Reflection: August 23, 2026
This morning’s gospel (Matt 16:13-20) opens with one of the most fundamental questions any of us face:
When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
Jesus used the Son of Man as a self-reference. In other words, his question was, ‘Who do people say I am?’
In gospels of the previous three weeks, thousands had seen him cure the sick, then they ate food he miraculously multiplied. His disciples had seen him walk on water. He had released the Canaanite woman’s daughter from possession.
While he taught in the name of Yahweh and used Hebrew scripture, he had also criticized the Scribes and Pharisees for their emphasis on ritual laws. He aligned himself with Jewish religious tradition but not with its visible representatives.
So, he was a notable, even a remarkable figure on many accounts. But still the question remained: who was he?
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The gospel continues with a speculative response.
They said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
John was dead, and Elijah had been taken up to heaven, so the response suggested reincarnation. This was a strange answer. Yet there were similarities to Jesus in both lives.
Jesus had been baptized by John and had repeated John’s message ... Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. (Matt 3:2). Then Jesus used the same words (Matt 4:17). But John had deferred to Jesus as the one who should baptize him (Matt 3:14)
By this point in the gospel, John was also dead: killed by Herod. (Matt 14:10)
Elijah had lived in the 9th century BCE and had been taken up to heaven on a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11-12). He had saved the worship of Yahweh from being corrupted by the priests of Baal. For his part, Jesus had criticized the religious officials of his day for corrupting God’s message. (Matt 5:20, 12:37-39)
But the similarities were not that strong.
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He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Impulsive Peter, - who jumped out of the boat to walk to Jesus on the water (in last week’s gospel), who swore that he would defend Jesus even if all other abandoned him (Matt 26:33) who drew a sword to cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant (Matt 26:51) and, after Jesus’ resurrection, would again, jump into the water to get to Jesus (John 21:7) – blurted out the answer.
(In John’s gospel, when Jesus told his followers,
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ...Many of his disciples heard it, and said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’... Because of this many of his disciples ... no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’(John 6:54-69))
We get the impression that Peter spoke with deep conviction but shallow understanding. He affirmed Jesus as the Son of God in words and dramatic spontaneous acts.
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As Sunday’s gospel continues,
Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
This is the first time in the New Testament that Jesus referred to the gathering of people who followed him as church. It was to be a new community, improbably led by an impulsive fisherman from the hinterland of Israel.....who had been given the gift to see Jesus as the Son of God.
In the next breath, Jesus told them that the church would endure, even if hell warred against it. Jesus anticipated that the church would have to struggle.
**
This gospel concludes with Jesus' words to Peter,
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
This power given to Peter was extended to all the disciples in Matt 18:18 when Jesus said, Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Over the last two millennia, the church has understood these two statements as the basis for the sacraments of marriage and confession and the rite of exorcism, and that the power to bind and loose is handed down through the formal sacrament of ordination. It is a promise that God will ratify what Peter and his successors decide.
Beyond that, the words imply that to bind and loose requires establishing rules and exemptions and communication of intent by those who confess or who wish to marry, so that the disciples and their successors can assess the alignment of the person with their understanding of Christ’s will. The powers are to be exercised as a communal act.
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· Who is Jesus to you? A historical religious figure who founded a worldwide religion? A holy person whose values should be part of society’s? Someone worth emulating, subject to interpretation, with allowances for different cultural and religious backgrounds? (Who would decide on the allowances?) Did Peter answer for you when he said, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God? What are the implications of your answer on the way you live?
· When you read the gates of Hades will not prevail against it what comes to mind as the evil? Is it an external force like the Visigoths who sacked Rome in 410, or the internal corruption of the Middle Ages when the church became wealthy and carnal, or the more recently revealed scandals of sexual abuse by clergy...or is it the indifference of its members? What role do you play in how the church will prevail?
· When Peter got the keys to the kingdom of heaven, did he feel like a teenager the first time he got handed the keys to the car? When and how did he come to understand the responsibilities to instruct and to set criteria for use of these powers? What did he tell others about Jesus as he passed on the power in the earliest ordinations?
Peace,
Deacon Michael