Playing Hard to Get?

There’s a passage of scripture that I’ve read and untold number of times, that I saw this week with new eyes. It’s passage that carries a lot of weight for followers of Jesus all over the world. It’s the passage of scripture that Catholics point to as the place where papal authority is established. For Protestant followers of Jesus, we point to this passage as Jesus’ commitment to continue to work in and through his church even in the face of the most significant opposition. This passage gives people of faith great confidence and comfort, but I found a portion of it disturbing this week.

The setting is Caesarea Philippi. That’s important for a whole lot of reasons, but this post isn’t about getting into those. Suffice to say, Jesus’ statement about “the gates of hell” (Hades, according to the original manuscripts) was intentionally said in Caesarea Philippi. Here is the account as recorded by Matthew,

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)

Like I mentioned above, there are a number of different things to address in this passage. We could talk about what exactly Jesus is building his church on - Peter or his confession of faith. We could discuss what the Gates of Hades are, and how Jesus is going to prevail against them. We could interact about why Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter (or gives him the title, Rock). But I’m not going to write about those things. It was something else that caught my heart the other day as I was reading.

The thing that has captured my imagination and that the Spirit seems to keep bringing up to me is the line: “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Here’s why that is messing with me. The disciples had been following Jesus around for a few years at this point and he had never plainly told them that he was the Christ, the Messiah. The Father revealed it to them, not Jesus. When Jesus asks Peter, “who do you say I am?” Peter doesn’t respond, “well Jesus, you’ve been telling us who you are… like you said, you are the Christ.”

Does it strike you as interesting that there are so many ideas floating around about who Jesus? Some think John the Baptist and others think Elijah. The disciples had heard these theories, and rest assured that Jesus was well aware of them also. But none of them engaged the questions or the misinformation.

This begs the question, why wasn’t Jesus more explicit with his disciples about his identity? When I’ve taught this passage, I’ve often claimed that Jesus’ question, “who do you say that I am?” is the most important question anyone could ever be asked. I still believe that, but Jesus didn’t give his disciples the explicit answer before the test. Why not? It doesn’t seem like hiding this information benefits the disciples… or does it?

Part of me thinks Jesus is playing hard to get. Interacting with God feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it? Rich Mullins, one of my favorite song writers, wrote a song called Playing Hard to Get. Listen to the way he writes about this feeling that most of us can relate to all too easily.

You who live in heaven
Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love
And who get hardened by the hurt

Do you remember when
You lived down here where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after
You had flown away
Well I memorized every word You said

Still I'm so scared I'm holding my breath
While You're up there just playing hard to get

So, is Jesus playing hard to get? Sometimes it feels that way. There are times when we feel like we’re flying blind. There are times when I ask Jesus questions that it seems like he would want to answer right away, and yet it seems as though he reminds silent. There are moments of pain where God feels distant. Certainly the Psalmist would agree with Rich Mullins’ statement. Listen to what he wrote in Psalm 83:1,

O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.

But maybe Jesus isn’t playing hard to get, maybe he’s just a brilliant teacher. I know that I want to rush through all of the learning to find the answers. I want to read a book to find the good nuggets and then move on to the next book on my list. I want to download the right playbook and be able to make the right decisions. I want to understand and chart a pathway forward. But maybe God has something different in mind for you and I than simply knowing all of the answers.

Maybe he wants to shape us.

Maybe he wanted to shape Peter.

Maybe there’s a different between knowing something and learning something.

Maybe we can know something and not be changed by it.

If faith is simply equated with a list of doctrines we believe, this will never make sense to us. However, that’s not biblical faith. Biblical faith is trust and confidence in God, not just the cognitive agreement with a set of objective truths. Jesus is interested in who his disciples (then and now) are BECOMING, not just about the facts they affirm. In order to help them become different kinds of people, he needs to allow them to walk in ambiguity and learn… and grow… and change.

Just to be clear, Jesus wan’t done teaching Peter, there were still some painful lessons to learn (Jesus does call Peter “Satan” a few verses later), but Jesus knows that he can’t just tell Peter something and have it stick. He’s a great teacher and he knows he has to SHOW Peter who he is - and then allow the Father to reveal the deeper truth. In fact, “come and see” was the very invitation Jesus gave to his disciples in John 1:39.

If Jesus did this while he walked the earth, why would we think he would approach being our rabbi different today? He does the same thing now. Jesus asks us questions, but he doesn’t always give answers. He shows us his nature and character, taking us by the hand and learning us forward. In a moment where we want the information and the answers more that we ever have, I think we need to be reminded that Jesus wants to take us on a journey. He’s not being evil toward us by not giving us the answers, he’s being a rabbi and teacher. Which means that we need to pay attention and it means that we have to be open and it means that we have to be willing to step out without all of the information we want.

Are you open to Jesus the soft-spoken rabbi? Are you open to Jesus, not as the Bible Answer Man, but as the brilliant question asker. Are you open to Jesus who allows the Spirit to reveal things to us in his time, not ours?

You might feel like he’s playing hard to get, but in reality he’s the great teacher, and his classroom is our life.