Jesus went into the region of Caesarea
Philippi and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of
Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others
Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to
them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in
reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus
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. And
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. I 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."
Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Matthew 16:13-20
This passage contains what appears to be
a broad grant of power to the Church: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” It seems strange that God would give us human
beings, who are so prone to error, prejudice, and self-dealing, the ability to
make decisions for Him.
Jesus routinely quotes the Old Testament
prophets, and his actions regularly parallel action in the Old Testament. For instance, Jesus’s overturning of the
money changers tables in the Temple remind the apostles of Psalm 69 – “zeal for
Thy house consumes me.” The same Psalm includes,
“I was thirsty and they gave me vinegar to drink,” just as Jesus was given
vinegar on the Cross.
Jesus’s statement to Peter in this
Sunday’s Gospel mirrors a statement made by Isaiah in the Old Testament too, an
excerpt of which is this Sunday’s first reading. In it, Isaiah informs Shebna (who
held an office equivalent to Secretary of State of Judah under King Hezekiah) that
he will be removed from office for pridefully building a grand tomb for
himself. And, in fact, his tomb was
found in Siloam and its lintel, bearing Shebna’s name, currently resides in the
British Museum. Isaiah prophesies that Shebna
will be replaced by Eliakim:
I will place the
key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one shall
shut when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot (Isaiah 22)
The passage closes with a statement that
the peg will someday give way and fall.
So, in quoting this passage, Jesus is
doing something other than granting Peter authority to make decisions for God. He is declaring that Peter has been chosen to lead the Church by God, thus removing those who exhibited too much pride, and he may even be predicting Peter’s eventual removal
from office by execution.
