Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
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.
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Reflection:
Are we sometimes tempted to boast about who we are and the things that we
do and own? Are we sometimes tempted to show off how intelligent we are and how
profound our knowledge about Jesus and our faith?
The intellect that we have and everything that we own we did not earn by our
own effort alone. The Good Lord has a hand on what we know and what we have
today. Even our personal success we did not earn it by our own effort, the Good
Lord has His hand on it also.
In our gospel today, Peter hit the jackpot when he correctly answered
this question of Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” But Jesus immediately told
Peter that it was not through his own intellect that he knew Him. Because it was God who enlightened Peter to
know Jesus’ real identity.
We can perhaps relate with this statement of Jesus to Peter: “Blessed are
you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
my heavenly Father (Matthew 16:17). Because there are times that we boast as
well about who we are and what we know and have. Jesus reminds us that
everything is a gift and grace from God. Who we are today or how successful we
are today is God’s gift to us. That’s why we must not allow ourselves to be
carried away by our success no matter how immense.
The Catholic church that we have today was founded by Jesus through
Peter. Jesus did not do it because Peter was the favored one or because Peter
was always in the thick of things in the life of Jesus. Peter was chosen for
the simple reason that it was the will of God and not Peter’s will.
We must therefore stay humble and we must continue to firmly plant our
feet on the ground. No matter how successful, intelligent and knowledgeable we
are. For everything is a gift from God and everything emanates from God’s good
will. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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