Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It’s a wonderful Word (Mt 16: 13-20) for us today especially if you are passing through some difficulty. Christianity is not a set of rules but an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ. The key to the gospel is given to us in one verse of the psalm: For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he knows from afar. We might think that the Lord loves and pays attention to the humble but the proud are far from him. But the contrary is true.
In Scripture ‘to know’ is to love, actually a very deep love, like the love of spouses in the marital act. This is how the Lord knows us and how he knows the haughty. The Scripture says from afar because the arrogant distances himself from God but the Lord still knows and loves him.
An example of this is the parable of the Prodigal Son and the elder brother. The younger son demands his inheritance, leaves and spends it all and yet the Father knew him from afar. The Father still loved him and the son knows this and is the reason why he returns. But what does this have to do with today’s gospel, which is asking you, Who do you say Jesus is, for you?
Are you far away like the prodigal son but still bound by the Father’s love or are you physically close like the elder brother who never knew the Father’s love? In response to Jesus’ question many do not say that he is the Messiah. Even today many people are far from Christ because to them he is only an idea. He is not the Lobgrd of my life. Christ is really asking: do you know me, do you know what I have done for you? When you see what He has done for you then you are able to say, he’s the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And then Christ is enough for you. You don’t have any other expectations about money or success or beauty or a boyfriend. Is Christ enough for you? It’s a very serious question.
Peter’s answer was really inspired by the Father because he did not really know Christ yet. When will Peter know Him? When Peter touches his low point, when he denies Him.
Next week’s gospel Jesus says to Peter: I will give you the keys of the kingdom and on this rock I will build my church. It is a very profound statement Christ makes because who is the cornerstone of the Church? It’s Jesus Christ. So when Jesus says to Peter that you are the rock on which I will build my Church, he is saying that Peter is Christ. If you experience my love in your life you will be this rock and the gates of hell will not prevail against you. Christ has overcome hell, he defeated hell by conquering death.
Imagine Peter when he denies Christ three times surely the words: you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church echoed in his conscience. This is why he cried so bitterly because he knew his mission was so great. But his denials were so necessary for him to know himself and be humbled. You cannot be humble if you don’t know yourself and your weaknesses.
Knowing ourselves invites us to say like Peter, Lord, you are the Son of the living God! When we know ourselves, when we experience our poverty, when we hit bottom, then the Lord comes to save us. He has more power than our sins, more power than death, more power than hell. This is why he says to you today: you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. The Lord wants to build in your life the Church, his Church. He wants to make a Christian man or woman out of you. He wants to make you another Christ so that you can show his glory through your weakness, in your poverty, in your sins and denials. Show Christ with your life, your works, not so much with your words!