”Who do people say that the Son of Man is?….. who do you say I am?” Jesus, in today’s Gospel Matthew 16:13-20
“Do you know who …. I am? I am the heavyweight champion of the world!” Boxer Mike Tyson to a stranger interrupting him assaulting the model Naomi Campbell.
“And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field; I suggest we talk about this like rational men.” The philosopher Sir Alfred Jules Ayer, in reply.
There were two thought-provoking responses to last week’s reflection about Jesus’ conversation with a Canaanite woman, both of which I found very helpful. The first asked whether Jesus’s ‘dog’ reference was as much a challenge to the disciples, mirroring their own prejudice about the Canaanite woman, while he tested her mettle. The second suggested that Jesus’ initial silence may also have been directed towards the twelve disciples for boxing out a woman with a spiritual insight that they had not yet grasped themselves. Those comments changed my view of the encounter between Jesus, the unnamed woman and his disciples and made far more sense than my own much more limited interpretation – my thanks to those two writers for their spiritual insights that I had not yet grasped!
However, today’s reflection involves a spiritual insight from Peter which draws a profound response from Jesus. This happens in the gospel which begins with the genealogy of Jesus – although I once heard it mistakenly read as the gynaecology of Jesus! – in which the human ancestors of Jesus are listed by Matthew. Amongst them are prophets, murderers, prostitutes, women of noble birth, ne’er do wells and kings, ending with his earthly father Joseph, whose name, family and heritage were given to Jesus. Matthew begins by calling Jesus the Son of David, reflecting his royal status, and the Son of Abraham, indicating Israelite descent. But, in today’s Gospel, Jesus begins by asking his disciples who people say the Son of Man is, a term used in the Psalms and by the prophet Ezekiel to mean a human being. Daniel the prophet used it in a vision to indicate divine authority and Jesus also applied it many times of himself. As he questions his disciples, they reply that some think that the Son of Man might be John the Baptist, others Elijah and some Jeremiah or a prophet – there is no agreement and all those named are dead. But when Jesus asks who they think he is, Peter speaks for them and bursts out with “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” At last, he realises Jesus’ true identity – and Jesus blesses him for it. What a contrast with last week’s gospel, where silence and shortsightedness seemed to prevail in so many ways!
This is the first time that ‘Messiah’ is used of Jesus and Simon Peter is also named Peter as he speaks for the disciples in the revelation he has glimpsed whilst they remain quiet. It’s also the first time that the church is mentioned, when Jesus uses Peter’s answer and decision as the rock on which it is founded. Jesus then says that nothing, not even the gates of Hades the realm of the dead, will prevail against it, telling Peter that he will be given the keys of heaven and that whatever he binds or sets free on earth will be so in heaven. Jesus also tells Peter that his insight has come from God and, because of this, gives authority to him as Peter wrestles with Jesus’ identity, then realises and trusts who he is. The same can sometimes be true for us in the struggles or perhaps flashes of insight that life and faith may present us with today as we are also entrusted by Jesus with outreach in his and our world now.
Despite the many failings of the church, it is clearly part of Jesus’ plan – which may hearten those who, today, doubt its future. The church stretches back over the centuries, like Matthew’s genealogy, founded not just on Peter’s confession but on the lives and examples of all those who have shaped it through prayer, persecution, hope and questioning. If the identity and example of some of them seems dubious, that may echo some of the characters cited by Matthew who nevertheless fulfilled God’s purposes in his genealogy of Jesus.But it all began with Jesus’ question which is asked of us today in the mission entrusted to us as well as those disciples then: “Who do you say I am?”
How is our response lived out in our faith and daily lives?
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.