ROCK OF CEPHAS - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Homily for the 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Based on Mt 16:13-20(Gospel), Is 22:15,19-23(First Reading) and Rm 11:33-36 (Second Reading)

From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

ROCK OF CEPHAS

“‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ meaning Rock” (Jn 1:42)

The Gospel for this 21^stSunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) is taken from Mt 16:13-20. The first title is

“Peter’s profession of faith; his pre-eminence.” Parallel texts for this title are:

1.       Mk 8:27-30 - Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” (v. 27).And they told him, ‘John the Baptist,’  they said ‘others Elijah’, others again, one of the prophets (v. 28).’  “But you,’ he asked,‘ who do you say I am?” Peter spoke up and said to him, “You are the Christ (v. 29).” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him (v. 30).

2.       Lk 9:18-30 - Peter’s profession of faith^c. Now one day when he was praying alone in the  presence of his disciples he put this question to them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” (v. 18) And they answered, “John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life’ (v. 19). ‘But you,’ he said them, “who do you say I am?” It was Peter who spoke up, ‘The Christ of God’ he said (v. 20). But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this (v. 21).  First prophecy of the Passion^d. “The Son of Man’ he said, is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day (v. 22). Then to all he said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me (v.23); For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it (v. 24). What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self (v. 25)? For if anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels (v. 26). ‘I tell you truly, there some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God’ (v. 27). The Transfiguration^e Now about eight days after this had been said, he took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray (v. 28). As he prayed, the aspect of his face changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning (v. 29). Suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah (v. 30). Footnote ^c says “Lk has left out a whole section of Mk (6:45-8:26).”;Footnote^d says “This prophecy is to b followed by several others, 9:44; 12:50; 17:25; 18:31-33. Cf. 24:7,25-27. Lk omits Peter’s protest and his rebuke by Jesus, Mk 8:32f.”; and Footnote ^e says “One of the narratives in which Lk most widely differs from Mk, It is clear that Lk. had his own source of information (John?).”

Verses 13 and 14 say: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, “Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Parallel texts of verse 14 are:

1.       Mt 8:20 - Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man^h has nowhere to lay his head.’ Footnote ^h says “With the exception of Ac 7:56, Rv 1:13; 14:14; this title appears only in the  gospels. There is no doubt that Jesus used it of himself, and indeed preferred it to others. At times he uses it to express his lowly state, 8:20; 11:19; 20:28, especially the humiliation of the Passion, 17:22, etc. At others times it is used to proclaim the definitive triumph of his resurrection, 17:9, of his return in glory, 24:30; of his coming in judgment, 25:31. That this title, Aramaic in flavor, could bring together these seemingly  opposed qualities is clear from the following considerations. The phrase originally meant ‘man’, Ezk. 2:1+, and by reason of its unusual and indirect form it underlined the lowliness of man’s state. But the title suggested glory, too. It was used in Dn 7:13+, and later in the Jewish apocalyptic Book of Enoch, to indicate the transcendent figure, heavenly in origin, who was to receive from God’s hand the eschatological kingdom (the kingdom ‘at the end of times’). In this way therefore the title both veiled and hinted at (cf. Mk. 1:34+; Mt. 13:13+) the sort of Messiah Jesus was. Moreover, the explicit avowal in the presence of the Sanhedrin, 26:64+, should have removed all ambiguity.”

2.       Mt 14:2 - and said to his court, “This is John the Baptist himself; he has been risen from the dead, that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.’

Verse 16 says: Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’^d Footnote  ^d says “In Mt Peter acknowledges not only that Jesus is the Messiah but also that he is the Son of God: this second title is not found in Mk and Lk. Cf. also 14:33 with Mk 6:51f. Cf Mt 4:3+.”

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       Jn 6:69…and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God’^s. Footnote ^s says “i.e. the Messiah, God’s chosen envoy, consecrated and united in him uniquely, cf. 10:36; 17:19. Var. ‘you are the Christ, the Son of God’ or ‘the Son of the living God’, cf. Mt 16:16.”

