No God-honoring, Yahweh worshiping Jew would be comfortable there or even caught dead there. In fact, many Rabbis forbid people to even go there! It was not a place that people like Jesus and his disciples went to. It was the center of pagan worship. It was the place where unspeakable things were done by people in the worship of other gods.
Jesus and his disciples have traveled 25 miles to get here. 25 miles may not sound like far to some of you. Some of you may commute that far on a daily basis just to get to work. But they weren’t driving the church van from the Sea of Galilee up to Caesarea Philippi. They didn’t take an Uber. They walked! 25 miles! If they averaged a pace of 20 min per mile without stopping, it would have taken them over 8 hours to walk there!
WHY?
Why did they come here?
Now they’re standing in this city of mostly Gentiles with worship, prostitution, and who knows what else happening all around them at the foot a large mountain where there is a temple built for the worship of Caesar Augustus as the “son of God.”
At the back of this temple is a cave. Among all the gods that are worshiped in Caesarea Philippi, this was the center for the worship of the god Pan. Pan was the Greek god known as the “Guardian of the flocks.” He was half man and half goat.
On the walls of the rock face of this mountain beside this temple where Caesar and Pan were worshiped were statues to countless other gods who were also worshiped in this place.
Standing here in this center of worship for so many other gods, Jesus asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Remember, where they’re standing? They can see the temple for Caesar, a mortal man worshiped as “the son of god.”
And Peter answers… “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
This was a BOLD declaration for Peter to make in this moment.
When Jesus heard this, listen to what he said…
“You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”
Peter saw the TRUTH when He saw Jesus and he boldly proclaimed the truth about Jesus.
Jesus responded with another powerful truth. But what did Jesus mean when He said, “…upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”
To keep reading, go to the NEXT POST: When We See the Truth, Part 2
