21st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mt. 16:13-20)

            Sometimes the subtlest parts of scripture have deep meaning.  We could point to the opening line of the Gospel today.  “Jesus went to the region of Caesarea Philippi.”  The place where this Gospel occurs is all important.

                Caesarea Philippi wasn’t in the middle of Jesus’ home territory.  No, this was a place in the far northern part of Galilee.  Today it is a region called the Golan Heights which it located on the border between Israel and Syria.  Caesarea Philippi was at the base of Mt. Hermon.  Today, it is part of a national park in Israel that has beautiful waterfalls that feed into the Jordon River basin.

                Jesus had been through a grueling part of his ministry.  Crowds of people were coming to see him.  He cured numerous people.  He had preached to many.  Our Lord needed some quiet time to instruct his disciples. He wanted to teach them the greatest truth of all.

                The town of Caesarea Philippi was a place named in honor of the Roman emperors.  Also, it was a place for pagan worship, so Jews didn’t frequent the place. But Jesus led his disciples to this spot.

                When Jesus instructed his disciples, a pagan temple stood nearby.  The temple was dedicated to Pan, the god of fertility. Pan was said to be half goat, half man. Near the temple was a cave which it was said led into the nether world. Some believed it was the gates of Hell. Sacrifices were thrown into the mouth of the cave to appease the gods.  The place was thought to be full of evil spirits.  Jews were afraid to be near it.  

                In this remote, out of the way place, Jesus asks the disciples to describe who they think he is.  Of course, we know that they come up with various answers.  Finally, Peter says that Jesus is the Christ.  Christ means the anointed one. Another word that means the same thing would be Messiah.   Jesus scrupulously avoids this title.  We don’t know why.  Perhaps it was because of its political implications. But in this remote location Jesus says he is the anointed one.

                Jesus looks at the pagan shrine with the gateway into hell. He says that he has come to establish the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus declares that his church will prevail against any evil that will be thrown against it.  Peter holds the keys to the Kingdom which means that Peter has the teaching authority in the Kingdom of Jesus.  Peter and the Apostles will succeed Jesus.  The apostles will be tasked with passing on what Jesus taught.

                Jesus asks all of us the same question that he asked the first apostles. Who do you say that I am?  What is our answer?  We give our answer today in this Eucharist in various ways.  We declare what we believe when we say the Creed together.  We also make a declaration of faith when we come up to receive the Eucharist.  The minister holds the host up in front of us saying the “The Body of Christ.”  We respond, “amen" (I believe).

                We do that without thinking a lot about it.  If someone were to ask if we were Christian, we would say without much thought, "yes".  We wouldn’t do it in an out-of-the-way place.  We would say I believe that Jesus is God’s son openly.

                But the question each day is also, how do I live out my declaration of faith? At every moment we have choices that we make that show what we believe.  Do I share what I have?  Do I promote peace in the world? Do I take time to pray every day?  Have I taken steps to protect all life, all creation?  Each day we are confronted with questions that challenge our loyalty to Christ. Are we solid as a rock in our commitment to Christ?  Do we look to the Church’s moral teaching to guide our life? We tell others who we think Jesus is by how we live.