Who Do You Say He is?

Gospel Reflection For Thursday, The 22nd day of February in the year of Our Lord, 2024

Gospel

Matthew 16:13-19

13 And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is? 14 But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?

16 Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

As Catholics, this is one of the most important verses in the Bible. No matter how Protestants try to explain away the authority given to Saint Peter by God, the plan words remain the same and are even more plain the Aramaic spoken by our Lord. Jesus took a flawed man and made him the rock upon which He would found His church. Saint Peter was not transformed in an instant. Far from it. Saint Peter continued to struggle and fail, even denying our Lord. But none of that mattered, because of his faith. His faith made him return to the Lord and seek forgiveness. His faith would not let him leave Jesus and the Word of God would transform him from a simple fisherman and a man who lacked constancy and courage into the first pope. He would steward the Church. He would shepherd the flock as our lord commanded him when he said, “feed my sheep.” He would willingly die a martyr’s death, crucified upside down in Rome, preaching the Gospel as he died. His bones would be gathered and the altar of Saint Peter’s Basilica would be built over them. He would very literally be the rock on which Jesus built His Church.

The power to bind and loose given to Saint Peter by Jesus Christ is the power of the Sacraments. Saint Peter and the Holy Apostles under his authority could teach with the authority and granted to them by God. They alone could ordain priests to share in their power and authority. They could write the books of the New Testament and authorize the Bible. They could forgive sins. They could turn bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. They could could bring salvation to the world through the One, Holy and Apostolic Church. Why could they do it and how could they do it? Simple: God said so. The same God who spoke all of creation into existence through His WORD turned Simon into Saint Peter, the first pope, through His WORD. The same WORD that was the Law of the Moses, the Ten Commandments, created a new Law, a new Church and a new world with these simple words… and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

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Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic