The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to invoke the Spirit as we seek the best path to address the needs of our neighbours in relation to the Church.
The reading from the Prophet Isaiah is part of a denunciation of self-seeking officials.
* [22:15] Shebna: by the time of the siege of Jerusalem in 36:3, Shebna, the scribe, no longer held the office of master of the palace.
* [22:16] What is probably Shebna’s inscribed tomb has been discovered in the village of Silwan on the eastern slope of Jerusalem.
* [22:20] Eliakim: by the time of the events described in 36:3, Eliakim had replaced Shebna as master of the palace.
* [22:22] Key: symbol of authority; cf. Mt 16:19; Rev 3:7. (Isaiah, CHAPTER 22, n.d.)
Psalm 138 is Thanksgiving and Praise.
* [Psalm 138] A thanksgiving to God, who came to the rescue of the psalmist. Divine rescue was not the result of the psalmist’s virtues but of God’s loving fidelity (Ps 138:1–3). The act is not a private transaction but a public act that stirs the surrounding nations to praise God’s greatness and care for the people (Ps 138:4–6). The psalmist, having experienced salvation, trusts that God will always be there in moments of danger (Ps 138:7–8). (Psalms, PSALM 138, n.d.)
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans celebrates the Triumph of God’s Mercy.
* [11:33–36] This final reflection celebrates the wisdom of God’s plan of salvation. As Paul has indicated throughout these chapters, both Jew and Gentile, despite the religious recalcitrance of each, have received the gift of faith. The methods used by God in making this outreach to the world stagger human comprehension but are at the same time a dazzling invitation to abiding faith.
* [11:34] The citation is from the Greek text of Is 40:13. Paul does not explicitly mention Isaiah in this verse, nor Job in 11:35.
* [11:35] Paul quotes from an old Greek version of Jb 41:3a, which differs from the Hebrew text (Jb 41:11a). (Romans, CHAPTER 11, n.d.)
The Gospel of Matthew shares Peter’s Declaration about Jesus at Caesarea Philippi.
* [16:13–20] The Marcan confession of Jesus as Messiah, made by Peter as spokesman for the other disciples (Mk 8:27–29; cf. also Lk 9:18–20), is modified significantly here. The confession is of Jesus both as Messiah and as Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). Jesus’ response, drawn principally from material peculiar to Matthew, attributes the confession to a divine revelation granted to Peter alone (Mt 16:17) and makes him the rock on which Jesus will build his church (Mt 16:18) and the disciple whose authority in the church on earth will be confirmed in heaven, i.e., by God (Mt 16:19).
* [16:13] Caesarea Philippi: situated about twenty miles north of the Sea of Galilee in the territory ruled by Philip, a son of Herod the Great, tetrarch from 4 B.C. until his death in A.D. 34 (see note on Mt 14:1). He rebuilt the town of Paneas, naming it Caesarea in honor of the emperor, and Philippi (“of Philip”) to distinguish it from the seaport in Samaria that was also called Caesarea. Who do people say that the Son of Man is?: although the question differs from the Marcan parallel (Mk 8:27: “Who…that I am?”), the meaning is the same, for Jesus here refers to himself as the Son of Man (cf. Mt 16:15).
* [16:14] John the Baptist: see Mt 14:2. Elijah: cf. Mal 3:23–24; Sir 48:10; and see note on Mt 3:4. Jeremiah: an addition of Matthew to the Marcan source.
* [16:16] The Son of the living God: see Mt 2:15; 3:17. The addition of this exalted title to the Marcan confession eliminates whatever ambiguity was attached to the title Messiah. This, among other things, supports the view proposed by many scholars that Matthew has here combined his source’s confession with a post-resurrectional confession of faith in Jesus as Son of the living God that belonged to the appearance of the risen Jesus to Peter; cf. 1 Cor 15:5; Lk 24:34.
