Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 121

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.

Today's gospel describes a turning point in Salvation History when Saint Peter, speaking for the Twelve Apostles and for us, recognized Jesus of Nazareth as "the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus was so surprised and pleased by Peter's declaration he exclaimed, "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." 

What Peter understood was a divine revelation; it is neither common sense nor a scientific conclusion. If his insight into Jesus is entirely reasonable, it did not come to him through a rational process of gathering facts, creating hypotheses, and concluding with a theory. That scientific process could only happen when the Father spoke to Peter in the depths of his heart and said, "Worship this man!" 

Jesus was delighted because Peter knew him as no one had known him before, with the exception of his Virgin Mother. As the Lord ventured from Galilee into the Jordan River and then into the wilderness, and as he began his journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem, no one had recognized what he was doing or who he was until Peter got it.

But, as the story continues, we realize that Peter's insight is limited. He recognizes Christ as the Son of the Living God but he has yet to fathom what that might mean for Jesus and for himself. His "messiah" might be a mighty warrior or a holy priest but he cannot be a suffering servant. He should not be arrested, tried, tortured, and hanged on a cross. Nor should he -- Peter and other disciples of this great man  -- have to face trials, persecution, and martyrdom as they followed the Lord. 

That revelation would come with time and much painful experience. First he would witness the terrible truth of his own cowardice; and then he would discover extraordinary courage as the Holy Spirit appeared and flourished in his own heart. 

That further revelation began, as we'll hear next Sunday, when Peter thought he knew the mind of the Lord and dared to counsel Jesus. He said, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."

Jesus's reaction was immediate and sharp, ""Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me!"

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. It is good to stop here at this critical moment in Salvation History when an ordinary mortal – a man with limited insight and obvious failings – recognizes the presence of God on a dirty, busy highway in Israel. We should ponder the Father's revelation and Peter's declamation, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

This mystery, as Saint Paul said, was hidden from time immemorial. It is suggested by many passages in the Old  Testament, and finally revealed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Moses had prayed that the Lord would come with us; he never imagined the Incarnate God would walk among us. Or that God's word might be born of the Virgin Mary, and be recognized by a Jewish fisherman. He hoped that the nations might honor the God of Israel but he never dreamed of a gentile centurion saluting a dying Jewish man as the only begotten Son of God. 

The mystery of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit invites everyone -- Jews and Gentiles -- to enter the truth that is our human and divine nature. We know who we are only if we know the Lord; we find ourselves in God or not at all. 

Mortals, born of earth, fire, air, and water in an unlimited universe of galaxies and stars, formed by the hand of God but reformed and deformed by geography, history, and society, subject to the whims of a dynamic, dangerous planet, frail vessels of clay: can we also find our meaning, purpose, and salvation in the clouded, confused atmosphere of our hearts? Might the God of All Creation speak to Earthlings saying, “If you would know your meaning and purpose, worship this Man?”  

In today's Gospel, in response to his declaration of faith,  Simon bar Jonah, once known as Cephas, learns who he is and who he will become. He will hear words and be given authority he never imagined::  

You are Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."