"Who Do You Say I AM?"
Through faith Peter, Paul and the other disciples of Jesus in time grasped who Jesus truly was.
Today's Solemnity
of Peter and Paul celebrates the memory of two early leaders of the Christian
Church. In the Vatican there are huge statues of Sts. Peter and Paul. These
saints are considered two pillars of our faith. Peter is depicted as an elderly
man with a long beard, holding crossed keys in his hand. Paul is depicted as a
middle-aged man, holding a sword in his hand. Peter's mission was at first
directed exclusively toward the Jews and Paul was the missionary to the
Gentiles. Peter's keys signify the authority entrusted to him by Jesus in the
unique story in Matthew's Gospel about Christ declaring Peter to be the rock
upon which the Church was to be built. Paul's sword represents his enthusiasm
for spreading the Good News which culminated in his beheading in Rome. In
remembering Peter and Paul, we remember the beginnings of the Church and how
two-distinct groups of early Christians - Jews and Gentiles - ultimately were
united as one. Both these martyrs gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel
and thus they imitated Jesus! Their blood is the seed of Christianity which
continues to grow throughout our world.
We look at Peter a
lot and I think it is because we can truly see ourselves in Peter. In fact we
would probably like to go to Peter for confession than any of the other
apostles. He is perhaps a more striking example of the simple fact of holiness.
Jesus says to us as He said, in effect, to Peter: It is not you who have chosen
Me, but I who have chosen you. Peter, it is not human wisdom that makes it
possible for you to believe, but my Father's revelation. I, not you, build My
Church. "Paul's experience of the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus was
the driving force that made him one of the most zealous, dynamic and courageous
ambassadors of Christ the Church has ever had. But persecution, humiliation and
weakness became his day-by-day carrying of the cross, material for further
transformation. In Christ, Paul died to self and the living Christ became his
life.
In Matt 16:
13, Jesus tests his disciples with a
crucial question. "Who do people
say the Son of Man is?" "And
who do you say that I am?" Jesus
was widely recognized in Israel as a mighty man of God, even being compared
with the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah.
Peter, always quick to respond, exclaimed that he was the Christ, the Son of
the living God. This gave him the keys to the Church. Jesus then confers this
authority to govern the Church out of love, the Church that Jesus built, a
Church that no powers would be able to overcome. Through Abraham God
established a nation for Himself. Through faith Peter, Paul and the other
disciples of Jesus in time grasped who
Jesus truly was. The first of the apostles recognized Jesus as the Anointed
one, the Messiah and Christ. The New Testament describes the Church as a
spiritual house or temple with its members joined together as living stones.
Faith in Jesus Christ makes us into rocks or spiritual stones and Ambassadors
as well. Jesus also tests each of us personally with the same question:
Who do you say that
I am?