Acts 12:1-11; Ps 34; 2 Tim 4:6-8,17-18; Mt 16:13-20
Commentary
United in Faith and Mission in Christ.
The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul is celebrated in all churches on June 29, which this year coincides with a Sunday. (This liturgical celebration takes precedence over the Sundays of Ordinary Time.) Peter and Paul, the apostles of Christ, represent two pillars of the Church and are witnesses of the faith who left an indelible mark on salvation history. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Peter, called to be the foundation of the Church, reminds us of the importance of living a life of faith and bearing witness to Christ. Paul, on the other hand, exhorts us to courageously and devotedly live out the Christian call, bringing the Good News of Christ to all nations.
Today’s Gospel passage offers valuable insights into their call to faith and the mission the Lord entrusts to his disciples. In the Gospel episode just proclaimed, we have reached the turning point in Jesus’s mission, when Jesus asked his disciples and obtained from Peter, as representative of the group, the profession of faith in his messianic identity. To better understand the meaning of the episode as well as the very words spoken by both Peter and Jesus for the mission then and also today, it is necessary to delve into some details, apparently not relevant and therefore often overlooked, starting from the indication of the place of the event.
1. The Important Context of Peter’s Confession of Faith
Only the evangelists Matthew and Mark indicate the geographical context of the episode: “the region of Caesarea Philippi”. It is a Greco-Roman style city rebuilt by the tetrarch Philip in honor of the emperor Caesar Augustus on the site formerly called Panea (in honor of Pan, divinity of wild nature). (Thus, the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentions the city as Caesarea Panias). Modern archeology has found there the remains of the sanctuary of this Greek divinity and, as in every Greco-Roman city, we can also imagine the existence in that area of other altars dedicated to other divinities, the various “sacred monuments”, such as St. Paul found in Athens (cf. Acts 17:23). Here we have a particular spatial context that reflects contemporary paganism where people believed in various gods according to each one’s religious inclination and needs. We therefore always find Jesus and the disciples in the “pagan” area on the borders of the northern part of Galilee.
Moreover, the region of Caesarea-Philippi faces Mount Hermon with one of the sources of the Jordan River. In the area we note the concentration of fig trees, which can also be observed today by pilgrims in the Banias Natural Park-Reserve. The fig tree, with its sturdy and tall trunk (up to 8 meters) and large leaves, offers a cool shelter against the heat of the sun. Therefore, sitting under the fig tree and the vine will be a sign of the messianic time (cf. Mi 4:4).
This geographical context seems crucial to us to understand why Jesus took the disciples so far from their “base” in Capernaum (at least 10 hours walk according to Google Maps!), in order to ask them a fundamental question about his identity. Regardless of and unlike how people may regard Jesus in the contemporary world of pluralism of gods and religious opinions, the disciples are now called to profess their faith in Jesus as the true and only Messiah of God of Israel, of that one and only true God. We can well understand that the question is also relevant precisely in our modern times. Every follower of Christ is now called to profess true faith in Him, like Peter and other disciples, including Paul, in the midst of various possible “opinions” regarding His person among the people. And this sincere “taking a position” is essential for witnessing and sharing the true faith with others.
2. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter’s profession of faith in Matthew’s Gospel completes and at the same time makes explicit the other simpler forms, reported by the evangelists Mark (“You are the Christ”) and Luke (“You are the Christ of God”). For a detailed study of the content of this profession, I refer you to the various books on Christology. I would like to recall here only two essential points.
Firstly, Jesus is professed to be the Christ, i.e. the “messiah” in Hebrew, meaning the anointed one. In other words, he is the Anointed One of God, foretold by the ancient prophets of Israel and therefore long awaited by the Chosen People at the end of time. While in the history of Israel various kings, priests, and in some cases even prophets were the anointed by God, Peter’s response to Jesus accentuates the singular identity of Jesus as the messiah, the anointed of the anointed, the only and definitive one, sent by God for the mission of saving his people. Furthermore, in Peter’s words, we can glimpse not so much an affirmation of an intellectual nature as an expression of adherence to the person of Jesus as the Christ in whom the apostles now trust and place all their hope. He is therefore “the one who is to come” into the world, as it was clarified for a perplexed John the Baptist in prison, and as it was declared on the lips of Martha in the Gospel of John: “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world” (Jn 11:27). The coming of Jesus Christ-Messiah inaugurates for the Chosen People and for the whole world the awaited and predicted messianic era, in which everyone sits under his vine and his fig tree, to use again the evocative image of the prophets mentioned earlier.
