Sunday Meditation: Who Do People Say That the Son of Man Is?

On the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year A, we get the well-known foundation of the Church in the person of Peter.  Three years ago I embedded a video clip of Dr. Brant Pitre giving the fullest exegesis of how this Gospel passage formed the Catholic Church, the Papacy, and the Church’s authority in the person of Peter.  No other video clip is going to expand on that because that clip said it all.  In that clip, Dr. Pitre quoted the second century theologian and bishop, Irenaeus, from Against Heresies on the early Church’s view of this passage.  It’s worth quoting here.

 

St. Irenaeus wrote this about the church at Rome and Peter's successors: quote, “the very great the very ancient and universally known church found in and organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul; as also the faith preached to men…comes down to our own time by mean of the successions of the bishops.  For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church [meaning the church at Rome] on account of its preeminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere…The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate [Linus was Peter successor]…To him succeeded Anacletus; after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement.  To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus; then sixth from the Apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him Telephorus, who was gloriously martyred; then Hygenus; after him, Pius; then after him Anicetus.  Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now, in the twelfth place from the Apostles, hold the inheritance of this episcopate.  In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the Apostles, in the preaching of the truth have come down to us. and this is the most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith which has been preserved in the church and the Apostles until now and handed down in truth.”  (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.2-3; trans. ANF 1.415-16)

This was written in the year 180 A.D.  Don’t ever let anyone dissuade you from knowing that today’s Gospel passage identified Peter and his successors—for this passage shows the rule of succession which some deny—as the foundation to bind and loose, teach and consecrate from Peter to Pope Leo XIV today. That understanding was there from the beginning.

Today’s Gospel:

 

 

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.

~Mt: 16:13-20

 

 

My Catholic Life! provides an exegetical aspect that Dr. Pitre doesn’t develop.  It’s worth including here.

 

My Catholic Life!:

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.” Matthew 16:13–16

 

The symbolism associated with Caesarea Philippi is central to today’s Gospel. Located north of Jesus’ home base in Capernaum, it was a predominantly pagan city known for its shrines to false gods. One of the most prominent was Pan, after whom the region was named Panias (later Banias). Pan, a Greek god, was honored at a shrine near a large cave and spring considered the entrance to Hades. Pan was the god of nature, shepherds, flocks, wild places, fertility, and rustic music, and was often depicted as half man, half goat, with horns and hooves. He played the pan flute and was associated with lust, chaos, and sudden fear—from which we get the word panic.

 

Additionally, the city was the site of a temple dedicated to the late emperor, Caesar Augustus, who was worshiped as a god throughout the Roman Empire. It was into this spiritually dark pagan setting that Jesus led His disciples—on what may have been a two-day journey—for what culminated in a single, monumental question.

 

Jesus took the Twelve away from the comfort of their familiar fishing village and Jewish neighbors for a reason. He wanted them to answer His question not in the midst of the familiar and safe, but in a place marked by spiritual confusion and idolatry. Why? So that faith could be professed even there, and divine grace could confront the darkness that permeated the region.

The locations of where the Gospel events occur are usually important to their meaning.  I may have mentioned this before, and here the region of Caesarea Philippi—notice its very Roman derived name—is a contrast to what Jesus is trying to instruct.  If the Roman emperor titled Caesar was considered a god and a son of god, Jesus identifies who the true God and the true Son of God is.

 

For the pastoral homily I’m going to turn to the successor of St. Peter, the current Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV.  This is from his homily on this passage given today at his Sunday Angelus.  The first four minutes are television introductions.  The Holy Father comes out at just about the 4:00 minute mark. 

 

Better still, you can read his entire homily at the Vatican Website.  Here are some key excerpts.

Pope Leo XIV:

The Gospel passage makes us understand how decisive this question is for the experience of discipleship.  Indeed, although the twelve apostles had already shared so much of the life and ministry of their teacher, Jesus did not take for granted that they truly knew him or had understood the mystery of the Kingdom of God.  Thus, after asking them what people were saying about him, he addressed them directly: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15).

 

Brothers and sisters, this is a fundamental question for the disciples of every age, and for each one of us.  Faith is not something given to us once and for all.  Rather, we continually need to rediscover the face of Christ and his Gospel, to enter more deeply into his message and to renew the choices we make in our lives, so that they may be consistent with what we profess.  In this way, we can overcome the temptation to think that we already know everything and to reduce faith to mere habit.

 

The question that is put to us each day — who is Jesus for me, and what does his presence mean in my life? — emerges especially in prayer and when we meditate on the Gospel.  Yet it also arises when we encounter the wounds and needs of our brothers and sisters, and in those relationships and situations that most deeply challenge our conscience.  In our daily lives, in short, we can discover whether the Lord Jesus is for us merely a great figure of history, who said and did important things, or the Christ of God, the One sent to bring us into the love of the Father and to transform our lives and the world in which we live.

The question Jesus poses to the apostles is the question He poses to us, not just once or once a month or once a year.  Jesus poses this question to us every day, and we are to be guided by our response every day.

 

 

 

Sunday Meditation: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

 

 

 

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot for today’s hymn with “Surrender to Jesus.”

 

 

Take all my freedom

My liberty, my will

All that I have

You’ve given to me

So I offer it up to You

 

CHORUS:

I surrender it all to Jesus

I surrender it all to God’s will

I surrender it all for the kingdom of God

I surrender my life, my all

 

Your grace and Your love

Are wealth enough for me

Grant me these Lord Jesus

And I’ll ask for nothing more

 

(CHORUS)

 

I surrender it all for the kingdom of God, my life, my all.  I surrender it all to Jesus.