21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel Reading: Matthew 16: 13-20

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, "Who do people say the son of Man is?"

14 And they said, "Some people say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

15 "But you," he said "who do you say I am?"

16 Then Simon Peter spoke up. "You are the Christ," he said, "the Son of the living God."

17 Jesus replied, "Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.

18 So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.

19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven."

20 Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Meditation

This is a difficult passage for us Catholics to meditate on because in our Church it is nearly always read with an apologetic purpose - to reinforce (or persuade others of) our faith in the primacy of the Pope and the infallibility of his teaching office. The apologetic purpose is important but in meditation we go further and discover in the text a message that will help us grow spiritually and experience the work of God in our lives.

The passage tells the story in three stages

13-16, the dialogue between Jesus and his disciples leading to Peter's confession;

17-19, Jesus bequeathes his authority to Peter;

20. conclusion - Jesus gives them "strict orders" not to tell anyone he is the Christ.

At all three stages we can focus either:

(a) on Jesus or

(b) those he relates with.

Verses 13-16.

Jesus is proclaimed to be "the Christ, the son of the living God", but as always in the gospels we should not isolate him from our experience. The passage invites us to recognise in this incident similar experiences in our lives and the lives and great people we have known - "anointed ones", the "sons and daughters of the living God".

So too we need not read the story of Jesus in a static way as if he is settled in his identity. Once we choose to identify with his experience, we will naturally see him as making a journey to enter into his identity and Peter as the one who affirms him on the way. This interpretation in no way takes away from Jesus' divinity. It merely reminds us of the sacredness of the journey to self; we make the journey precisely because we are in the image and likeness of God.

Interpreted in this perspective, the question "who do people say the Son of Man is?" tells us where Jesus is in his life's journey. Caesarea Philippi is a watershed moment in his life; he feels the need to clarify where he is -:

has he established himself?

communicated his message?

been who he is called to be?

As always happens to us if we are honest in our self-questioning as Jesus is, he is blessed to have some one like Peter, a "disciple", affirm him as "the Christ, the son of the living God".

Peter on the other hand is at the stage where he knows he must take a stand on the master he is following. He must answer from the truth of himself, not "who do people say he is?" but "who do I say he is?" We celebrate the person (it may be an event or God himself in a moment of prayer)who brings us to the point where we have to affirm the "lordship" of Jesus or someone (a cause) in which he is incarnate

Verses 17-20

Here is another watershed moment in Jesus' life, when he becomes conscious that he has found someone he can hand over his mission to. We experience similar moments when as parents, teachers, friends, leaders of political parties or social movements, we realise with the great joy that someone is going to carry on our work. Every aspect of Jesus' words is significant.

He feels deep humility, an overwhelming sense of gratitude that this is the work not of flesh and blood but of God.

He feels unbounded confidence in the future. This person is a sure foundation a "rock" and the gates of underworld" will not "hold out" against him or her

He is very happy to hand over his authority, to give this person "the keys of the kingdom". The authority is practical - it includes both "binding and loosing"

He does this handing over with confidence too, whatever decision the "disciple" takes will be "considered" ratified "in heaven".

Looking back on similar moments in our lives we may find that the "Peter" we celebrated later disappointed us - lost the vision, betrayed us, turned out to be corrupt. The subsequent dis-appointment does not however take away from the sacredness of the original experience.

It is a wonderful moment for Peter too. He experiences himself as receiving a mandate to bind and to loose with the confidence that whichever decision he takes will be ratified in heaven.

Verse 20.

Here again we can focus on Jesus. He represents us when we realise that the truth of what we are about is something we can share only with our confidantes, not with everyone.

For the disciples it is the moment when they know with deep conviction ("gave them strict orders") that they cannot reveal the revolutionary character of their leader or cause.

Prayer 

"To have humility is to experience reality, not in relation to ourselves but in its sacred independence." Dag Hammarskjold.

Lord, many people today are drifting through life, unsure of their identity. Remind them that your son Jesus too had to make the journey to being himself. Send them humble companions like Simon Peter who will see them in their truth, not replicas of any one else, but your sons and daughters, anointed by you for a particular mission in the world.

Lord, there was a time when we felt discouraged, wondering if our work was in vain. Then we came to a place, our own Caesarea Philippi, and we found that there were people who understood what we were about; we knew at that moment that the cause we had given our lives for was now on a solid foundation, the forces of evil would not hold out against it, and we could hand it over with confidence to our successors.

Lord, every once in a way you send us young people who are special to us their teachers, parents or community leaders. Whereas others have only a vague idea of the message we are trying to convey, they understand it perfectly. We experience them as a gift, we know that it was not our hard work that revealed things to them it was you yourself that taught them. Without being able to prove it, we know for certain that they will never fail us.
Thank you Lord, for these blessed ones.

"Under the pontificate of John Paul II the Church has discovered itself as a companion in humanity's pilgrimage, no longer a fortress under siege". Cardinal Koenig.

Lord, we thank you that Jesus saw himself as a companion of his disciples. He entered into dialogue with them, asking them to share with him how they saw his mission. Naturally they were surprised; they were not accustomed to teachers who would relate to them like this, and so they did not speak from their own conviction but repeated what the learned people of the time were saying. Jesus wanted them to share what was deep within them because he knew that when people do that it is not merely flesh and blood that is at work in them but you yourself. And so their little community grew together, built on the rock of trust and sharing a foundation so solid that the gates of the underworld could never hold out against it.

"Slaves wrested God from their captors." Derek Walcott, Caribbean poet reflecting on a Third World culture finding itself.

Lord, we thank you for sending us great artists who make us aware that we have allowed others to keep us bound; now we are set free and no power on earth can bind us again.

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words and never stops at all." Emily Dickinson.

Lord, we thank you for the wonderful gift of the sacrament of reconciliation. We remember the times when the priest told us that we were free from the bondage of our sins and we knew that what was loosed there in the confessional was loosed in your presence in heaven.

Lord, forgive us Church workers that we like to draw attention to ourselves, arrogating to ourselves sacred titles like "prophet" or "anointed one". Help us to be humble like Jesus when he gave his disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.