On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it

 When Jesus came into 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 Him 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 it 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 into 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."   According to my study bible, the question "Who do you say that I am?" is the greatest question that a person can ever face.  It is the question that defines Christianity.  Peter's correct answer to this question prevents our faith from being seen merely as another philosophical system or path of spirituality.  Rather it names Jesus as the one and only Son of the living God.   Such a perspective excludes all compromise with other religious systems by the nature of the truth it reveals.  This understanding of Peter could not be achieved merely by human reason.  It's by divine revelation through faith that it comes (1 Corinthians 12:3).  Christ means "Anointed One."  It is equivalent to the Hebrew title "Messiah."   My study bible also makes note that Christ first draws out erroneous opinions about Himself.  This is so that He identifies incorrect ideas; we're better prepared to avoid false teachings when they are clearly identified.

"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.  Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."    Jesus' saying here regarding Peter/rock is a play on the word for "rock"  in both Aramaic and Greek (petros/petra).   The rock is not Peter per se, but rather, in the words of St. Chrysostom, "the faith of his confession."  The true Rock is Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 10:4).  Therefore the Church is built on the faithful confession of Christ.   The Gates of Hades are powers of death.  In the Old Testament, gates are suggestive of a fortified city (Genesis 22:17, 24:60; Isaiah 14:31).  Shattering those gates, Christ opens the stronghold of death, my study bible says, to set free the souls of the righteous.  Additionally, the Church shall not be stopped in her proclamation of salvation.   Only twice in the gospels is the church mentioned, and both in Matthew -- here and in 18:17.

"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.   According to my study bible, keys of the kingdom refers to a special authority that will be given both to Peter and the other apostles after the Resurrection (see 18:18; John 20:23).  Peter was not a leader over the others, but rather among them.  This truth, it says, was confirmed at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), in which apostles and presbyters met as equals -- where Peter advised, but James presided.  Modern struggles over interpretations of this passage should neither diminish nor over-inflate the role of Peter.  Binding and loosing, according to Chrysostom, is primarily a reference to the authority "to absolve sins" (see also John 20:23).   My study bible says it also includes all the teaching, sacramental and administrative authority of the apostles.  This authority was in turn transmitted to the bishops of the Church and continues in effect to this day.

 Why does faith give such an unfathomable and unshakeable bond to Christ?  Here, the confession of Peter not only renders such a bond as we might conceive of it, but also confers tremendous powers which are shared by Christ with His disciples.  The power to bind and loose sin, for instance, is not something that is conferred through human prestige, nor reasoning, nor intelligence.  This is something that faith confers, an unshakeable bond with Christ, as illustrated by the "rock" in the image Christ gives here.  That bond is such that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  We have to think of ancient cities, fortified by city walls and gates as protection against invaders and outsiders.  The gates of Hades are those that prevent anyone from entering upon the territory of that which is against Christ, which would seek to keep God out.  Inside of ourselves we may find all kinds of walls we've set up -- consciously or unconsciously -- against our faith, against incursion by the Holy Spirit's work in the world.  There are all kinds of defenses we have against opening up to what God might have in mind for us, and all kinds of reasons for those defenses.  Psychologically speaking, we may hold onto an identity we don't want to change, relationships that will need shifting, and any number of assumptions about ourselves and our own behavior we don't want to challenge or question for all kinds of reasons and depending upon where they came from.  But Christ promises that faith is stronger than all the fears and troubles and worries that the "gates of Hades" can use to keep Christ out.  This expression, gates of Hades, also puts us in mind of another statement in which Jesus speaks of the taking of a kingdom.   In referring to John the Baptist, He said, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force"  (11:12, see this reading).  The faith of the Kingdom is such that those who grasp this faith in Christ possess a kind of power that isn't available any other way.   Jesus refers again to an action of one kingdom raiding another when He replies to accusations that He casts out demons by the power of demons:  "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?"  (see this reading).  In the centuries just prior to Jesus' time, the history of Israel and the surrounding regions was one of endless wars of kingdom against kingdom.  Jesus gives us a picture of our faith as that which prevails against any gate that would keep it out, keep us bound or oppressed or enslaved or held hostage.  In fact, this bond of faith is that which confers to the faithful the powers that He shares with them.   As faithful, we must remember the power of this bond and the image that Jesus gives of it.  We remember that not only do we share in His life through the gifts He gives, but also through the persecutions we may experience, just as He did.  Ultimately, in the Eucharist and other sacraments or mysteries of the Church, we participate in His life, death, and Resurrection.  When we face what seem like insurmountable problems, or feel assaulted in any number of ways, let us remember the strength and power of this bond that He pictures as a rock, and the power with which He describes it.  We are heirs of that faith and Kingdom.  Let us see how it works in surprising ways in our lives, as it did for these earliest faithful we read about.