Matthew 16:13-20 for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
This
day in the Gospel was the SECOND time that Christ spoke of building upon rock.
The
FIRST time was at the end of
his Sermon on the Mount, where he
said:
Every
one then who hears these words of mine and does them
will be
like a wise man who BUILT his house upon the ROCK;
and the
rain fell, and the floods came,
and the
winds blew and beat upon that house,
but it
did not fall, because it had been founded on the ROCK. [Mt. 7:24-25]
Following
God in Christ is the way to build a house solidly on rock to last us unto
entering the kingdom of heaven.
On
the other hand, if we do not bother to work at following God in Christ, then we
are building on sand a shaky house doomed to fall.
It
is as Christ warns in his Sermon on the
Mount.
“Not every
one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that
day many will say to me,
‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and
cast out demons in your name,
and do
many mighty works in your name?’
And
then will I declare to them,
‘I
never knew you;
depart
from me, you evildoers.’ [Mt. 7:21-23]
In
TODAY’S Gospel, there are two
layers to the ROCK upon which to build our obedience to God.
The
deepest layer is the heavenly Father revealing the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
The
upper layer is in Simon Peter who took in and spoke what was NOT his OPINION as a man of flesh and blood.
No,
Simon Peter took in and spoke a REVELATION from GOD THE FATHER.
Simon
Peter said: You are the Christ— Messiah, Anointed One— the Son of the living God.
Christ
answered him:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not REVEALED
this to you,
but my heavenly FATHER.
Then
Christ changed Simon’s name: you are Peter— Pétros, Rock— and upon this rock I will build my church.
As
rain, floods and wind come to naught against a house built on rock, so the netherworld shall not prevail against the CHURCH that Christ chose to
build on Peter and the revelation Peter received from God the Father.
This
is the FIRST time that Christ has
spoken the word CHURCH in the Gospel.
So,
we must pay CAREFUL attention to what he says about building his church.
AS SOON AS Christ finished today’s words in the Gospel, he went on to tell
just how building his church would happen.
Jesus
began to show his disciples
that he
must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly...
and be
killed and on the third day be raised.
That
is how Christ builds his church.
To
the world, it seems the church is built on sand as something worth condemning
and knocking down.
But
Christ does not build his church out of SUCCESS, as the WORLD sees success.
Christ
builds his church out of his SUFFERING AND DEATH.
It
is only after the DEATH of Christ and then his resurrection that the gates of the netherworld fail to prevail against the church of Christ.
The
church of Christ is not truly built by succeeding as the world sees succeeding.
No,
the church of Christ is built on the rock of confessing in word and deed what
God the Father wills to reveal in the suffering and death of Christ.
Only
then do the gates of the netherworld... not
prevail against the church.
Christ
teaches and builds us through our solid union with the faith of Peter the Rock.
But
even Peter the Rock had to face that Christ held it SATANIC [Mt. 16:23] to think that Christ’s suffering and death were not how
Christ should build his church.
With
Peter the Rock we must face that lesson as the will of the heavenly Father.
“Not
every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
shall
enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Through
Peter the Rock, Christ has bound and loosed us for a new and eternal covenant
of doing the heavenly Father’s will by embracing communion in the suffering and
death of Christ.
THIS IS
MY BODY
MY BLOOD
OF THE
NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT
FOR THE
FORGIVENESS OF SINS
The
church of Christ is truly built only through the COVENANT of the flesh-and-blood
suffering, sacrifice and death of Christ before the resurrection of Christ over
the netherworld.
Here
and now we are celebrating that COVENANT.
Our
taking the Body and Blood of Christ COMMITS us to renew our willing work to obey in our daily living all that
the heavenly Father teaches us in Christ.
DO THIS
IN MEMORY OF ME.
If
we do not, then we are just playing with sand all the days of our life.
We
might succeed in the world’s sandbox of success, but without building anything
to last us into the kingdom of heaven.
Turn. Love. Repeat.
