On an impulse of faith, St. Peter takes the lead among the Apostles and proclaims Christ to be the Son of God. Jesus rewards this act of fidelity, making St. Peter the rock upon which He would build His Church.
Gospel the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
13 Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My heavenly Father. 18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. 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 ordered His disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ (Mt 16:13-20).
I – To Know Jesus Well, We Must Have Faith
If we analyse the operations of the human intelligence and will, we readily note a peculiarity that makes one very distinct from the other. Using metaphorical language, we could say that intelligence draws to itself the things that it understands; while the will, conversely, flies outwards to them, in desiring them. In this vein, St. Thomas affirms that “knowledge takes place accordingly as the thing known is in the knower; but love as the lover is united to the object loved.”1 The act of understanding, then, involves adapting what we assimilate to the dimensions of our intelligence. When the object is inferior to us, our reason enriches it, and it exists in our mind in a nobler form than it has in itself.
For example, a scientist who undertakes the study of ants is capable of dissecting them with the aid of microscopes, using them for chemical experiments, and extracting formic acid from them. Another observer may establish correlations between elements of ant behaviour—such as its tenacity in acquiring food and transporting it to the anthill, or its gregarious tendency—and a series of psychological principles. Accordingly, human intelligence can find qualities in the ant which it itself, as an irrational being, could never comprehend, lending it an importance that transcends that of a mere insect.
But something very different happens when we attempt to understand beings that are superior to us; in our inability to assimilate their grandeur, our intelligence reduces them to render them proportionate to its own limitations. This is precisely the role of a good teacher: to take complex teachings and translate them into terms that are accessible to the capacity of the students. If the teacher fails to do this, the students, who do not have the same preparation and wisdom as their teacher, will be unable to learn.
These considerations aid our understanding of the Liturgy for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, for we can apply them to a variety of episodes of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly life.
Jesus begins His preaching
To all appearances, the first 30 years of Jesus’ life unfolded like that of any other man. Veiling the reflections of His divinity, He aided His father in his work and was known as “the carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55), which was easy for others to accept. Nor did St. Joseph, in his simplicity, reveal the full grandeur of his own vocation as foster father of God Incarnate. No one outside of the bosom of the Holy Family noted the lofty mystery that had been wrought within it. While Jesus and Joseph were esteemed in the tiny Nazareth for their honesty, perfection, and dependability in performing their tasks, this appraisal clearly fell far short of their true dignity.
Shortly after the death of St. Joseph, Our Lord set out on His ministry, going to cities more important than Nazareth, such as Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida. As the Evangelists recount, He “went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people” (Mt 4:23). His fame soon spread “into every place in the surrounding region” (Lk 4:37), so that “wherever He came, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought Him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment” (Mk 6:56). When He instructed, the people, “were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority” (Lk 4:32). And His miracles aroused such wonder that the multitudes exclaimed: “Never was anything like this seen in Israel” (Mt 9:33). He stilled storms and calmed seas at a simple command, and the disciples asked one another in amazement: “What sort of Man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him?” (Mt 8:27). Nevertheless, His impact made the Jews uneasy. Why?
They expected a temporal Messiah
It is important to bear in mind that the highest class of Jewish society was comprised of Sadducees and Pharisees, two influential religious factions in mutual conflict. The former, satisfied with the privileges they enjoyed, had little interest in the coming of the Messiah. The Pharisees, on the other hand, introduced an erroneous idea among the people—who were very disposed to accept it—that claimed that the main objective of the Saviour would be to promote the socio-political and economic supremacy of Israel over all the other nations on earth.
Now, Our Lord revealed various characteristics that did not coincide with this hope. If, in a sense, Jesus surpassed Messianic expectations, it is also true that on several occasions, public opinion showed itself to be shocked by Him. When, after the multiplication of the loaves and having walked on the water, He announced the Eucharist, declaring: “I am the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My Flesh” (Jn 6:51), the Jews were scandalized, interpreting His words as denoting cannibalism. And “after this, many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him” (Jn 6:66).
