First Reading: Is 22:19-23
Second
Reading: Rom
11:33-36
Gospel: Mt 16:13-20
At this twenty-first Sunday in
ordinary time Jesus is with His disciples in the district of Caesarea Philippi.
This place holds significance to Jesus’ enquiry about His identity. In Caesarea
Philippi, columns are erected for various gods. Anyone who visits this place
would be marvelled by the gigantic figures of different gods. The columns evoke
divine fear as well as impact people with the sense of awe and wonder. Jesus
standing in the midst of those pagan gods asks his disciples what do both the people and the disciples say about Him. The disciples have to choose between
Jesus and other pagan gods exposed there in Caesarea Philippi. Peter firmly
says that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God (Mt 16:16). How did peter get to
know about Jesus correctly? As Jesus says, it is because of the grace from God
the Father (Mt 16:17). Having journeyed with Jesus for long, Peter must have
spent enough time in reflecting upon Jesus. For every time when Jesus does some
miracle, puts forth some riddle in His teaching or confuses them with new laws
and idea of the kingdom of God, Peter must have paused and reflected. It is
only in reflection and in taking the things to prayer do we really comprehend
the mysteries. Jesus is a mystery. He has to be understood in deep reflection
and contemplation. No wonder why the Christianity has got such rich theology!
Jesus Himself has said that no one can come to Him unless the Father beckons
(Jn 6:44). To get hold of Jesus we need to be drawn by the Father. God the
Father draws us to Jesus when we open ourselves to know the truth. It is only
the heart and mind that is open devoid of any prejudice can reach up to know
the truth in its totality and with all its richness. In the second reading St.
Paul speaks about the richness of God’s knowledge and wisdom. Certainly, no
one can fully know God as we are only less than a dot in His creation. If one places
her/himself at the centre of the whole creation, s/he cannot grasp the vastness
of creation. When one places the creator
at the centre of the whole creation, s/he comes to know the littleness of one’s
place in the entire creation within limited space and time. Thus, who do we
place at the centre as the focal point to navigate matters. In today’s gospel
peter gets it rightly, because he has placed God at the centre in his search
for comprehending the mysteries surrounding his master Jesus. While, the Pharisees,
Sadducess, Scribes and leaders in the Jewish setting struggle to place Jesus
within their prior knowledge, Peter and other disciples of Jesus have opened
themselves up to newer understanding of the scripture and the law. For the first
group the focal point is scripture and the law. Whereas for the second group
the focal point is Jesus. By placing Jesus at the centre the apostles move around
to understand the scripture and the law. In our life too who is at the centre
matters. Jesus’ commandment to love God first before loving oneself and others
has a purpose. We don’t move to the peripheries rather march towards the
centre. If one’s wife is the centre then everything will march towards her
wish. If one’s husband is the centre then everything will march towards his wish.
If one’s children are the centre then… if one’s occupation is the centre then….
If one’s wealth is the centre… today is the right day to introspect and find
out whom have we placed at the centre in our life. For Peter and the apostles it
is Jesus. For you and me – who?
Jesus also installs Peter as
the first pope in the gospel. Peter gets the key to open and shut the heaven’s
door. It may seem foolish for God to entrust the divine paradise to an uneducated
human being. But this is the way of God. Human prudence sees this as absurdity
but divine wisdom reveals this as LOVE. If human prudence that pulls the person
to give his/her entire life span to work towards the accumulation of perishable
wealth is not an absurdity, how come the divine wisdom that offers eternal life
could be a stupidity? So far no kingdom or government on earth has reigned
permanently. But the Catholic Church has stood strong despite all odds and ends
over two thousand years. This itself a proof that the Peter in the gospel does
not stand with his human capacity and prudence but with divine grace. Jesus’
entrustment of the Church to Peter seem to be absurd but the looking back of the
history of the Church would leave us with sense of wonder and awe. The continuous
existence of the Catholic Church beyond two thousand years is not a survival among
thorns but a rock amidst rogue waves in
the sea. The ship of Catholic Church batters all the storms because it has rock
as its foundation. It is very clear from the first reading that the authority
in Israel (now in the Catholic Church) is given by God. Human eyes may not
perceive it rightly but opening up of oneself to divine assistance may help him/her
to get this properly. May we open ourselves to divine assistance by placing
Jesus at the centre.
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