* [16:17] Flesh and blood: a Semitic expression for human beings, especially in their weakness. Has not revealed this…but my heavenly Father: that Peter’s faith is spoken of as coming not through human means but through a revelation from God is similar to Paul’s description of his recognition of who Jesus was; see Gal 1:15–16, “…when he [God]…was pleased to reveal his Son to me….”
* [16:18] You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: the Aramaic word kēpā’ meaning rock and transliterated into Greek as Kēphas is the name by which Peter is called in the Pauline letters (1 Cor 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:4; Gal 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14) except in Gal 2:7–8 (“Peter”). It is translated as Petros (“Peter”) in Jn 1:42. The presumed original Aramaic of Jesus’ statement would have been, in English, “You are the Rock (Kēpā’) and upon this rock (kēpā’) I will build my church.” The Greek text probably means the same, for the difference in gender between the masculine noun petros, the disciple’s new name, and the feminine noun petra (rock) may be due simply to the unsuitability of using a feminine noun as the proper name of a male. Although the two words were generally used with slightly different nuances, they were also used interchangeably with the same meaning, “rock.” Church: this word (Greek ekklēsia) occurs in the gospels only here and in Mt 18:17 (twice). There are several possibilities for an Aramaic original. Jesus’ church means the community that he will gather and that, like a building, will have Peter as its solid foundation. That function of Peter consists in his being witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it: the netherworld (Greek Hadēs, the abode of the dead) is conceived of as a walled city whose gates will not close in upon the church of Jesus, i.e., it will not be overcome by the power of death.
* [16:19] The keys to the kingdom of heaven: the image of the keys is probably drawn from Is 22:15–25 where Eliakim, who succeeds Shebna as master of the palace, is given “the key of the House of David,” which he authoritatively “opens” and “shuts” (Is 22:22). Whatever you bind…loosed in heaven: there are many instances in rabbinic literature of the binding-loosing imagery. Of the several meanings given there to the metaphor, two are of special importance here: the giving of authoritative teaching, and the lifting or imposing of the ban of excommunication. It is disputed whether the image of the keys and that of binding and loosing are different metaphors meaning the same thing. In any case, the promise of the keys is given to Peter alone. In Mt 18:18 all the disciples are given the power of binding and loosing, but the context of that verse suggests that there the power of excommunication alone is intended. That the keys are those to the kingdom of heaven and that Peter’s exercise of authority in the church on earth will be confirmed in heaven show an intimate connection between, but not an identification of, the church and the kingdom of heaven.
* [16:20] Cf. Mk 8:30. Matthew makes explicit that the prohibition has to do with speaking of Jesus as the Messiah; see note on Mk 8:27–30. (Matthew, CHAPTER 16, n.d.)
Andy Alexander, S.J. (1999) comments on “Who do you say I am?” As we are asked this question today, our responses are much more complicated than that of the disciples who were first asked it. We have a lot to say.
I'm not sure if I know if my choices witness who I say you are. Would others say I witness to who I say you are? What does my leadership say? Do my lifestyle choices say who you are? What I need, buy, eat, wear? Do children around me know who I say you are? Do I get involved in politics, support candidates, try to affect legislation and vote out of who I say you are?
Lord, today, let me give you praise for your love and mercy. I thank you for the power of your question, to awaken the depths of my heart. Give me the graces I need to trust you more completely. Fill me with your peace, that I might be more courageous in loving more consistently and acting more justly. (Alexander, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Christ, the Son of the living God,” by Epiphanius the Latin (315-403 AD).
