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What is the rock on which Jesus will build his church: the person of Peter or his faith?

 
Reading:  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16-19.
 
Good morning, happy Thursday, and many blessings my dear family.
 
The key question in today’s Gospel (Matthew 16:13-23) is “But who do you say that I am?” I wonder sometimes if we hear this question as Jesus’ mid-gospel exam. We are about half way through Matthew’s account of the gospel. So it makes sense that Jesus might gather the guys and say, “Ok let’s see what you’ve learned, if you really understand. Who am I?”
 
Most of us know the right answer. We’ve read Peter’s answer. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Today’s gospel is not, however, about giving the right answer. This is not a test. This is not about what is in our head but what is in our heart. It’s about what lies at the core of our existence. Jesus is asking the disciples to consider what centers their lives. What is the axis about which their world turns? It is not enough to just give the right answer. They are to become and reveal the answer by their lives, words, and actions. Those things, for Jesus, are foundational to a life of discipleship.
 
We all have some center from which we live. People, things, and experiences tend to become our anchor point, the center of our life. They give us our bearings and stability. Our center orients our life and the direction we go. It not only shapes how we live but, more importantly, who we are becoming.
 
Peter does well here: he has caught on to who Jesus was, and Jesus blesses him. But this is not the end of the journey, because when under pressure in the Passion he denies that he even knows Jesus. Peter however enters into a new depth of relationship with Jesus when he admits his weakness: he knows he can no longer trust himself but must depend totally on Jesus. Notice how Jesus stresses that Peter's (and my) faith is a gift from God. What is the rock on which Jesus will build his church: the person of Peter or his faith?
 
We can take great comfort from the behavior of Simon Peter! Jesus saw the colossal potential in this volatile, emotional, and generally flawed individual. He saw the solid rock-like core on which he would build his church.
 
The ability to believe we are forgiven is crucial to our spiritual growth. This was the defining difference between Peter and Judas. Judas could not contemplate the possibility of forgiveness. He, who had heard Christ say that one must forgive seventy times seven, could not bring himself to ask Christ to forgive him
Jesus asks me this question today “Who do you say that I am?” This question forces me to consider what I really believe. Who is Jesus for me? What do I believe about him? Why am I a Christian?
Blessings,
 
Luis+

Date news: 
Friday, August 5, 2022 - 01:15

Ministry at the time of Coronavirus (Covid 19): Prevent, cure and accompany

Now we have to shape what some have started calling; The Church at Home. Although I keep asking myself; What do those who do not have a home do? For this reason, at the same time, I am declaring today in our Holyrood Church a Lenten day of prayer, fasting and reading the Bible in the Time of the Coronavirus.

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