On this same occasion, the Teacher asked the Twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” (Jn 6:67), as if to say: “public opinion has abandoned Me; will you follow suit?” And St. Peter answered Him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). This reaction indicates that a clearer notion of the Messiah was taking shape in the Apostles’ minds, thanks to the virtue of faith which was broadening their interior horizons. Indeed, without such supernatural assistance, revealed truths—especially those concerning the loftiest mysteries of our Faith—are beyond the grasp of human reason.
But the attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees was quite different. Unwilling to accept Our Lord, they went as far as accusing Him of performing exorcisms “by Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (Mt 12:24), and ultimately plotted His death.
It is from this angle that we will analyse the episode narrated by St. Matthew, which occurred about a week before Jesus’ Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (cf. Mt 17:1; Mk 9:2; Lk 9:28). The Passion was approaching, and it was necessary to definitively separate the Apostles from the synagogue—of which they were fervent members—, having them clearly understand that the institution He was about to establish would bring the synagogue to its plenitude and would be the fulfilment of all the prophecies of the Old Law.
II – The Promise of the Church’s Foundation
13 Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Departing from Bethsaida, where He had cured a blind man (cf. Mk 8:22-26), Our Lord set out with His disciples for Caesarea Philippi, a city at a distance of some 50 km, in a territory of lush natural beauty situated to the north of Palestine. Herod, called the Great, had built a temple there for the worship of Caesar Augustus, and later, when Philip became tetrarch of the region, he dubbed the place Caesarea to curry favour with the emperor.2 It is probable that the scene described in these verses unfolded within sight of that pagan edifice, which arose from atop a great crag, dominating the entire landscape.3
A method of forming the Apostles
In the question posed by the Divine Master, we glimpse the intriguing method He used to form the Apostles. In hearing His preaching and witnessing His miracles, they were seeing for themselves that He was no ordinary Teacher. Yet, had it not been revealed to them, they would never have entertained the idea that Jesus was God. Not even the Angels, in the state of trial, reached this conclusion by themselves, for the mystery of the hypostatic union utterly escapes not only the human, but also the angelic intelligence.4 On this account, the devils did not have a clear notion of Christ’s divinity.5
Furthermore, in taking on flesh in the immaculate womb of Mary, Our Lord performed the negative miracle of assuming a mortal body. Otherwise, it would have been glorious, in entire consonance with His Soul, which enjoyed the beatific vision from the first instant of its creation. He thus hid the brilliance of His divinity from human eyes, impeding them from clearly perceiving His identity: the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Even at the Last Supper, St. Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father, and receives this reply: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).
As He is Humility and Prudence, He said nothing of this from the beginning, in convoking the disciples to follow Him. But now that they have been inundated and pervaded with proofs, the Saviour wants to bring them to an understanding of this mystery. The time had arrived to introduce the Apostles to the perspective of His divinity. It is interesting to note that, in questioning them on popular opinion, Jesus does not use expressions such as “of Me” or “of My Person,” but rather, of “the Son of Man.” Why? Because the people held an opinion of the Son of Man but not of Him, Who is God, and of His Person, which is divine. Consequently, Our Lord wishes to call the Apostles’ attention to what the people thought of His human nature, in order to divert them from this erroneous judgement and manifest who He is to them.
A variety of erroneous opinions
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
The Apostles convey the conjectures of the people: a variety of versions, all a far cry from reality, strongly indicative that Jesus was reputed to be an extraordinary man—but nothing more. Since His grandeur is impossible to encompass, they attempted to adapt Him to their own minds, equating Him to a prophet. Yet the Apostles lived with Our Lord and perceived that those commentaries failed to do Him justice. Several of them had been disciples of St. John the Baptist and were fully aware that the Teacher was not a resurrected Precursor, for they had personally known the latter and heard him utter these words: “but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (Lk 3:16). Furthermore, the Precursor had pointed Jesus out to St. Andrew and St. John the Evangelist, saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (Jn 1:36). They also disregarded as false the hypotheses that Christ was Jeremiah resurrected, or Elijah—who was still alive, and who lives on, according to long-held tradition.
