Commentary by Fr Donagh O’Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie:
When Jesus asked the disciples who the people believed he was, they gave him a list of dead men: “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” All dead. Peter alone mentioned life: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Theodore of Mopsuestia commented: “Having said that Peter’s confession is a rock, Jesus stated, ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church.’ This means he will build his Church upon this same confession and faith.”
This is the “key to the Kingdom of heaven.” In ancient times a key was a hefty piece of equipment: in Isaiah 22:22 there is reference to placing a key on a man’s shoulder. But keys are now tiny things. The key to the Kingdom is a small thing. It is to see Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He himself said to the Sadducees on one occasion: “[God] is God not of the dead, but of the living” (Lk 20:38).
Jesus is alive, but there are many who have an interest in keeping him dead: then he is controllable, predictable, even saleable. But he is not dead. The key is to see that he is everywhere: he is looking out of the eyes of the stranger and the sinner and the outsider. But even this key can be turned into an instrument of exclusion and control. It is meant to be the opposite: it is for opening.
John Chrysostom (4th-5th century): “He did not ask ‘Who do the scribes and Pharisees say that I am?’ even though they had often come to talk with him. Rather, he asked, ‘Who do people say the Son of man is?’ as if to inquire about common opinion. Even if the common opinion was far less true than it might have been, it was at least freer of malice than the opinion of the religious leaders, who were reeking of bad motives.” The latter, and their successors throughout the ages, would like to see his tomb sealed, the heavy stone securely in place for all time.
Let’s not say ‘they’; let’s say ‘we’. The Gospel is always about us, not about them; Jesus spoke in the second person; he was not a social commentator or a journalist. The heavy stone represents the past; we live too much under its weight; we interpret the present not as something new but as something old. But there are moments when the stone moves aside, even if only a fraction of an inch, and we glimpse the living Christ, as Peter did. In such moments, our faith is in living continuity with his.
Peter an Paul Apostles, 29.06.2025
Commentary by Fr Donagh O’Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie:
When Jesus asked the disciples who the people believed he was, they gave him a list of dead men: “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” All dead. Peter alone mentioned life: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Theodore of Mopsuestia commented: “Having said that Peter’s confession is a rock, Jesus stated, ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church.’ This means he will build his Church upon this same confession and faith.”
This is the “key to the Kingdom of heaven.” In ancient times a key was a hefty piece of equipment: in Isaiah 22:22 there is reference to placing a key on a man’s shoulder. But keys are now tiny things. The key to the Kingdom is a small thing. It is to see Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He himself said to the Sadducees on one occasion: “[God] is God not of the dead, but of the living” (Lk 20:38).
Jesus is alive, but there are many who have an interest in keeping him dead: then he is controllable, predictable, even saleable. But he is not dead. The key is to see that he is everywhere: he is looking out of the eyes of the stranger and the sinner and the outsider. But even this key can be turned into an instrument of exclusion and control. It is meant to be the opposite: it is for opening.
John Chrysostom (4th-5th century): “He did not ask ‘Who do the scribes and Pharisees say that I am?’ even though they had often come to talk with him. Rather, he asked, ‘Who do people say the Son of man is?’ as if to inquire about common opinion. Even if the common opinion was far less true than it might have been, it was at least freer of malice than the opinion of the religious leaders, who were reeking of bad motives.” The latter, and their successors throughout the ages, would like to see his tomb sealed, the heavy stone securely in place for all time.
Let’s not say ‘they’; let’s say ‘we’. The Gospel is always about us, not about them; Jesus spoke in the second person; he was not a social commentator or a journalist. The heavy stone represents the past; we live too much under its weight; we interpret the present not as something new but as something old. But there are moments when the stone moves aside, even if only a fraction of an inch, and we glimpse the living Christ, as Peter did. In such moments, our faith is in living continuity with his.
Read full commentary at http://goodnews.ie