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When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
- Matthew 16:13-20
Yesterday, we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Jesus asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed. Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is is you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Imagine Jesus asking you this question. My study bible says it's the greatest question a person can face, because the question defines Christianity. It tells us that Peter's answer separates the Christian faith from being seen as merely another philosophical system or path of spirituality, because Jesus is named as the Son of the living God. In such an answer, there is no compromise with other religious systems. Such an answer doesn't come from human reason, but only by divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3). The Christ is the "Anointed One," equivalent to the Hebrew "Messiah." My study bible also tells us to note that Jesus first draws out erroneous opinions that people hold about Himself. In this way, incorrect ideas are identified; a person is better able to avoid false teachings if they have been clearly identified. It is an unimaginable gift to understand that we human beings are capable of receiving knowledge, insight, and understanding from God the Father.
"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Peter/rock, says my study bible, is a play on the word for rock. It's similar in both Aramaic and Greek: Petros/petra). This rock doesn't refer simply to the person Peter per se, but rather, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, to "the faith of his confession." The true Rock is Christ Himself, says my study bible. See 1 Corinthians 10:4. The Church is built on the faithful confession of Christ. The Gates of Hades are the powers of death. For the Old Testament, gates were suggestive of a fortified city (see, for example, Isaiah 14:31). The Gates of Hades can't hold the life of this Church. That is, the power of death. By shattering its gates, says my study bible, Christ opens the stronghold of death to set free the souls of the righteous. And such gates cannot stop the Church in the proclamation of salvation. My study bible adds that the term church is mentioned only twice in all the gospels: here and in 18:17. It says, "This Church is the true Israel and the Body of Christ; her citizenship is heavenly."
"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. My study bible says that the keys of the kingdom refers to a special authority that will be given to both Peter and the other apostles after the Resurrection (18:18, John 20:23). Peter's leadership position is not one held over the others, but rather among them. At the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), the apostles and presbyters met as equals. Peter advised, but James presided. Binding and loosing refers primarily to the authority "to absolve sins" in the words of Chrysostom, but also includes the apostles' teaching, sacramental, and administrative authority, held to be transferred in turn to the bishops of the Church, and continuing in effect.
Great, astonishing news comes in today's reading. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Peter would not have understood this except that God the Father has somehow revealed it to him. And that rock of faith is so powerful that the gates of Hades, the power of death itself, cannot prevail against it. Not only that, but this power invested in human beings via faith goes so far as to include the keys of the kingdom of heaven, so that whatever they bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven. It's like a tremendous union has just happened, in all kinds of momentous ways, simultaneously, through this one action of the Father revealing in Peter the reality of who Jesus is, the Christ, the Son of God. All of a sudden there's an explosion of unity between heaven and earth, human beings and God, human capacity and spiritual, heavenly power -- even a power over death. And yet, it all has to be kept secret. This great mystical reality has to be kept, for now, under wraps. They must tell no one. What are we to make of such things? What could they, the apostles, understand? Tomorrow's reading will give us another sort of thunderclap for the apostles to take in, as Jesus begins to explain what the rest of His mission on earth is to look like. But for now, let us remember this great and momentous news, that human beings are capable of having revealed in them knowledge from God the Father, that the Church itself is endowed with a power that prevails over death, that lives in this world, and unites us with the reality of heaven. Jesus gives us the Church, named as such here in this passage, a living reality that death can't defeat. Everything in this human/divine connection and collaboration is built on the rock of faith. Let us not forget it. We have no idea what we are entering into when we build a life of faith. Jesus emphasizes this over and over and over again. It's not just about human effort, but a divine/human synergy working together, cemented into every last place where this can happen, right down to the pronouncement that it can prevail even over death. How many ways does your faith serve your life, and serve the world in terms of its outlook and effects?