Secondly, by professing that Jesus is the Son of the living God, Peter declares belief in the particular divine nature of Jesus in relation to the one true God of Israel who revealed himself to Moses simply as “I am”, the One-Who-Is. Also concerning this title, angels or various men were already called “sons of God” in the biblical-Jewish tradition. However, as well noted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in this profession of Peter we recognize “the transcendent character of the divine filiation of Jesus the Messiah” (nn. 442-443). So much so that in the Gospel of John, Peter will declare on behalf of the small group of few who remained with Jesus during the so-called crisis of Galilee, when “many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” after the “hard” discourse “I am the bread of life”: “We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:69). Likewise, the uniqueness of Jesus, Son of God, is accentuated with the expression “the Only Begotten of the Father” or simply the Son. (It should be added that in our evangelical episode recounted by the evangelist Matthew, divine transcendence also seems connected with the implicit title that Jesus used for himself in asking his followers at the beginning: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”)
3. «Non praevalebunt» – «[The gates of the netherworld] shall not prevail [against it.]»
Among the evangelists who recount the same episode in Caesarea of Philippi, only Saint Matthew reports Jesus’ discourse to Peter after the latter’s profession of faith. These are the inspired and profound words, which have become the object of reflection, study, theological debate over the centuries (with a few heated “disagreements” involved up to today!) From a spiritual point of view and due to the limitation of time, we will only dwell on two observations important for understanding Jesus’ discourse.
First of all, we note the peculiar character of Jesus’ language in this praise of Peter. We see in the discourse the abundance of Semitic expressions such as the form of beatitude (blessed are you, Simon…), “flesh and blood” (to indicate human nature), the combination of binding-loosing (to indicate the power total, as seen in Is 22:19-23 [first reading]), the pun based on Simon’s new name as “Cephas” – stone/rock. This reflects an “earthly” Jesus, so to speak, with his acuity and purely Jewish way of expressing himself, well rooted in the tradition of his people.
On the other hand, the content of the discourse gives us a glimpse of Jesus in ecstasy, just like in themoment when He pronounced the prayer of praise to God for the exclusive revelation to the little ones: “I give you thanks, God, Lord of heaven and earth …” (we heard this a few Sundays ago). That is, we are dealing with a glorious Jesus, “above earth”, who, with particular authority, confirmed Peter’s profession as the revelation of God himself (solemnly called as “My Father who is in heaven”). He consequently, conferred on Peter a status (“upon this rock I will build my church”) and a special mission (“I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven”).
So we have here the discourse of the earthly and heavenly Jesus together, which reveals his plan concerning the future of the “kingdom of heaven” and the building up of his “Church”. Therefore, the close relationship between the kingdom of heaven and the Church, which Jesus declared to build on the rock which is the person of Simon Peter, should be noted. The word “church”, from the original Greek ekklesia, reflects the Hebrew qahal which indicates the assembly/congregation of the people, summoned by God (for worship). Entering the kingdom of God logically means participating in the “church” of God that Christ builds and calls “his”.
It should be emphasized in this regard that Jesus speaks of his Church and of his action to build it on the rock which is Simon-Peter. In other words, the Church belongs to Christ who builds it, and not to Peter who, with his profession of faith, remains an instrument, albeit a fundamental one, for its foundation. It must be remembered that Christ himself is seen as the rock and as such: there is no foundation other than Christ himself. Thus, Christ’s words to Peter must be understood in an inclusive sense: For the building of the Church, Peter will be the stone in Christ – the one cornerstone and foundation of everything, and this by the will of Christ himself. In this way, we can understand that despite the human weaknesses of Peter and all the others in the Church, the powers of hell will not prevail over it, because behind Peter and generally behind the whole Church, there is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, who upholds both. After all, Jesus himself said to Peter and the other disciples before the Passion: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” (Lk 22:31-32).
Therefore, in this perspective, here is the beautiful affirmation of Pope Leo the Great († 461): “[…] as what Peter believed in Christ endures, so what Christ instituted on the person of Peter endures […] Throughout the Church, Peter proclaims every day: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (De Natale ipsius, III).
Paul also participates daily in this perennial, mystical proclamation of faith in Christ, having been called by divine grace from being a persecutor of the Church to being a tireless apostle of Christ among the nations. As revealed in the second reading, Paul is presented as an athlete who fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6–8, 17–18). His testimony encourages us to persevere in faith, even when the journey of being a Christian missionary becomes arduous, because the promised reward from God is great: the crown of righteousness and eternal life.
Peter and Paul teach us that faith requires courage, humility, and faithfulness. Their lives invite us to recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and to consistently and lovingly witness to this faith, even in the face of trials and persecution. Their example encourages us to be authentic witnesses of the Gospel in today’s world, trusting always in God’s help and guidance. Let us pray that we may follow the example of the holy apostles Peter and Paul and become faithful and fervent disciples and missionaries of Christ. May we be instruments of peace and hope, bringing the Gospel to all with joy and perseverance. Amen.
