Following Jesus with his disciples on their way, with this Sunday’s Gospel we have reached the turning point of his 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.
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. (So much so that last Sunday we “saw” them in the area of Tire and Sidon with an encounter with a Canaanite mother).
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, 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.
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?”)
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 the moment 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). Let us pray then in conclusion (in the words of the alternative Collect prayer in the Italian Missal for this 21st Sunday, Year A): O Father, fount of wisdom, who in the humble testimony of the Apostle Peter you laid the foundation of our faith, give all men the light of your Spirit, so that by recognizing in Jesus of Nazareth the Son of the living God, they may become living stones for the building up of your Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who is God, and lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
Post Scriptum. Jesus in the end “strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.” Why? We will know the answer the following Sunday!
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