August 23, 2020

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]

“And the Survey Says…”

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Opinion polls and surveys are common in our culture, especially during political campaigns. In today’s Gospel event, Our Lord took a survey and we discover that polls do not necessarily yield the truth. In fact, in this case all the assertions of the crowd were wrong. Jesus is not the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. The truth about Jesus does not emerge through consensus from below. It has a different origin.

Having heard the crowd’s opinions, Jesus turns to the apostles, his inner circle, and asks, “Who do you say that I am?” He is met with silence. Uneasy, they are unable to respond. Finally, Peter speaks up. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This was not an impulsive utterance or a wild guess. The words did not come from him but from above—from God. Peter utters these words through the power of the Holy Spirit—the truth which is at the heart of Christianity.

Jesus affirms this statement and with a solemn declaration defines Peter’s role in the Church: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And I tell you: you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” [Mt. 16:18-19]

Our Lord gave James and John the nickname “sons of thunder,” here Jesus gives Simon the name Cephas. [In Greek Petros and in Latin, Petrus]. In Scripture, a name change denotes the entrustment of a mission.

Our Lord entrusts Peter with a unique position of leadership and authority. Giving keys is a metaphor for conferral of authority. Peter’s mandate is to unite and strengthen the Church. He is to be, in the words of Pope Benedict, the “custodian of communion with Christ for all time.”

Peter is also granted the power to bind and loose, that is to say, establishing or prohibiting whatever he deems necessary for the life of the Church. He can make decisions that clarify what is and what is not the faith of the Church. This mission and ministry do not end with Peter’s martyrdom, but is passed down to his successors, to the very present, to Pope Francis.

This is a great gift for which we must be ever grateful, for without a visible head, there is no principle on earth for unity in the Church. When there is no Pope, everyone is Pope and interpretation of what God desires for us becomes uncertain, confused, and open-ended. Our Lord would not have it that way and made Peter and his successors our point of reference in the Christian life. Benedict XVI said that the pope is “the one responsible for making sure that the faith that keeps people together is believed, that it remains alive, and that its identity is inviolate.” [Light of the World, pp. 6-7]

Let our prayer today be one of thanksgiving, for the gift of Peter, the gift of the papacy, for our Holy Father; for the Church rests not on the shifting sands of popular opinion, nor on the speculation of an intellectual elite, but rather on the rock who is Peter and his successors down through the ages. [ref. Robert Barron, Word on Fire p. 152]