21st Sunday of the Year (A)
Mt 16: 13 – 20
«You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
Church»
Dear brethren:
In
today´s gospel (Mt 16: 13 – 20) we
are witnesses of a very interesting dialogue between Jesus and his disciples.
This dialogue took place «when Jesus came
into the district of Caesarea Philippi».
«Who do you say that I am?»
In a
first moment the Lord asks «Who do men
say that the Son of man is?». As they walk together, Jesus seems to want to
know what people think of him; or, more precisely, how people perceive him and
his ministry. The disciples answer: «Some
say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets».
As we
can see, the answer of the “general public” situates Jesus at the level of the prophets;
it seems he is only another prophet in the long religious history of Judaism.
This is the answer of those who see Jesus from afar, the ones who don´t have a
personal contact with him but rather have heard a thing or two about the Rabbi of Nazareth.
Then,
Jesus asks a similar question, but totally different because he changes the
context of the question. He directs the question not to the “general public”
but to his disciples, those whom he called to be «fishers of people» (Mt
4:19); those whom he gave «authority over
unclean spirits with power to drive them out and to cure all kinds of disease
and all kinds of illness» (Mt
10:1); those whom he appointed «to be his
companions and to be sent out to proclaim the message» (Mk 3:14).
To
those, Jesus asks: «But who do you say
that I am?». It is interesting to note that the question has also changed
in an important way. Jesus does not refer to himself any more with the title
the «Son of man»; he simply uses the
personal pronoun «I». So he directs
this question in a very personal manner to those who know him in a very
personal way.
«You are the Christ, the Son of the living God»
It is
Peter who answers: «You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God»; and, with this answer Peter formulates the main
profession of faith of Christianity: “You, Jesus, are the Christ, the Son of
the living God”.
To
this profession of faith, which Peter declares “on behalf of the Twelve”[1],
Jesus answers: «Blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who
is in heaven.» This means that the act of faith, the act of trust that
Peter does in Jesus, is not only fruit of his own capacities, but also from the
grace of God.
Many
saw the signs Jesus perform, but not many had an open heart to them; not many
saw what Peter saw in those signs. Therefore “to make this act of faith, the grace of God and the
interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist, moving the heart and
turning it to God, opening the eyes of the mind”.[2]
And
by this act of faith, Peter committed his whole self freely to Jesus and
through him to God.[3]
Yes, Peter entrusted himself to Jesus as Christ. When he did his profession of
faith he was not only declaring an intellectual truth, rather he was expressing
his vital experience with Jesus. And in that experience the grace of God opened
his eyes and his heart to recognize in Jesus «the Son of the living God».
So,
we need to do experiences with Jesus in order to recognize him as Christ, as
Son of God and as our Savior. Only in the experience made with faith the Holy
Spirit can act. If we do not make a personal experience with Jesus; if we do
not have a personal contact and relationship with him, then, we´ll be like
those who know him only from afar, only though what others say about him.
«You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
Church»
And
because Peter entrusted his life to Jesus Christ, our Lord entrusted him his
Church: «And I tell you, you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my Church (…). I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.»
What
a great responsibility! What a great trust! What a great love! “The three
metaphors that Jesus uses are crystal clear: Peter will be the rocky
foundation on which he will build the edifice of the Church; he will
have the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to open or close it to people
as he sees fit; lastly, he will be able to bind or to loose, in
the sense of establishing or prohibiting whatever he deems necessary for the
life of the Church.”[4]
Even
though we know “it is always Christ's Church, not Peter's”[5],
it is amazing the great confidence and mission that the Lord has put on Peter´s
shoulders. Why has the Lord put this trust in Peter? Why has the Lord given him
this mission?
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| Our Lady of Confidence - Madonna della Fiducia. Pontifical Major Roman Seminary. Rome, Italy. |
We
can say that the Lord trusted in Peter simply because of Peter´s faith, because
of Peter´s self-surrender to Jesus. On Peter, Jesus did not look for intelligence
or capacities first, but rather, he looked for humbleness and trust. And when
the Lord finds a humble heart, a heart that trusts, then He can entrust that
heart with a great mission.
Therefore,
when we realize that the Lord has given us a great mission, lets us not put our
own strength and capacities first; let us put our faith and trust in Jesus
first. Knowing that Jesus trust sustain us we will be able to carry out the
mission he put on our hands.
With
this certain hope; we renew our trust in Jesus trough our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Confidence, as we say:
“When
we consider our own strength
we
lose all hope and confidence.
Mother,
we stretch out our hands to you
and
ask for your many gifts of love.”[6]Amen.
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