Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, August 27, 2023

“You are Christos — You are Petros”

Matthew 16.13-20
13Ἐλθὼν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὰ μέρη Καισαρείας τῆς Φιλίππου ἠρώτα τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ λέγων, Τίνα λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; 14οἱ δὲ εἶπαν, Οἱ μὲν Ἰωάννην τὸν βαπτιστήν, ἄλλοι δὲ Ἠλίαν, ἕτεροι δὲ Ἰερεμίαν ἢ ἕνα τῶν προφητῶν. 15λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι; 16ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ Σίμων Πέτρος εἶπεν, Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος. 17ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Μακάριος εἶ, Σίμων Βαριωνᾶ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψέν σοι ἀλλ’ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. 18κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ἅ|δου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς. 19δώσω σοι τὰς κλεῖδας τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. 20τότε διεστείλατο τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἵνα μηδενὶ εἴπωσιν ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I 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.’ 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

In nomine (+) Domini. Amen.

I stood looking up in the centre of the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome. I had just been to Mass in one of the off-set chapels where the Priest introduced a youth choir from the United States (he used perfect English) and said youth choir performed lovely and angelically. I was sitting in the back row of seats. I had left the “Private Tour of the Vatican Art Gallery” — private in the sense that there were about 200 people wall to wall walking along the hallway wearing headphones the art being described at 200 pixels per second as we moved by — this massive wall of human flesh. It was myself, my wife, our Rabbi friend and his wife surrounded by a phalanx of humanity with which I was trying desperately to have a moment of kindness.

Suddenly, I heard the guide say in a very quiet voice: “Now if you wish to leave the Tour and go immediately to the Sistine Chapel I will stop the group in about 3 minutes and you will come to me, giving me your headset and I will direct you from there.”
I took the moment, handed in my headset, and watched as the Guide pointed me to a side hallway. “Just follow your feet,” he said.

I did and within 3 minutes I was standing at the far end of the Sistine Chapel — next to an Italian Guard who was speaking into a microphone and telling people in three or four languages not to use “flash photography” as they turned their eyes heavenward toward Michelangelo’s famous ceiling painting “Creation of Man.”

Many tourists were lying on their backs in the middle of the floor, cameras and cell phones pointed heavenward — flashes were going off constantly. I looked at the Guard. He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, and smiled: “I’m going to lunch!” We laughed and he was gone.

I had nothing left to do but to follow my nose into the Basilica — a place of holy silence after the cacophony of my Sistine Experience.

A small group were making their way to one of the “Side” Chapels — Crucifer, Acolyte, Thurifer, and Priest.

I followed and made my way to a chair in the last row.

On my way there we passed by the very centre of the Basilica, the place where (below) Peter himself is buried (yes, no, maybe) and above are the words in Latin around the very top of the ceiling Tu es Petrus (You are Peter) and following translated from the Latin, “and on this Rock I will build my Church.”

The Mass was lovely. We all took Holy Communion (of course‽ of course). And when the Mass ended I was sitting quietly in my chair in the last row. Of a sudden I was aware that three people were behind me: My Wife, My Rabbi, My Rabbi’s wife.

My wife (Bev) said, “We knew exactly where to find you.” I then quoted Luke (2.49) where the tale is told of Jesus’ parents going back to Jerusalem and finding their just beyond toddler child in the Temple — “Did you not know I would be in my Father’s House?” We laughed appropriately.

+++

Jesus asks his closest followers who people think he is? Fair enough question. (I imagine them saying to themselves, OK, what’s the right answer here?) They begin:
“John the Baptist.”
“Elijah” (whom John the Baptist resembled — go read the story).
“One of the Prophets.”

And then, Peter. “You are the Mashiach” — he says in Aramaic/Hebrew — some of the Gospels change that to Χριστος — it’s the same thing: the Promised One, the Holy One, the One who is to appear and Save us.

Jesus replies, “Yes. Humanity has not given this to you, but the Eternal One and thus I say to you, you are PETER (that is in Greek ROCK) and on this ROCK (PETER) will I build my “church”.

Now the word used in the Greek text of Matthew is εκκλησια and it is indeed the word that is used for “church” in the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of Paul. In ancient Greek the word means “gathering”, literally a combination of “EK” from and “KALEIN” to call. Thus, “assembly” “gathering” or literally “those who are called out of the world into one place to be together” — which is, dear friends, not only a First Century but also a Twenty-First Century definition of Church.

Did this exchange between Jesus and his followers and Peter actually happen this way? Did Jesus actually say these words? Maybe. Maybe not. Or, maybe something like it was called to mind when the Gospel Storyteller Matthew wrote it down. In any case it was so significant that the early followers of Jesus gathered around Peter (and the other Apostles) and the “Story of Peter” and dared to continue the ministry of love and compassion imparted to them by Jesus, and that ministry dared to continue through the Centuries and still does today.

We stand with Peter. We make our announcement of who Jesus is — not in some triumphalist manner to use our conviction as a hammer of judgment upon the heads of others, but to be indeed “followers of Jesus” (or, as our early ancestors of faith would say, “we want to be like Jesus and live lives of love for others.”)

The question of whether Peter does or does not rest below the Altar in the Basilica really is not essential; the Story is essential, the Story has power and can effect peace, hope and love which are, after all, the Gifts of God which Jesus insisted be brought into the world by his followers.
And let us say: Amen.

Deo Gratias (+)
The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III; Retired