Jesus takes his disciples twenty-five miles north — past the top of Galilee, out to a place called Caesarea Philippi. A pagan city. A shrine to the god Pan. A cliff face carved with niches, a statue of a god standing in every hollow, and at the foot of it a cave the ancients believed opened into the world of the dead.

And it is there, of all places, that he turns and asks them who he is.

He asks twice. The first question is easy — who do people say that the Son of Man is? Anyone can answer that one, and the answers that come back are generous ones. A prophet. Elijah returned. One of the greats. Every one of them a compliment, and every one of them able to be said from a distance.

Then he asks it again, differently. And Simon Peter answers.

What comes out the other side is not an opinion, and not a private feeling. It is the Church.

This sermon looks at what Peter's confession actually produced — an assembly, built by Christ on a man who would deny him, holding keys that were only ever lent, and carrying a promise that has nothing to do with our strength and everything to do with the grave.

Preached at Eternal Hope Anglican Church, Carleton Place, Ontario
Proper 16 · The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity · 23 August 2026

Part of the summer preaching series Now and Not Yet: A Summer in Matthew — following the King who has come and is coming.

Text: Matthew 16:13–20 (ESV)
Also read: Isaiah 51:1–6 · Psalm 138 · Romans 11:33–12:8