Useful points to consider:
Catechism of the Catholic Church
153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come “from flesh and blood”, but from “my Father who is in heaven”. Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.’”
424 Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church.
“To preach. . . the unsearchable riches of Christ”.
440 Jesus accepted Peter’s profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man. He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man “who came down from heaven”, and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the cross. Only after his Resurrection will Peter be able to proclaim Jesus’ messianic kingship to the People of God: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
442 Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, for Jesus responds solemnly: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Similarly Paul will write, regarding his conversion on the road to Damascus, “When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…” “and in the synagogues immediately [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” From the beginning this acknowledgment of Christ’s divine sonship will be the centre of the apostolic faith, first professed by Peter as the Church’s foundation.
601 The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting to death of “the righteous one, my Servant” as a mystery of universal redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of sin. Citing a confession of faith that he himself had “received”, St. Paul professes that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.” In particular Jesus’ redemptive death fulfils Isaiah’s prophecy of the suffering Servant. Indeed Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light of God’s suffering Servant. After his Resurrection he gave this interpretation of the Scriptures to the disciples at Emmaus, and then to the apostles.
639 The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D. 56 St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. . .” The Apostle speaks here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus.
642 Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the apostles – and Peter in particular – in the building of the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation stones of his Church. The faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary “witnesses to his Resurrection”, but they are not the only ones – Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles.
765 The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the Twelve with Peter as their head. Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem. The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ’s mission and his power, but also in his lot. By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds his Church.
880 When Christ instituted the Twelve, “he constituted [them] in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them.” Just as “by the Lord’s institution, St. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a single apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another.”
881 The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the “rock” of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock. “The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head.” This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church’s very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.
2632 Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the object of the prayer of the apostolic community. It is the prayer of Paul, the apostle par excellence, which reveals to us how the divine solicitude for all the churches ought to inspire Christian prayer. By prayer every baptized person works for the coming of the Kingdom.
2638 As in the prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. The letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”; “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
436 The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means “anointed”. It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that “Christ” signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively. It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet. Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king.
438 Jesus’ messianic consecration reveals his divine mission, “for the name ‘Christ’ implies ‘he who anointed’, ‘he who was anointed’ and ‘the very anointing with which he was anointed’. The one who anointed is the Father, the one who was anointed is the Son, and he was anointed with the Spirit who is the anointing.’” His eternal messianic consecration was revealed during the time of his earthly life at the moment of his baptism by John, when “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power”, “that he might be revealed to Israel” as its Messiah. His works and words will manifest him as “the Holy One of God”.
441 In the Old Testament, “son of God” is a title given to the angels, the Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings. It signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular intimacy between God and his creature. When the promised Messiah-King is called “son of God”, it does not necessarily imply that he was more than human, according to the literal meaning of these texts. Those who called Jesus “son of God”, as the Messiah of Israel, perhaps meant nothing more than this.
442 Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, for Jesus responds solemnly: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Similarly Paul will write, regarding his conversion on the road to Damascus, “When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…” and in the synagogues immediately [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” From the beginning this acknowledgment of Christ’s divine sonship will be the centre of the apostolic faith, first professed by Peter as the Church’s foundation.
443 Peter could recognize the transcendent character of the Messiah’s divine sonship because Jesus had clearly allowed it to be so understood. To his accusers’ question before the Sanhedrin, “Are you the Son of God, then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am.” Well before this, Jesus referred to himself as “the Son” who knows the Father, as distinct from the “servants” God had earlier sent to his people; he is superior even to the angels. He distinguished his sonship from that of his disciples by never saying “our Father”, except to command them: “You, then, pray like this: ‘Our Father’”, and he emphasized this distinction, saying “my Father and your Father”.
751 The word “Church” (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to “call out of”) means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as his holy people. By calling itself “Church,” the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is “calling together” his people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means “what belongs to the Lord.”
752 In Christian usage, the word “church” designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body.
763 It was the Son’s task to accomplish the Father’s plan of salvation in the fullness of time. Its accomplishment was the reason for his being sent. ”The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the scriptures.” To fulfill the Father’s will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. The Church “is the Reign of Christ already present in mystery.”
764 “This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ.” To welcome Jesus’word is to welcome “the Kingdom itself.” The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the “little flock” of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is. They form Jesus’ true family. To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new “way of acting” and a prayer of their own.
765 The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the Twelve with Peter as their head. Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem. The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ’s mission and his power, but also in his lot. By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds his Church.
766 The Church is born primarily of Christ’s total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. “The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus.” ”For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the ‘wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.’” As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.