However, fearful of walking out of step with public opinion, the Apostles themselves avoided raising the question and asking about the origins of Christ Jesus. They knew that He was the son of Mary and Joseph, but were ignorant as to where He had studied, where He obtained His wisdom, and how He had acquired the power to perform miracles.
What were they lacking in order to detach themselves from these opinions and take a step forward in comprehending the Master? A gift of faith. In fact, “Faith sharpens the inner eye, opening the mind to discover in the flux of events the workings of Providence. […] reason and faith cannot be separated without diminishing the capacity of men and women to know themselves, the world and God in an appropriate way.”6
An inspired response
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
In this second question it is important to note that the Divine Master refers to Himself, for He does not say “the Son of Man,” but asks: “who do you say that I am?” St. John Chrysostom comments that this is a way of “calling them to conceive higher thoughts concerning Him, and indicating that their former judgement fell exceedingly short of His true dignity.”7
St. Peter, whose expansive temperament impelled him to say everything that was on his mind, quickly answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” This admirable utterance would seem to be an expression of the Apostle’s experience, the result of mature and profound reflection. Now, how could he, aided by reason alone, have reached the conclusion that this Master, “being found in human form” (Phil 2:8), subject to fatigue, sleep, hunger and thirst, was God?
Peter’s fidelity to the Father’s inspiration
17 Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My heavenly Father.”
Jesus declares that Peter is blessed because he was chosen by the Father for the revelation of this elevated truth. Of this passage, St. Hilary notes: “This is the true and unalterable faith, that from God came forth God the Son, Who is eternal as the Father is eternal. […] That this God took for Himself a body and was made Man is a perfect confession. It embraces all that is signified both in His nature and in His name, in which is the sum of virtues.”8
St. Peter was faithful to divine inspiration and, overcoming human impressions, expressed his faith. As a reward for his correspondence to grace, and for having such lively faith, it pleased the Lord to grant the Apostle a treasure, as if to say, according to the beautiful expression of St. Leo the Great: “Just as My Father manifested My divinity to you, I will reveal your excellence to you.”9
It was at this moment that the mission that had been reserved for all the Apostles became clear to them—the mission of proclaiming Our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, to the world.
The promise of the Church’s invincibility
18 “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. 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 ordered His disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ.
In Aramaic there is no difference between the words “Peter” and “rock”; both are expressed by the same noun—kefa’. In other words, Jesus said He would build the Church upon this kefa’ — rock—which is Peter.10
With these words, Christ gives Peter the divine power, absolute and unfailing, to sustain the Holy Church. Today, after more than two thousand years, she has weathered violent tempests and upheavals, but remains standing and, happen what may, she will stand firm until the end of the world. The Church does not run the risk of her power being usurped by the infernal legions, for she is founded on this promise. Death will never touch her! And this is not to say that the Church will survive her hardships in a continual state of agony. On the contrary, she always was and will be youthful in every historical era—as during the Roman persecutions in which thousands of martyrs ascended to Heaven from the Coliseum and the Circus Maximus; during the splendours of the Middle Ages, with the glorious blossoming of Gothic cathedrals illuminated by multi-coloured stained glass windows and enlivened by the majestic sound of the organ; and even in this day and age, in which humanity languishes in unprecedented relativism and materialism.
Infallibility and the power of the keys
On this occasion, Our Lord also offers Peter the pledge of infallibility, in declaring that his decisions on earth will be ratified in Heaven. He will be assisted by the Holy Spirit to teach the truth, which will make it impossible for the Church to deviate and follow false doctrines. Thanks to this charism, the Supreme Pontiff cannot err when he make pronouncements ex cathedra, “that is, when in the fulfilment of the duties of shepherd and doctor of all Christians, he defines with his supreme apostolic authority that a specific doctrine referring to Faith and morals must be held by the entire Church.”11 The Papacy has been one of the most combated institutions throughout history, the focal point upon which the hatred of the devil and the forces of evil are concentrated, and, simultaneously, the factor of stability for the Mystical Body of Christ, the only organism to enjoy this privilege.
