Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 16:13-19

On the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, we celebrate our unity as a Church. We celebrate the love, presence, and protection of Christ for us, the Church. The title “Chair of Peter” refers to the chair from which a bishop presided, a symbol of his authority. When the title refers to Saint Peter, it recalls the supreme teaching power of Peter and his successors. It is from the chair, from the pastoral power given to him, that the pope shepherds Christ’s flock. The Gospel from St Matthew records a dramatic moment in the relationship between Jesus and his disciples. They are at Caesarea Philippi, and Jesus asks his disciples two questions – what they heard people say about him and then How do they understand the person of Jesus. And Peter responds. “You are the Messiah!” Peter stands as a spokesperson for the group of the disciples. The passage presents Peter as the Chosen disciple of Jesus, who is endowed with the keys and the power of binding and loosing (Mt 18:18; cf. Jn 20:23). Why does Jesus use this image of the keys? The rabbis were convinced that they possess the “keys of the Torah” because they knew the Scriptures. They believed that everyone had to depend on them, for doctrinal decisions and judgments. They felt entitled to distinguish between the just and unjust, between saints and sinners. Jesus takes up this image in his harsh criticism against the scribes when he says: “A curse is on you, teachers of the Law, for you have taken the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered and you prevented others from entering” (Lk 11:52). Instead of opening the door of salvation, they kept them closed, not revealing to the people the true face of God and his will. Today, Jesus announces a new holder of the keys to the knowledge of God. The key that was abusively appropriated by the scribes, is now taken away from them and is given to the community of believers. The key that allows one to enter God’s kingdom, is the faith professed and handed down by Peter and the apostles. Peter and his companions now have the Mission to open wide the entrance to the knowledge of Christ and his gospel. Anyone who desires to walk in shall do so by using the key of faith: Profess your faith as peter did: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Like the Rabbis of Jesus’ times, leaders of the community misunderstood “the key” as the source of power and failed to realise it as means of service. The Church, invites us to be signs of love and unity, instead becoming expressions of power.