Wednesday after the Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 7, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 16:13-26 (NKJV)
16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Devotion
This is the primary passage that the Roman Church uses to defend its assertion of papal primacy. But such an interpretation is wrong. St. Augustine said on several occasions that the ????? of this passage referred to Christ, not Peter. St. Ambrose championed the faith/rock interpretation. He did not see Peter the man as the ????? (petra). Luther also understood the rock to be Peter’s confession of faith. No matter how one interprets the passage, Peter is not the focus; Jesus is. Outside of some leadership role for Peter among the twelve, there is nothing else that can be proven from a Roman interpretation.
What if Peter is referred to by Jesus as the ????? (petra) here (just for argument’s sake)? The mountain of deductions that the Roman Church asserts from this passage is utterly unsupportable. Peter is a stand-in for all the Apostles in this passage, and while he receives primacy of honor here as the first to confess the Christ, he receives no greater authority than the rest of the twelve. Also, Peter is called ????? (petra) not because of any quality in himself (he is rebuked by Jesus five verses later), but because of the confession of faith he makes. The Gospel is still above the man, and faith in the One who brings the Gospel is still the main focus of the text.
Prayer: O God, who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things as pass man’s understanding, pour into our hearts such love toward Thee that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
