P ♰ C

– by Jean Allen

The place where Jesus asked his famous questions, “Who do people say that I am?” and, “Who do you say that I am?” was Caesarea Philippi, which was the seat of Roman power. His questions were meant to contrast worldly power with the power of himself, which in most people’s eyes was no power at all. As we know, Jesus did not come to overthrow the Romans with violence and bloodshed, a typical notion of the Messiah at that time. He did not come to emulate worldly power but to expose its distorted ideas of power through his own love, forgiveness, compassion, suffering and death.

Peter had no idea what the keys of the Kingdom with the power to forgive were placing on his plate. Even though he had proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, I don’t think he really grasped that Christ’s power had nothing to do with gaining control like the Romans gained control. The gates of Hades that would not prevail were the hellish gates of grasping power and control through violence and trampling and scapegoating the poor.

We all need to realize that violence is always a gateway to hellish living. You might say, “Well, thank God, I’m not violent!” No? Have you raised your voice in anger at your spouse or your kids or a friend lately? That’s violence. Have you raked a clerk over the coals for not accomplishing something you asked them to accomplish? Violence. Have you given anyone the silent treatment? Violence. These actions are violent because they are actions of someone wanting to be in control – to have the power in a given situation.

We have not learned what Peter had to learn the hard way: that the Kingdom of God is in complete opposition to all our worldly perceptions and ways of operating. We think control is our right and once we have it, we scramble to maintain it. Someone always gets hurt. We always need to go back to Christ’s eternal question:

“Who do you say that I am?”