Thursday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Matthew 16:13-23

We now reach a high point in Matthew’s narrative. More than any of the other Gospels, his is a Gospel of the Church. (Mark, in comparison, emphasises discipleship; Luke, the communication of God’s love and compassion; and John, unity with God through Jesus.)

We find Jesus and his disciples in the district of Caesarea Philippi. This is not the fine city of Caesarea built by Herod the Great on the shore of the Mediterranean. It was a town, rebuilt by Herod’s son Philip, who named it after the emperor Tiberius Caesar and himself. It lay just to the north of the Sea of Galilee and near the slopes of Mount Hermon. It had originally been called Paneas, after the Greek god Pan and is known today as Banias.

The area was predominantly pagan, dominated by Rome. In a sense, therefore, it was both an unexpected yet fitting place for Jesus’ identity to be proclaimed. He was, after all, not just for his own people, but for the whole world.

Jesus begins by asking his disciples who people think he really is. They respond with some of the speculations that were going round: he was John the Baptist resurrected from the dead (Herod’s view, for instance), or Elijah (whose return was expected to herald the imminent coming of the Messiah), or Jeremiah or some other of the great prophets.

The Jews at this time expected a revival of the prophetic spirit which had been extinct since Malachi. John was regarded by many of the people as a prophet, although he denied that he was the expected prophet, often thought to be Elijah returned. The early Christians saw Jesus as a prophet, but with the appearance of prophecy as a charism in their communities, the term was dropped in his case.

Interestingly, the people did not seem to think that Jesus himself was on a par with these ‘greats’ of their history. We do tend to undervalue the leaders of our own time when compared with those of the past.

Jesus goes on to ask:

But who do you say that I am?

It was a moment of truth, a very special moment in his disciples’ relationship with their Master. Simon speaks up:

You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

It is a huge step forward for Simon and his companions. As we shall see, it is not yet a total recognition of his identity or mission. But Jesus is no mere rabbi, no mere prophet, but rather the long-awaited Messiah and Saviour King who would deliver Israel. It is an exciting moment in their relationship with him. And it is only in Matthew that Simon Peter calls him “Son of God”.

The focus now shifts immediately to Simon. He is praised for his insight but Jesus makes clear that it comes from divine inspiration and is not a mere deduction. A ‘mystery’, in the Scripture sense, is being uncovered.

And now comes the great promise. Simon from now on is to be called “Peter”, a play on the word for ‘rock’ (kepha in Aramaic, petra/petros in Greek), for he will become the rock on which the “church” will be built—a rock which will stand firm against all attacks on it. This promise must have sounded very daring at the time it was written, but throughout more than 2,000 years it has again and again been vindicated. ‘Peter’, in either its Aramaic or Hebrew form, was not a previously known personal name.

The term ‘church’ only appears twice in Matthew and not at all in the other three Gospels. The Hebrew word qahal, which in Greek is rendered as ekklesia, means ‘an assembly called together’. It was used often in the Old Testament to indicate the community of the Chosen People.

According to the Jerusalem Bible:

“By using this term ekklesia side by side with ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, Jesus shows that this eschatological community (community of the ‘end-times’) is to have its beginnings here on earth in the form of an organised society whose leader he now appoints.”

And Peter is given power and authority, the “keys of the kingdom of heaven”, all that he will need to make the Kingdom a reality. His authority and that of the ‘church’ is the authority of Jesus himself. Whatever Peter and the church formally decide is immediately ratified by God; they are his appointed agents.

Lastly, they are strictly ordered not to tell anyone else that Jesus is the Messiah. The people are not ready to hear it. The people have their own expectations, which are very different from the Messiah that Jesus is going to be. The disciples themselves have a totally wrong idea, as becomes immediately clear in what follows.

From the moment that they recognise Jesus as Messiah, he begins to prepare them for what is going to happen:

[The Son of Man] must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

This is the first of three ominous predictions.

After the euphoria of knowing their Master was the Messiah, all their dreams and hopes are shattered by these terrible revelations. It is hard for us to imagine the impact these words must have had.

Peter, who had just covered himself in glory and been appointed leader, almost patronisingly takes Jesus aside, saying:

God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.

For him and the others this was an unthinkable scenario for the Messiah for whom they were all waiting. How much more shocked Peter must have been at Jesus’ reaction:

Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.

The man who was just now called the Rock is accused of being Satan’s advocate! Instead of being a rock of stability, he is seen as a stumbling block in the way of Jesus.

Peter is seen as doing the very work of the devil in trying to divert Jesus from the way he was called to go, the way in which God’s love would be revealed to us, the way in which we would be liberated for the life of the Kingdom.