2.       Mt 4:3+ - and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God,^c tell these stones to turn into loaves’.Footnote^c  says “The biblical title ‘Son of God’ does not necessarily mean natural sonship but may imply a sonship which is merely adoptive, i.e., which as a result of God’s deliberate choice sets up a very intimate relationship between God and his creature. In this sense the title is given to angels (Jb. 1:6), to the Chosen People (Ex. 4:22, Ws. 18:13), to individual Israelites (Dt. 14:1, Ho. 2:1, cf. Mt. 5:9,48, etc.), to their leaders (Ps. 82:6). Were therefore it is attributed to the royal Messiah (1 Ch. 17:13, Ps. 2:7, 89:26) it does not necessarily imply that he is more than man; nor need we suppose that it has any deeper significance when used by Satan (Mt. 4:3,6) or by the possessed (Mk. 3:11, 5:7, Lk. 4:41), still less when used by the centurion (Mk. 15:39, cf. Lk. 23:47). By itself the sentence at baptism (Mt. 3:17) and at the transfiguration (17:5) suggests no more than the divine predilection for the Messiah-servant, and all probability the High priest’s question (26:63) concerns messiahship only. Nevertheless the title ‘Son of God’ can bear a further, more profound meaning of sonship in the full sense of the word. Jesus clearly insinuated this meaning when he spoke of himself as ‘the Son’ (2:37), ranked above the angels (24:36), having God for his ‘Father’ in a way others had not (Jn. 20:17 and cf. ‘my Father’ in Mt. 7:21, etc.), enjoying with the Father an altogether singular relationship of knowledge and love (Mt. 11:27). These assertions, coupled with others that speak of the Messiah’s divine rank (22:42-46), of the heavenly origin of the ‘son of  man’ (8:20+), assertions finally confirmed by the triumph of the resurrection, have endowed the expression ‘son of God’ with the strictly divine significance which will later be found, e.g. in Paul (Rm. 9:5+). During the lifetime of Christ, it is true his disciples had no clear conception of his divinity – the texts of Mt. 14:33 and 16:16 which add the title ‘Son of God’ to the more primitive text of Mk reflect, in all probability, a later stage in the faith’s development. But it is equally true that Jesus expressed with his own lips and with as much clarity as his audience could support, his own consciousness of being Son of the Father in the fullest sense. On these historical utterances the faith of the disciples rested, a faith that reached its perfection after the resurrection with the help of the Holy Spirit.”

3.       Mt 14:33 - The men on the boat bowed down before him and said, ‘Truly, you are the Son of God’.

Verse 17 says: Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood^e that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.

Footnote ^e says “The expression indicates man, emphasizing his material, limited nature as opposed to that of the spirit world, Si 14:18; Rm 7:5+; 1 Co 15:50; Ga 1:16; Ep 6:12;  Heb 2:14; cf. Jn 1:13.”

Parallel texts are:

1.       Rm 7:5 - Before our conversions our sinful passions, quite unsubdued by the Law, fertilized our bodies to make them give birth to death.

2.       Ep 6:12 - For it is not against human enemies that we have^d  to struggle, but against Sovereignties and the Powers who originate the darkness in the world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens.^e  Footnote^d says “Var. ‘you have’.”; and Footnote^e says “These are the spirits who were thought to move the stars and, consequently, the universe. They lived in ‘the heavens’, 1:20f; 3:10; 3:10; Ph 2:10, or in ‘the air’, 2:2, i.e. the space between the surface of the earth and the heaven where God lives. Some of them are among the ‘elemental principles of the world’, Ga 4:3. They disobeyed God and want to enslave the human race to themselves in sin 2:2. We used to be their slaves but Christ came to free us, 1:21; Col 1:13; 2:15,20, and if Christians are armed with the power of Christ, they will be able to fight them.”

3.       Heb 2:14 - Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, ^h who had power over death. Footnote ^h says “Sin and death are related because both derive from Satan whose reign is the opposite of the reign of Christ.”

Verse 18 says: So I now say to you, you are Peter^f and upon this rock I will build my Church.^g And the gates of the underworld^h can never hold out against it. Footnote  ^fsays “Neither the Greek word petros nor even, as it seems, its Aramaic equivalent kephas (rock) was used as a person’s name before Jesus conferred it on the apostles’ leader to symbolize the part he was to play in the foundation of the Church. This change of name had possibly been made earlier, cf. Jn. 1:42; Mk. 3:16; Lk. 6:14.”; Footnote ^g says “The Hebr. qahal which the Greek renders ekklesia means ‘an assembly called together’; it is used frequently in the OT to indicate the community of the Chosen People, especially the community of the desert period, cf. Ac. 7:38. Certain Jewish groups (among them the Essenes of Qumran) regarded themselves as the chosen remnant of Israel (Is. 4:3+), which was to survive in the latter days. These had also used the term that Jesus now adopts to indicate the messianic community, the community of the ‘new alliance’ sealed with his blood, Mt. 26:28+; Ep. 5:25. By using the term ‘assembly’ side by side with that of the kingdom of heaven, Mt. 4:17+, Jesus shows that this eschatological community (community of the end times) is to have its beginning here on earth in the form of an organized society whose leader he now appoints, Cf. Ac. 5:11+; 1 Co. 1:2+.”; and Footnote ^h says “Greek: Hades: Hebrew: Sheol, the dwelling place of the Dead, cf. Nb. 16:33 +. Here its personified ‘gates’ suggest the powers of evil which first lead man into the death which is sin and then imprison him once for all in eternal death. The Church’s task will be to rescue the elect from death’s dominion, from the death of the body and above all from eternal death, so that it may lead them into the kingdom of heaven, cf. Col 1:13; 1 Co 15:26: Rv. 6:8; 20:13. In this the church follows its Master who died, descended into the underworld, cf. 1 P. 3:19+, and rose again. Ac. 2:27,31.”