Many authors who analyse the scope of the power of the keys maintain that the words “on earth” encompass everything that is on and beneath it, in other words, the living and the dead. Accordingly, the Pope has the authority to canonize a Blessed and thereby increase his accidental glory in eternity; to apply specific suffrage to the faithful in Purgatory; and even to excommunicate a deceased person.12 There had to exist a man with these prerogatives on earth, who would afford us a direct link with Heaven!
To bishops and priests also, under the primacy of the Pope and in total dependence upon him, is granted the power of the keys, albeit less intensely than to the Supreme Pontiff. In the confessional, for example, the priest has the faculty to absolve or not absolve the penitent of his sins, to open the gates of Heaven to him or to keep them closed. While terrestrial Paradise, created by God for men, has been guarded by Cherubim since Adam and Eve were expelled (cf. Gn 3:24), the keys of celestial Paradise, the dwelling place of the good Angels, were entrusted to a man! Therefore, St. Peter obtained from Jesus much more than Adam lost!
It could be considered risky to deposit such a treasure into the hands of a man… but in this case, the Giver is God! It is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself Who gave St. Peter this treasure and, in reality, it is He Who governs the Church. If there have been abuses and deviations in it over the course of history, they were permitted by Him to prove that, despite the presence of the human element, the divine element will always prevail.
Two facets of St. Peter
In the subsequent verses, which are not contained in this Sunday’s Liturgy, Our Lord announces His Passion to the Apostles for the first time (cf. Mt 16:21), perhaps to counterbalance the euphoria brought on by that amazing news and to prevent them from erroneously interpreting it as a sign of the imminent realization of their messianic dream. But when Peter hears the description of the dreadful torments that the Master will undergo, He takes Our Lord aside (cf. Mk 8:32) and begins to reproach Him, saying: “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to You” (Mt 16:22). And Christ, who a short time before had declared Peter to be the rock upon which He would build His Church, now rebuffs him like a temptation: “Get behind Me, satan!” (Mt 16:23). How should this be understood?
St. Peter was lacking strength from the Holy Spirit that would instil in him an authentic and disinterested love and impart a comprehension of the Saviour’s Passion. The Apostle, who responded so well to the first test, boldly witnessing to the divinity of Jesus Christ, now fails the test of acceptance of the cross and suffering. He who was so entirely faithful as to be the rock upon which the Church would be built, is now a stumbling block to the Master, Who with this categorical reaction aimed to eradicate from the disciples the old mentality of the synagogue and prepare them for the spirit of the Holy Church.
Here we see the two facets of St. Peter: one, inspired by the Holy Spirit, which gives him a divine visualization; the other, that of fallen nature, caused by original sin. Upon proclaiming the institution of the Papacy, Christ seeks to emphasize that the assistance of the Paraclete regarding infallibility is distinct from the input of human action. He wants to clearly show that the notion that every Pope is holy does not correspond with reality. The Petrine office can serve as a path to perfection, and ideally the Pope follows this course, yet he does not lose infallibility even when his conduct is not virtuous.
III – And I, Who Do I Say Jesus Is?
In the second reading, the Liturgy unites the confession of St. Peter with a beautiful passage from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, which highlights the infinite disproportion between our created intelligence and the uncreated Intelligence, Who is God: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgements and how unsearchable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counsellor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom 11:33-36). This marvellous Liturgy thus shows us the perfect attitude that we should have as Catholics, in this 21st century: that of always assuming a position of humility before God, acknowledging, by faith, His extraordinary and incommensurable grandeur, His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence, and manifesting this eternal truth which the heavenly Father revealed to the Prince of the Apostles.
The consideration of the magnificent scene laid out in the Gospel prompts an examination of conscience: who is Jesus Christ to me? What do I say about Him? Is He, for me, what St. Peter proclaimed in Caesarea and St. Paul extols in this reading—that is, my Creator, my Redeemer, the One around whom my life revolves? Or, like the Jews of those times, have I fashioned a Saviour according to my egoistic and worldly desires? If I have chosen error, today I should ask for graces to return to the right path, since the eternal reward is linked to faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ and to the total surrender of our lives to Him. This is what makes us love what He commands and to desire what He promises, as the Collect asks of us.13 This is what leads us to the glory of Heaven. ◊
Notes
