When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say 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 Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood had 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."
The Word in other words
Have you ever made a great discover for yourself?
Today we celebrate the solemnity of Peter and Paul, Apostles. Both can certainly be characterized as men who made a great "personal discover" of Jesus Christ. Peter did so with his great confession: "You re the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Paul, on the other hand, had it in Damascus event (Acts 9:3-22) when Jesus told him, "I am Jesus Christ whom you are persecuting."
Such discovery had given Peter and Paul a great privilege, but also a great responsibility. The former, Peter, according to the post-Easter narratives, was a servant-leader and a courageous witness to the faith who fulfilled his promise to lay down his life for the Lord. Moreover, he was given the keys to the Kingdom, making him a privileged steward of the household of God, opening the door for all to enter. The latter, Paul, went through a conversion. He came to an awareness that God's immense love is not only for them, the Jews, but it embraces the non-Jews (Gentiles) as well, in fact the whole of humanity. God's love is inclusive, not exclusive. He considered the Gentiles not as a threat to Israel's holiness, but as brothers and sister within God's covenant with Israel. He journeyed from being a Jewish Pharisee to being a Jewish-Christian missionary- a man on fire for the mission.
The discoveries of Peter and Paul are discoveries which we must make for ourselves. As William Barclay says, "Our discovery of Jesus Christ must be a personal discovery." Thus, our knowledge of Jesus must never be second-hand. We might have all the information about Him; we might know every Christology that the human mind had ever thought of; we might be able to give a competent summary of the entire teaching about Him - and still remain unchristian. Christianity is not only "knowing about Jesus", but also "knowing Jesus."
- Fr. Jose Honorio P. Mateo, SVD (Paraguay, S. America)