Parallel texts are:

1.       Is 28:16 - That is why the Lord Yahweh says this: See how I lay in Zion a stone of witness, a precious cornerstone,  a foundation stone: The believer shall not stumble.

2.       Jn 1:42 - and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ meaning Rock.

Verse  19 says: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.ⁱ

Footnote  ^I says “The City of God, like the City of Death, has its gates too; they grant entrance only to those who are worthy of it. Peter has the keys. It is his function, therefore, to open or close to all who would come to the kingdom of heaven through the Church. ‘bind’ and ‘loose’ are technical rabbinic terms; primarily they have a disciplinary reference; one is ‘bound’ (condemned to) o ‘loosed’ (absolved from) excommunication. Their secondary usage is connected with doctrinal or juridical decisions: an opinion is ‘bound’ (forbidden) or ‘loosed’ {allowed). Of the household of God Peter is controller (the keys symbolize this, cf. Is. 22:22). In that capacity, he is to exercise the disciplinary power of admitting or excluding those he thinks fit; he will also, in the administration of the community, make necessary decision in questions of doctrinal belief and of moral conduct. The verdicts he deliver or the pronouncements he makes will be ratified by God in heaven. Catholic exegetes maintain that these enduring promises hold good not only for Peter himself but also for Peter’s successors. This inference, not explicitly drawn in the text, is considered legitimate because Jesus plainly intends to provide for his Church’s future by establishing a regime that will not collapse after Peter’s death. Two other texts, Lk 22:31f and Jn. 21:15f, on Peter’s primacy emphasize that its operation is to be in the domain of faith; they also indicate that this makes him head not only of the Church after the death of Christ but of the apostolic group then and there.”

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       Mt 18:18 - ‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.^j Footnote ^j says “i.e. ‘outcast’, ‘excommunicate’.”

2.       Is 22:22 - I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open.

3.       Lk 22:32 - but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your own faith may not fail,  and once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers.

4.       Jn 20:23 - For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.

5.       Rv 3:7 - Write to the angel of the church of Philadelphia and say, “Here is the message of the holy and faithful one who has the key of David, so that when he opens, nobody can close, and when he closes, nobody can open:

Verse 20 says: Then he gave his disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ^j. Footnote  ^j says “Vulg. ‘Jesus Christ’.”

Parallel text is Mk 1:34that says: And he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.ⁱ Footnote ⁱ says “Jesus forbids the news that he is the Messiah to be spread by the devils, 1:25,34; 3:12, by those he cured, 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, even by the apostles, 8:30; 9:9. The silence is not to be broken till after his death, Mt. 10:27+. Since the prevailing idea of the Messiah was nationalistic and warlike, in sharp contrast with his own ideal, Jesus had to be very careful, at least on Israelite soil, cf. 5:19, to avoid giving a false and dangerous impression of his mission, cf. Jn. 6:15; Mt. 13:13+. This policy of silence (‘the messianic secret’) is not an invention of Mk’s, as some have claimed, but is in fact Christ’s own, though Mark has given it a special emphasis. With the exception of Mt. 9:30, Mt. and Lk. record the injunction to silence only in passages which are parallel with Mk, frequently omitting it even in these cases.”

The First Reading is taken from Is 22:15,19-23.

Verses 15, 19 to 21 say: Thus says the Lord Yahweh Sabaoth: Now go to the steward, to Shebna, the master of the palace...I dismiss you from your office, I^k remove you from your post, and the same day I shall on my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I invest him with your robe, gird him with your sash, entrust him with your authority; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Footnote  ^k says ‘I’ versions’ ‘he’ Hebr.”

Parallel text of verse 15 are:

1.       Is 36:3,11,22 - The master of the palace, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna the secretary and the herald Joah son of Asaph went out to meet him (v. 3). Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the cupbearer-in-chief, ‘Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the Judaean language within earshot of the people on the ramparts’ (v. 11). The master of the palace, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna the secretary and the herald Joah son of Asaph, with their garments torn, went to Hezekiah and reported what the cupbearer-in-chief had said.

