The Gospel Reading (Matthew 16:13-20) captures a pivotal moment during Jesus’ public ministry and his relationship with the disciples because it was when the Father in heaven chose Peter, to whom He revealed the Christological truth of Jesus (Matthew 16:17), so that he could proclaim it. It was significant because Jesus, in response to Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), declared his intention to build the Church, calling Simon “Peter”, to whom he gave the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. And this took place in Caesarea Philippi.
In connection to the First Reading (Isaiah 22:19-23),
which is about God replacing Shebna with Eliakim to serve as the key holder of
the House of David, it the Gospel Reading (Matthew 16:13-20) is not only about
Jesus’ declaration to build his Church (Matthew 16:18) but choosing Peter as
the holder of the keys of his Kingdom (Matthew 16:19).
What does the key mean in the context of the First
Reading (Isaiah 22:19-23) and the Gospel Reading (Matthew 16:13-20)?
Pope Benedict XVI gives a clear explanation:
Let us move on now to the symbol of the
keys, which we heard about in the Gospel. It echoes the oracle of the prophet
Isaiah concerning the steward Eliakim, of whom it was said: “And I will place
on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall
shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open” (Is 22:22). The key represents
authority over the house of David. And in the Gospel there is another saying of
Jesus addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees, whom the Lord reproaches for
shutting off the kingdom of heaven from people (cf. Mt 23:13). This saying also
helps us to understand the promise made to Peter: to him, inasmuch as he is the
faithful steward of Christ’s message, it belongs to open the gate of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and to judge whether to admit or to refuse (cf. Rev 3:7).
Hence the two images – that of the keys and that of binding and loosing –
express similar meanings which reinforce one another. The expression “binding
and loosing” forms part of rabbinical language and refers on the one hand to
doctrinal decisions, and on the other hand to disciplinary power, that is, the
faculty to impose and to lift excommunication. The parallelism “on earth … in
the heavens” guarantees that Peter’s decisions in the exercise of this
ecclesial function are valid in the eyes of God.
Homily on the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, June 29,
2012
As Pope Benedict XVI explained through the above words, the key that Jesus gave Peter represents the binding authority over opening and closing the gate of the Kingdom. Peter’s role as the holder of the keys given by Jesus is prototyped by Eliakim’s service to Hezekiah, a Davidic king of the time, as the king’s entrusted key holder of the Davidic kingdom, Judah.
In connection to the key of David (Revelation 3:7),
Jesus, the Davidic Christ King, is the ultimate holder of the authority to
decide who are to be in and not to be in his Kingdom. And the House of David (Isaiah
22:22) is considered to be a prototype of the Church on earth (Matthew 16:18),
which leads to the eternal Davidic Kingdom (Isaiah 9:7; Luke 1:32-33) with its
capitol, New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12; 21:9-27). This implies that Jesus
chose Peter to serve as the Vicar of Christ by giving his authority, the keys
of his Kingdom, until his return as the King of the Universe.
So, why Peter, then?
It was because of this Peter (Simon) was able to
proclaim that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God (Matthew
16:16), as the Father chose him to reveal the Christological truth of His
begotten Son, (Matthew 16:17), Jesus entrusted his keys to Peter in proclaiming
to build his Church on earth.
Jesus said to Peter:
I
say to you, you are Peter (Πέτρος/Petros), and upon this rock (πέτρᾳ/petra) I
will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against
it
(Matthew 16:18).
There has been a debate among scholars what Jesus
meant by “upon this rock”. Does this rock means Peter, or the rock from which
water springs in Caesarea Philippi?
Protestant scholars who do not view Peter as the first
Pope, Vicar of Christ, deny that “this rock” on which Jesus builds his Church
is not Peter, whose name means “rock”. And their argument to deny Peter as the
foundational rock of the Church is attributed to petros and petra in
Greek are not the same. And they would say that Matthew would have used the
same Greek word for Peter and rock if Jesus had meant to put Peter as the
foundation of the Church.
