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| Cave of St. Peter, Antioch |
Interpreting the
Signs – 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
A few weeks ago we encountered Peter trying to walk on
water. In that story we saw his lack of
faith lead to failure in the enterprise.
However, his original impetus of faith led him to success in walking on
water. As long as he focused on the
person and identity of Jesus Peter could accomplish what seems impossible.
This week we once again encounter Peter in the exact same
situation. In today’s Gospel Jesus asks
his disciples the central question of Christian faith: Who do you say that I am? Peter, to his credit, answers correctly: Jesus is the Christ (the anointed Messiah),
the Son of the Living God. Like any good
teacher, Jesus rewards Peter’s correct answer.
Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the authority of Jesus
to bind and loose for the Christian community in Jesus’ name. In the earlier story of Peter on the sea, his
initial act of faith is rewarded.
However, like the earlier story, this account does not end
with success. Peter will subsequently
fail just as he did in his venture out in the water. Jesus goes on to talk about his Messianic
mission, which involves being handed over and killed – and it is here where
Peter fails. Peter cannot accept this
and attempts to rebuke Jesus privately. Jesus,
however, sternly chastises Peter, stating that he is judging as men do, and not
as God does. How can Peter be at the
same time invested with the authority of Jesus and still be rebuked as a
‘Satan” by the Lord Jesus?
Peter’s original answer was indeed correct. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. This is the fundamental core of Christian
belief. However, Peter had also allowed
his understanding of those titles to be corrupted by human interpretations of
his time. The Pharisees and Sadducees
saw the Messiah as a political figure, one who would lead Israel to military
victory over their Roman captors and restore the priesthood of the Temple and
the kingship of Jerusalem.
Earlier in the 16th chapter of Matthew, from
which today’s Gospel comes, Jesus gave his disciples two important
teachings. The first involved the
seeking of signs. Everyone asked Jesus
to perform a sign, but He tells them that no sign will be given to them except
the sign of Jonah. Here Jesus is making
a reference to His resurrection from the dead.
Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale
before being expelled, so will the Messiah be in the belly of the earth for
three days before rising from the dead.
What is more, just as Jonah’s sign and preaching were accepted by a
Gentile city (Nineveh), so Jesus’ sign and preaching will come to be accepted
by the Gentiles.
The second teaching of Jesus in this chapter has to do with
being wary of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus returns them to the miracle of the
multiplication of the loaves and fishes, a Eucharistic miracle. This sign of Jesus represents His leaven that
is truly satisfying for the hunger that plagues humankind. By contrast, the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees cannot satisfy, for it is political and material only. A political Messiah cannot bring full and
complete salvation. Only the leaven of
Jesus that meets the integral needs of the whole human person – material, spiritual,
intellectual, and moral – provide salvation for the whole world.
Peter eventually comes to a complete understanding of the
person and identity of Jesus. By being a
witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Peter sees and lives the mission
to which Jesus calls us. We too must
avoid reducing Jesus’ person and identity to merely one dimension. We must avoid the trap of political Messiahs,
so that we, like Peter, can be authentic witnesses to full person and identity
of Jesus the Lord.
In every age, including our own, there is the temptation to
reducing our faith merely to the political level and subsume our faith into an
ideology or political party. Jesus
rejected this approach time and again.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were political factions of Jesus’ day, and
He rejected them, insisting on the full picture of God’s kingdom. We too must reject attempts to reduce God’s
kingdom to a party platform. God’s
kingdom is a larger vision, and a singular place where our peace can be found.
As we seek to grow in our faith and vision like Peter, we
come together to witness anew the Eucharistic miracle and to be nourished by
its sacrificial food. We ask God for the
ability to see and live as Peter ultimately did. “Let us pray with minds fixed on eternal
truth. Lord our God, all truth is from
you, and you alone bring oneness of heart.
Give your people the joy of hearing your word in every sound and of
longing for your presence more than for life itself. May all the attractions of a changing world serve only to bring us the
peace of your kingdom which this world does not give. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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