Matthew 16:21-27

Meditatio (Reflecting)

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Oratio (Responding)

The contrast between this gospel and last weeks gospel is extreme. there are no verses in between, this is litterally the very next thing that happens after Jesus gives the Keys to the kingdom to Peter, and says that he will build his church upon the rock of Peter. This is done purposfully by Matthew because he wants us to understand the promise that Jesus made to his first pope, was not going to be free from Human weakness. In fact I dont think that there is any more eloquent passage in the bible that shows the simple fact that Not everything that the pope says or does is infallible. That distinction is reserved for specific and definitive occasions when the pope and the magisterium decide to declare a dogma on the subject of Faith and morals. So the pope is not impeccable. That honor is reserved for Mother Mary alone. She was preserved from the stain of sin, in thought word and deed for her whole life. This is not how we should think of peter or any of the bishops or popes since him. That said this reading has one of the most startling and even shocking statements that Jesus ever says. Why does Jesus call Peter Satan. There are several ways to look at this, First Satan means “accuser” in Greek, and thus can mean a metaphorical satan. Some think that because the Jews were expecting a warrior king that would reestablish the kingdom, reunite the tribes, and put all their enemies under their feet that Peter was responding with that thought in mind, and thus Peter is questioning (accusing) God, for his plan for the salvation of the world. And while that is all true, and holds an important part of this puzzle, I think that there is more to it. In a commentary I read, by Peter Kreeft, I think that he explains it best. To begin we have to bring to mind, the devils temptaion of Jesus in the desert. In the last temptation, he takes jesus up to the top of the temple and says I will give you all of this world if you will only bow down and worship me. What the devil is saying here is this… “That if you worship me, I will release all of the souls that have given themselves over to me, all those who have rejected you, and I will allow them to return to you. But even more all of the souls that will ever live, I will refrain from corrupting them as well.” The devils temptation’s were intended to persuade Jesus, on both a human and divine level. In this temptation the devil is tempting Jesus’ human nature, in that the pain and sacrifice that would be required to accomplish his goal is more than the human body can take, but he is also tempting Jesus in his divine nature, he is telling jesus that he will give jesus (God) everything he would ever want (eternity with all of this human children in Heaven), if he would only recognize Satan as lord. Obviously God cannot do this, but we would be fools to think that it is not a temptation. So fast-forwarding to our reading today, Peter is basically proposing the same tempation, but in his way, he is doing it for selfish (yet still innocent) reasons. But this is not what Jesus heard, He heard the voice of satan tempting him once again, but this time from the mouth of Peter. So the story makes more sense now. Peter was wrong about who the messiah was, and was focused on a worldly and material victory, but Jesus is fixed on the eternal victory. And while God loves all of this Children completely, because of free will he cannot force them to love him back. That must be the free choice of each and every one of us. If one person was in heaven by force, then it would not be heaven, it would be a prison. And as such we have to choose…, between the world, the flesh, and the devil, or the way, the truth, and the life. What will you choose?

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Oh lord help me today to choose you. to reject the lures of the devil and this world, and to show others the way to you as well.