"You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone)

 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.  And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).  One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

- John 1:35-42

Yesterday we read that John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'  I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."  And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.  I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.  Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and see."  They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).  One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus.  Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.  You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).  In the parallel to Genesis, John gives the first week of Christ's earthly ministry.  This is the third day given in the Gospel, in which John the Baptist sends two disciples to Christ.  Jesus takes them as His own disciples, and names one of them Rock or Stone, foundation of the Church (see Matthew 16:18).  This is echoes the gathering of the waters and the growth on the land on the third day in Genesis 1:9-13.   In the Synoptic Gospels, Peter is given this name by Christ in response to Peter's confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, but in John, Jesus' insight and recognition comes immediately when Peter is called as a disciple.  We may note also that Jesus calls him, Simon the son of Jonah.  Jonah was the prophet from Galilee, the one overlooked by the Pharisees when they scathingly reply to Nicodemus that "no prophet has arisen out of Galilee" (see John 7:45-52).

We note how Christ's ministry evolves:  First there is the declaration of the identity of John the Baptist, as the "voice of one crying in the wilderness" who declares the coming of the Messiah.  Then John testifies to what he witnesses when Jesus is baptized (the second day given in the Gospel, see above).  In today's reading, the third day, John leads his disciples to Jesus.  The first is Andrew, who then brings his brother, Peter -- whom Jesus reveals to be the "Rock" or "Stone" of the Church.  As noted above, this name is given to Peter in the Synoptic Gospels upon Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus calls this recognition or confession something inspired only by God the Father (Matthew 16:17).  Therefore the true rock upon which the Church is built is the communion and relatedness that is created by faith:  Peter's confession is inspired by the Father, according to Jesus.  What Jesus sees in Peter, in naming him in today's reading, is this true vision of communion in faith, and that rock or stone is something that can be a part of each one of us.  Peter may stand in for the Church, but in faith he speaks for all of us.  The chain of relatedness that we are to understand through today's reading is therefore at work in each one where faith is present.  We observe the Baptist and his disciples, and how the disciples come to Christ, and we observe a communion, a chain at work that links us all together through faith.  But the naming of Peter does something else for all of us, it teaches us about what strengths are present to us when we enter into this communion through faith.  It reminds us, as John's Gospel will report, that "others have labored, and you have entered into their labors" (John 4:38).  Faith is not the act of a single person making a decision in their hearts to love God.  It is not simply an existential choice of one person's conscience or awareness at work.  Instead, faith enters us into a communion, a linked chain in an entire field of links together -- a communion of strength and energy that supports an identity we find in that faith.  Therefore is the strength of faith something far greater than we can calculate, and through which even faith "as a grain of mustard seed" is capable of moving mountains, for which Jesus says "nothing will be impossible" (Matthew 17:20).  What we enter into through faith is a chain or building of stones, as Peter will put it in his Epistle, something into and through which the energies of incalculable numbers of beings, far greater than we are alone, flows and strengthens who we are and what we are capable of becoming.  Let us be reminded that these beings begin with the Father, and include all of Creation, visible and invisible.  Peter writes, "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:4-5).  Today's reading gives us a glimpse of that spiritual house, whereby through the Baptist the disciples come to Christ -- first Andrew, who then brings his brother Peter.  Through faith, we become one more living stone in this great spiritual house, and we share in the strength created through the whole of the communion.  Can we calculate what is possible through such reality?  Let us consider what humility, through faith, can do through our lives as living stones.