Day 16 – September 22, 2026 – Matthew 16

This is a fairly pivotal chapter in the disciples understanding who Jesus is, even though they never fully get it in Matthew. I had mentioned earlier that the title of Messiah for Jesus is one that he has embraced and one that Matthew repeats over and over again. Here, Peter, one of his disciples, describes Jesus as the Messiah and Jesus clearly tells him that he got it right. There has been much debate over Matthew 16:18-19 with some traditions seeing this as the installing of Peter as the first among all and a role in the church that is unequalled. Instead, we see this as an exchange where Jesus is declaring that he is the Messiah and this truth, this rock upon which the church stands, will never be shaken. That’s a pretty big and a pretty important difference.