Please read this passage before reading the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi. This about twenty miles from the Sea of Galilee. It was also an area that had great reverence for the pagan god Pan. Pan was for some the god of the fields, for others the god of pastures, or of the hunt or of goats or beekeeping.
It seemed like a good place to ask the disciples what people thought about Jesus. The answers were as varied as the occupations of the god Pan: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.
Jesus pressed them further, asking what the disciples thought about Jesus. Peter answered for them all, “The Christ, the Son of the living God.” The answer is very specific. Jesus is the Christ, the anointed Messiah. He is even more specific, not just any Messiah, but the Son of the living God, which means that he is the true Messiah of the family of David the King.
Jesus answered Peter with a blessing and explained that Peter’s answer shows that his answer had come from God, not from human sources.
This passage is from an older document than Matthew’s gospel: it pre-dates the writing of the gospel. The expressions for son of Jonah, flesh and blood, and Peter are from the language of Jesus.
The term church comes from the Greek translation of Isaiah. The word keys was also used by Isaiah in reference to King David’s Chief of Staff. The change of Simon’s name to Peter recalls the change of Abram’s and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah. Binding and loosing refers to the practice of rabbis as they explained the meaning of the Sacred Scripture to their people. Matthew is situating this episode solidly in the vital history of God’s people.
The authority of Jesus is substantiated in this passage. The new authority of Jesus to appoint Peter and the apostles is also substantiated. We are back in the time of Abrahm when God and Abraham walked side by side. We are back in the days of the great King David with his authority to bind and loose. We are back in the days of Isaiah and the prophets when God is intervening anew in the world of humans.
All this happened thousands of years ago. On the other hand, today Jesus walks with us in the area where pagan gods abound, gods of money, power, greed, prosperity and privilege. Again Jesus pops the question to us, “Whom do you say that I am?” Do we answer in line with the ancient Scriptures and with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”?