It will take time before Peter and the others both understand and accept the idea of a suffering and dying Messiah. It will not happen until after the Resurrection. Before that the “Rock” will be guilty of a shameful betrayal of the Man who put such trust in him.

We too should ask ourselves to what extent we accept Jesus the rejected, suffering, dying and rising Messiah.

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Thursday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Numbers 20:1-13

The passage from Wednesday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time is followed in Numbers by a long section of laws governing sacrifices, powers of priests and Levites (chaps 15—19 inclusive). The main theme of the section we are entering in today’s reading is the steady advance of God’s chosen people despite all opposition on their part. Today’s reading is the final passage we will be taking from the book and is an account of another sad confrontation between Yahweh and his people.

The Israelites are very near the end of their long journey. We are told that the whole community of the Israelites arrived at the desert of Zin on the first month of the year, and that the people settled in Kadesh. The desert of Zin was a barren region with a few good oases, lying southwest of the Dead Sea.

It is the first month, but we are not told in which year. However, based on earlier information, we are led to the conclusion that this passage begins in the 40th year after the Exodus. Those people over 20 years of age, who the Lord said would not enter the Promised Land because of their disobedience at Kadesh (see the reading from Wednesday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time), have now all died.

The majority of the people’s desert wandering is left without record. The people may have gone through a cycle of roving travels, seeking water sources and the sparse vegetation, supported primarily by manna. But their circular wanderings would bring them back to the central camp at Kadesh, the scene of their great rebellion when, on the very borders of the Promised Land, they refused to enter it (again see the reading from Wednesday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time).

They have now come full circle, and again the land of promise lies before them. Here Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died and was buried. When they got back to Kadesh, there was no water for the community and, as happened so often before, the people held a council, putting the blame on Moses and Aaron for their situation.

Forty years earlier, the Lord had instructed Moses to take the staff he had used to strike the Nile (turning it to blood—one of the Ten Plagues; see Exod 7:17) and to strike the rock at Horeb (Sinai) to initiate a flow of water (see Exod 17:1-7). Now, 40 years later, at the place of Israel’s worst acts of rebellion, the scene was recurring. The descendants of the rebellious nation now desire to die along with their parents; they have learnt nothing from their 40 years of wandering.

They demand of Moses:

Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place?

Where they are now, it is impossible to sow crops; there is no fruit, no vines and not even water to drink.

Leaving the assembly, Moses and Aaron went to the Tent of Meeting which was at some distance from the encampment. As they fell on their faces, the glory of the Lord appeared to them. He was aware of their problem and why they had come looking for him. He immediately gave them instructions:

Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.

Although Moses was told to take his staff, through which God had performed wonders in Egypt and in the desert all these years, this time he was told just to speak to the rock and it would pour out its water for the people.

Moses then took the staff from before Yahweh, as instructed, and called the assembly together in front of the rock. He then said to the gathered people:

Listen, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?

His calling them ‘rebels’ is an indication of his of accumulated anger, exasperation and frustration during Moses’ 40 years with this rebellious people.

Moses then raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff. In his rage Moses disobeyed the Lord’s instruction only to speak to the rock. Immediately, water gushed out in abundance and people and animals alike were able to drink.

However, Moses’ rash action brought a stern rebuke from the Lord. Yahweh said to Moses:

Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.

The phrasing, ‘to show my holiness’, is an allusion to the name Kadesh, which means ‘sanctified’ or ‘sacred’. God’s holiness was offended by Moses’ rash action, for he had not shown proper deference to God’s presence.

The sin of Moses and Aaron seems to consist in doubting God’s mercy toward the ever-rebelling people. And Moses is punished by not being allowed to bring the people, whom he had faithfully led for 40 years, into the Promised Land.

At first sight, it seems a very severe punishment for something relatively minor. In fact, the full nature of Moses’ sin is not altogether clear. Perhaps something less creditable to Moses has been suppressed. It is possible that the punishment really belongs to the refusal to enter Canaan (as described in the reading from Wednesday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time) which Moses may have endorsed because it was deemed too dangerous. It would have been a serious lack of trust in God’s promise to protect his people, more serious than his striking the rock at Meribah.

Whatever the explanation, the result is sure—neither Aaron nor Moses would enter the Promised Land. Of their contemporaries only Joshua and Caleb would survive to enter the land.

The author closes with a final comment:

These are the waters of Meribah where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and through which he showed himself to be holy.

Meribah means ‘contention’.

And whatever the right interpretation, the words of today’s Responsorial Psalm provide an excellent lesson for us:

O that today you would listen to his voice!
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
(Ps 95:6-9)

Like the Israelites, it is so easy for us to forget the good things God has done for us just because we have run into some difficulties. Once again, let us count our blessings.

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