21st SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME HOMILY AUG. 23
Gospel of this Mass: Matthew 16,
Excerpt: 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.”
I’d like to do a little apologetics with you today. Matthew 16 is a
great bible chapter for that.
I have had a lot of interaction with non-Catholic Christians going far
back into my college days, and heard a regular misinterpretation of
this verse by them in Matthew 16:16 to say that Jesus was calling
Simon the fisherman apostle as a little pebble. A petra. A nothing
but a soft little rock guy in the bunch. Something to kick around off
the road. I would wonder, as a Catholic, of why so many non-
Catholic Christians were trying to convince me of this interpretation.
I’d see later that it was because they ascribed to an anti-pope and
anti-Catholic bias of faith. I’d explain, kindly, that we Catholics say
that Peter was the new name of Simon, and that it meant Rock, and
that on this rock, that is, Peter, Christ said He would build His
Church. So what is it, rock or pebble? (Don’t build pebble homes!)
First I would just use some bible common sense. Why would Jesus
give Simon a cut-down in this Matthew 16 situation, even just after
Simon got one of the most amazing spiritual revelations of all time?
Jesus says that his burly apostle got this revelation of Jesus as the
Christ, the Son of the Living God—not by human flesh and blood
and limited thought—but that of the Father Almighty’s inspiration to
him. Thus, a name change for the great catching on to the
revelation: You are Peter. Rocky. This is a fabulous moment.
Jesus has asked the Twelve: “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-
Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
Father who is in heaven.”
I can tell you something. When any of us catches on, via the
grace and light of God, of some key concept of Jesus
Christ—God is very pleased! He is not going to cut you down
next! He is rather going to move you on to the next phase of your
life, now that you are receiving revelation well from Heaven!
First, observe the text. Jesus says, “But who do you say that I
am?” Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus declares Peter blessed and then Jesus follows right away
with “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
Church.”
My non-Catholic friends trying to bust my halo held that the rock
on which Jesus would build his Church is His own identity—the
fact that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
But there is what we call as parallelism between the two rocks in
the passage. What does a parallelism communicate here in the
text? One should know that it is a common literary device in the
Bible. “You are petros” is parallel with “on this petra” But there
are two kinds of parallelism: synthetic parallelism and antithetic
parallelism. Antithetic parallelism happens when the two things
that are in parallel contrast with each other, like the righteous and
the wicked in Proverbs 10:6: Ok? Synthetic parallelism is the
opposite. In synthetic parallelism, the second thing in the parallel
builds on the first, like the things the Lord hates in Proverbs 6:16:
There are six things which the Lord hates= seven which are an
abomination to him. Here the six things that the Lord hates in the
first half of the parallel are amplified into seven things that the
Lord hates in the second half, so this is an example of synthetic
parallelism, where the second element builds on the first.
Now, spot the fact that in Matthew 16, petros and petra are in
parallel with each other, but unlike the interpretation looking to
dodge away from Simon Peter being called the Rock (and thus
dodge away from Jesus naming here Simon Peter as the leader
of the apostles, the vicar for Him, The Christ, and the first pope)
let’s call it a bad mistake to simply assume that the verse is one of
antithetic parallelism. Let’s not go the route of Jesus downing
Simon and reducing him to a pebble, rather, let’s consider the
positive idea that the passage might be synthetic parallelism. Yes,
let’s make the better assumption that Jesus was building up His
apostle in this moment, appreciating that this Capernaum
fisherman, brother to Andrew, really got something of Grace. Let’s
go positive. Synthetic parallelism of building up the second in
comparison to the first.
So, which is it? My non-Catholic challengers said it is to be
interpreted: “You’re a little pebble, Peter, but on this other large
rock, I will build my Church.” In this—Peter is diminished, maybe
even ridiculed. For what? For figuring out, with the Heavenly
Father’s help, of the Messianic assuredness of Jesus. For figuring
out that Jesus IS the I AM, the long awaited, anointed one whom
the Jews have hoped and prayed for. I would rather think Jesus
would be elated here!!
Yet in synthetic parallelism, instead, Jesus would be saying, “You
may look like a small stone, Peter, but on the large rock that you
really are, I will build my Church.” And I am naming you such,
right now. I get to build My Church, and you are the believer I
need to lay a foundation. Jesus still is Cornerstone and the One
who is come to build a Church, but He has been with some close
followers for many months now, and Simon, son of Jona—is fit to
be the one He’ll leave in charge, since Jesus will be Resurrecting
and Ascending ahead, and leaving His work in someone’s hands.
It will be Peter, er, Rocky, and with the other apostles to start it.
In the great Pentecost event that starts the Church in Acts 2,
Simon Peter has the central part of response to it, and all through
the New Testament, Peter gets listed first in any listing of the
apostles. It’s on purpose. Because Peter had become favored.
So the passage today in Matthew 16 has been re-interpreted by
some non-Catholics as so to steer away from any idea of Peter’s
good place with Jesus, here. They play around with the words
petra and petros to find a negative on Peter. The same kind of
poor Bible re-interpretation is done with Mary, Jesus’ Mother, to
seek to reduce her role or part in Jesus’ life, instead of seeing her
for who she greatly is. Catholics love St. Peter and St. Mary.
Like Simon Peter, but in another way, Mary also stands
prominently at Pentecost as the woman who has known the
promptings of the Holy Spirit through her whole life, and who has
obeyed the Word of God. Now the Spirit is poured out to the
regular disciple of The Lord, and we use her as a model of faith.
Jesus loved her model of faith so much that He assumed her into
Heaven, body and soul. That was yesterday’s Marian feast
celebration.
The break-away believers from the Catholic Church have
developed Bible interpretations to defend their separation from
Mother Church. Their offense is to offend the Catholic teachings,
and say, no—it’s this other way. On Peter the Rock, and Matthew
16, Jesus is building Peter up. That possibility just doesn’t seem
to sit with anti-papists. Perhaps if they could take a better look,
right?! I recall a vehement Protestant pastor that ended up
converting to the Roman Catholic Faith—his name is Jimmy Akin.
He has an interesting web site and presence online that is filled
with his admitting: Oh, now I get it? The Catholic Faith was right.
Catholicism also sees humanity is a better light, as basically good
and made in God’s image, but marred by our sin problem. Akin
likes that Catholic view now, which we believe is God’s view in
Christ, as Akin used to see humankind rather in the deep negative
and not capable of a cooperation relationship with God, but now
Akin’s in the light.
The Catholic Church has not seen the gates of hell overcome her.
In fact, in 2033, we will reach our 2000 th year since Pentecost.
Jesus is the Builder of His Body, the Church. Jesus is the Head of
the Body, the Church—so says a few bible verses—and we have
the one, holy, universally catholic, and apostolic foundation under
us. Laid by Christ Jesus, and using Peter, and you and I are in the
structure, too, of the Church. Amen.