2.       2 K 18:18,26,37 - He summoned the king. The master of the palace, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna the secretary and the herald Joah son of Asaph went out to him.

Verse 22 says: I place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; should he open, no one shall close, should he close, no one shall open. I drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a throne of glory for his father’s house.^l  Footnote  ^l says Probably for sacrifices or banquets to celebrate a victory of Hezekiah or the inauguration of the fortifications.

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       Mt 16:19 - I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.ⁱ Footnote  ⁱ says “The City of God, like the City of Death, has its gates too; they grant entrance only to those who are worthy of it. Peter has the keys. It is his function, therefore, to open or close to all who would come to the kingdom of heaven through the Church. ‘bind’ and ‘loose’ are technical rabbinic terms; primarily they have a disciplinary reference; one is ‘bound’ (condemned to) o ‘loosed’ (absolved from) excommunication. Their secondary usage is connected with doctrinal or juridical decisions: an opinion is ‘bound’ (forbidden) or ‘loosed’ {allowed). Of the household of God Peter is controller (the keys symbolize this, cf. Is. 22:22). In that capacity, he is to exercise the disciplinary power of admitting or excluding those he thinks fit; he will also, in the administration of the community, make necessary decision in questions of doctrinal belief and of moral conduct. The verdicts he deliver or the pronouncements he makes will be ratified by God i heaven. Catholic exegetes maintain that these enduring promises hold good not only for Peter himself but also for Peter’s successors. This inference, not explicitly drawn in the text, is considered legitimate because Jesus plainly intends to provide for his Church’s future by establishing a regime that will not collapse after Peter’s death. Two other texts, Lk. 22:31f and Jn. 21:15f, on Peter’s primacy emphasize that its operation is to be in the domain of faith; they also indicate that this makes him head not only of the Church after the death of Christ but of the apostolic group then and there.”

2.       Rv 3:7 - Write to the angel of the church of Philadelphia and say, “Here is the message of the holy and faithful one who has the key of David, so that when he opens, nobody can close, and when he closes, nobody can open…

3.       Jb 12:14 - What he destroys, none can rebuild; whom he imprisons, none can release.

The Second Reading is taken from Rm 11:33-36.

Verse 33 says: How rich are the depths of God-how deep his wisdom and knowledge-and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods!

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       Jdt 8:14 - If you cannot sound the depths of the hearts of man or unravel the arguments of his mind, how can you fathom the God who made all things, or sound his mind or unravel his purposes? No, brothers, do not provoke the anger of the Lord our God.

2.       Jb 11:6…were he to show you the secrets of wisdom which puts all cleverness to shame-you would know it is for sin he calls you to account .^b Footnote ^b says ‘he calls you to account’ corr.; ‘God makes you forget’ Hebr.

3.       Ps 139:6,17-18 - Such knowledge is beyond my understanding, a height to which my mind cannot attain (v. 6). …occured.^j God, how hard it is to grasp your thoughts! How impossible to count them! (v. 17) I could no more count them than I could the sand, and suppose I could,^k you would still be with me (v. 18).^l Footnote  ^j says “Lit. ‘appeared’ conj.”; Footnote ^k says “Lit. ‘when I reach the end’ 3 MSS; ‘when I awake’ Hebr.”; and Footnote ^l says “Either ‘I should still be conscious of God’s presence’; or ‘I should still be faced with the mystery of God’.”

Verse 34 says: Who can ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counselor?”

Parallel texts are:

1.       Is 40:13 - Who could have advised the spirit of Yahweh, what counselor could have instructed him?

2.       1 Co 2:11 - After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man, and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God.

Verse 35 says: Who could give him anything or lend him anything?

Parallel text is Jb 41:3 that says: Who can attack him with impunity? No one beneath all heaven.

Verse 36 says: All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Parallel text of verse is that says:

1.       1 Co 8:6 - Still for us there is one God, the Father, from all things come and for whom we exist; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, though whom all things come through whom we exist.

2.       Col 1:16-17…for him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers - all things were created through him and for him (v. 16). Before anything was created, he existed, and he hold all things in unity.

3.       Heb 2:10 - As it was his purpose to bring a great many of his sons into glory, it was appropriate that God, for whom everything exists and through whom everything exist, in bringing many children to glory, should perfect, through suffering, the leader who would take them to their salvation.^f Footnote  ^f  says “By dying and fulfilling the will of God, Christ becomes the one perfect savior, responsible for the entry of human beings into the glory of God.”