Peter’s Confession about Jesus

Today's Reflections 

      

 

Peter’s Confession about Jesus

Mt 16:13-19

¹³When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. ¹⁸And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

THE POWER OF THE KEYS. The Church today celebrates its two great pillars: the apostles Peter and Paul. The liturgy honors them for the gift of faith received through their preaching. Peter, as the head of the apostles, preached mostly to the Jewish people, while Paul brought the Gospel to the pagans. But it is the same Gospel of Jesus, and they have the same mission. Paul writes, “They saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter to the circumcised, for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised worked also in me for the Gentiles” (Gal 2:7-8).

The Church of Rome held primacy over the other churches from the beginning because it had the “relics” of the two apostles. Peter and Paul were martyred there during the persecution of the emperor Nero.

The Gospel speaks of the “power of the keys.” In Jesus’ time, as well as in the evangelist Matthew’s, the scribes and the Pharisees who were the teachers of the Law held the “key” to give entrance into the kingdom because they sat on “the chair of Moses” (Mt 23:2), that is, they had the authority of Moses. But they exercised the power of the key in such a way as to be an obstacle to its entrance. They themselves did not enter and they stopped those trying to enter it (cf Lk 11:52).

Jesus says that the key is now given to his followers, especially to Simon Peter. The power “to bind and to loose” refers to the authority to declare a commandment binding or not binding, and the disciplinary power to “bind” the transgressor. In particular, this refers to the authority to “open heaven” through forgiveness. Jesus alone holds this authority, but this has been given to Peter. But what is said to Peter (v 19) is applied also to all the disciples (cf Mt 18:18). It is the community that holds this power, but someone in the community, like a single leader, can exercise this power in the performance of the community’s ministry.