Did the Lord not know what people called him? But by questioning he brought forth the conviction of the apostle Peter and left for us in the future a strong affirmation of faith. For the Lord questioned not only Peter but all the apostles when he said, "Who do you say that I am?" Yet one on behalf of all answered the King, who is in due time to judge the whole world. He is God, both God and man. How miserable does this make those who are false teachers and strangers now, and to be judged in eternity. If Christ is the Son of God, by all means he is also God. If he is not God, he is not the Son of God. But since he himself is the Son, and as the Son takes up all things from the Father, let us hold this same one inseparably in our heart because there is no one who escapes his hand. (excerpt from INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 16:13-20 asks “who do you say that Jesus is?” Find some time today to take this question into prayer. Ask the heavenly Father for the grace—the same grace he gave to Simon Peter in today’s Gospel—to reveal Jesus more deeply and to convince more powerfully that he is our Messiah and Savior.
Then tell Jesus who you say that he is. If you felt his presence during a troubled time, praise him for being your best friend and guide. If you experienced the relief and joy of forgiveness, thank him for being your Redeemer and merciful Savior. If you catch a glimpse of his glory at the Father’s right hand, worship him for being the Lord of history, the Son of God.
Who we say that Jesus is changes everything. So who is he to you?
“Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Meditation on Matthew 16:13-20, n.d.)
James Crampsey SJ, Director of the Lauriston Jesuit Centre in Edinburgh, poses a question. At Caesarea Philippi, in Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus gives the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter, together with the power of binding and loosing. Is Peter another Shebna or another Eliakim – is his task to block undesirables from getting in?
At first sight or hearing, this seems to be a formula of exclusion, but the praxis of Jesus towards tax collectors and Gentiles subverts its apparent meaning. In the gospels, we see over and over again people being healed and restored to their family and community. Not only that, but we hear the parables of Jesus which have the power to unlock our imagination and move from the ordinary, from the everyday, to a place of transformation.
Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia talks at length about the logic of the Gospel being to integrate, to let people in, not keep them out:
The logic of integration is the key to their pastoral care, a care which would allow them not only to realize that they belong to the Church as the body of Christ, but also to know that they can have a joyful and fruitful experience in it. They are baptized; they are brothers and sisters; the Holy Spirit pours into their hearts gifts and talents for the good of all. Their participation can be expressed in different ecclesial services, which necessarily requires discerning which of the various forms of exclusion currently practiced in the liturgical, pastoral, educational and institutional framework can be surmounted (§299).
If the logic of Jesus’s – and by extension, the Church’s – ministry is to integrate, to include rather than exclude, we should pay attention to the binding and loosing phrase. If we have the power to bind people and exclude them, then we also have the power to loose people and free them to enter the kingdom – so if we choose to do the former, is that not a failure of what we are called to do? In this recent Year of Mercy we will have pondered the difficulty of forgiving others or even allowing ourselves to be forgiven. To give into this difficulty is to freeze ourselves and others in a place of exclusion, locking people out. (Crampsey, 2016)
Friar Jude Winkler connects the master of the palace and the keys in Isaiah to the Gospel and the mysterious plan of God for all of us expressed by Paul to the Romans. Caesarea Philippi as the ancient site of a temple to Pan is associated with Jesus' comment on evil and the Netherworld. Friar Jude notes a few times when the rabbinic power of binding and loosing is assigned to Peter.
James Finley uses an image he learned from Thomas Merton (1915–1968)—the cosmic dance.
For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness. The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness, absurdity and despair. But it does not matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Indeed, we are in the midst of it, and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood, whether we want it to or not.
Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance. [1] (Finley, 2023)
We seek the guidance of the Spirit to act in love, compassion, and mercy in response to the binding and loosing that our culture and community practice.
References
Alexander, A. (2023, August 27). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/082723.html
Crampsey, J. (2016, December 6). O Clavis David. Thinking Faith. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/o-clavis-david
Finley, J. (2023, August 27). A Cosmic Dance — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-cosmic-dance-2023-08-27/
Isaiah, CHAPTER 22. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/22?19
Matthew, CHAPTER 16. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16?13
Meditation on Matthew 16:13-20. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/08/27/767974/
Psalms, PSALM 138. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/138?1
Romans, CHAPTER 11. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/11?33
Schwager, D. (n.d.). The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=aug27
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