What’s not to love about today’s text? Peter experiences the highs and lows of his faith life in ways that we can surely relate to. One minute he’s making an awesome confession of faith – the first time in Matthew’s Gospel in which a disciple has recognized and proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, the Christ. The next minute – immediately following today’s text – he objects to Jesus’ words about his approaching Passion and is described as diabolical by Jesus (vs. 21-23).
However, in addition to this well-known text (and to Peter’s equally well-known faults and foibles) I offer these observations:
1. Interestingly, this encounter or exchange, takes place at Caesarea Phillippi, a pagan city rebuilt by Herod’s son Phillip (who renamed it after the emperor and himself!) and is the site of a shrine to the god Pan. (We will visit this site in our
2024 pilgrimage.) It is located near the headwaters of the Jordan River. A site heavy with meaning and symbolism.
2. Matthew somewhat rehabilitates Peter’s reputation, by adding to Mark’s earlier version of Jesus’ words of affirmation: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven” (vs. 17).
3. Matthew adds Jeremiah to Mark’s list of ‘the usual suspects’ of whom people say that Jesus is. Jeremiah is Matthew’s most oft named/cited prophets, as well as one who called people to repentance, just as Jesus does.
4. Jesus declared Peter to be “blessed” (vs 17); the same word that appears in – and constitutes – the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12).
5. Jesus’ words “And I tell you” (vs. 18) are, in the original Greek, extremely emphatic – what comes next is very, very important.
6. Peter is clearly the leader of the Disciples in the Gospel accounts and plays a leadership role in the early Jerusalem Church (see the Book of Acts). And so, it appears to me (and to many scholars, and not only Roman Catholic ones) that
Jesus is speaking directly to Peter when he says: “… and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (vs. 18-19).
7. It is noteworthy that Jesus later gives this ‘binding and loosing’ ministry to all the disciples (18:18) yet clearly Peter is the rock upon which all will stand.
8. However, this is his function; it is not because of his character. Jesus has chosen this earthy, common fisherman to be the foundation of his Church. Jesus can see what Peter is capable of, even if he (and we!) does not… yet.
9. This ‘binding and loosing’ is related to the Rabbinical notion of establishing doctrine and maintaining religious discipline – including the granting of exceptions to religious law. It is, as one scholar observes, “A daunting task.”
10. Some scholars note that these “keys” (vs 19) reflect the role of Eliakim, gatekeeper of the royal household, in Isaiah 22:15-25.
11. “Church” (vs. 18) is the ekklēsia (Greek) or qāhāl (Hebrew) – meaning the ‘congregation’ or ‘community of faith.’ It did not describe the hierarchical institution it was later to define. Rather, as one scholar points out, “A Messiahwithout a messianic community, would be unthinkable to any Jew.”
12. The “gates of Hades” (vs. 18b) refers to the gates of Sheol (referenced in Isaiah 38:10) the place of the dead, and not Hell despite what the King James translation says. Thus, death itself cannot prevail against the messianic community – the Church of Jesus.
13. If death cannot prevail against the Church, then neither shall attacks of evil (both within and without); internal divisions; nor even (God forbid!) our increasing sense of irrelevance in this modern world!