This argument seems plausible as long as you literally
interpret these Greek words, because petros, which is muscular, refers
to a relatively small and isolated rock, while petra, which is feminine,
means a large rock, like the rock, from which water flows to the Jordan River.
But Catholic hermeneutics is different from such a Protestant view. For the
Catholics, we believe that Matthew avoided using the same Greek word in the
same sentence, though Jesus really meant to see Peter as the foundational rock
of the Church that he builds.
According to the Greek word to name him, Petros,
Peter is a small rock as a person. But, as the Vicar of Christ, he is not a
small man (small rock) because this position with authority makes him the
foundational rock. Does this kind of exegesis contradict a hermeneutics of
Greek text? I personally think that it does not at all. After all, Jesus was
not saying that he would build his Church on a rock, literally but rather
metaphorically, as the word, petra, is used in Jesus’ parable of the stable
house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-25). So, Jesus entrusts Peter to serve as the foundational
rock, so that the Church which he builds, will be the stable House of David on
earth.
The solid rock foundation keeps the power of death
from prevailing over the Church. This is ascertained by Christ’s victory over
death (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). It means Peter, the first Vicar of Christ, and
his successors, Popes, are to save as many souls as possible, in their pastoral
works, so that the Church becomes the refuge from the power of death, which was
brought by the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12-13). In this context, death means death
of soul. As the Canon Law concludes, the Church’s ultimate purpose is salus animarum
(salvation of souls)(Canon 1752), the rock (petra) on which the Church
is built keeps death from prevailing over our souls. This way, the Church on
earth will enjoy being the eternal Davidic Kingdom (House of David), where there
is no death (Revelation 21:4), upon her nuptial union with Christ the King (Revelation19:7-9;
21:1-2).
To choose him to serve as the foundational rock of the
Church, Jesus gives his binding authority to Peter:
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 (Matthew 16:19).
As God chose Eliakim to be the key holder of the House
of David during the reign of Hezekiah, upon expelling Shebna from the position
(Isaiah 22:19-23), Jesus now chooses Peter to hold his keys to the Kingdom of heaven,
which is the eternal House of David (Davidic Kingdom).
Why did Jesus entrust his keys to Peter?
It was because the Father chose Peter to reveal who
Jesus really is, being the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God (Matthew
16:16-17).
Shebna was removed from the position of the key holder because of his abuse of
this authority with his egoistic interest (Isaiah 22:15-19). Had Peter were like
Shebna, neither the Father nor Jesus, the Son, would not have chosen Peter, to
whom the Christological truth to be revealed and the keys of the Kingdom to be
entrusted.
As Pope Benedict XVI explained in the aforementioned
homily, the keys given to Peter by Jesus symbolizes the binding authority. It
means, as the first Vicar of Christ, the authority entrusted by Jesus to Peter’s
judgements on earth has the binding effects to heaven. And Peter and his
successor cannot neither abuse nor misuse this authority.
Peter was actually not fit to serve as the holder of
the keys, at that time, because he failed to keep himself abided to Jesus as
his faith as not yet as strong as petra (Matthew 26:69-75). And Jesus
knew this problem (Matthew 26:34-35). But he also knew that Peter was sincere with
his burning desire to remain in him until his death (Matthew 26:33). What Peter
(Petros) needed to become the petra, as Jesus desired, was the Holy
Spirit on Pentecost. And as Luke describes in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter
upon receiving the Holy Spirit, on Pentecost, remained abided to Christ as the
Vicar of Christ, becoming the petra foundation of the nascent Church. In
fact, the Church began growing out of his Pentecost testimony (Acts 2:14-47).
It was the Father who first saw this in Peter for
revealing the truth about His only begotten Son, as the Christ (Matthew 16:17).
This truth is only revealed by God to those whom He chooses. Thus, it is not
something humans can find, as reflected in the Second Reading (Romans 11:33-36).
It is inscrutable to humans, as Paul wrote (Romans 11:33). This is why neither
the public nor the other disciples could tell exactly who Jesus is (Matthew
16:13-15).
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