21st Sunday - Fr. Leo
Today’s gospel is an adaptation from the parallel passage in Mark’s gospel. But there is onesignificant difference. Peter in Mark’s gospel, is told to get behind Jesus because he was thinking as man and not as God. Peter wanted to protect Jesus from suffering and death, not Understanding the meaning of a suffering messiah as different from a royal Davidic kingly messiah.
Leaving the teaching of Jesus’ true mission out of Matthew’s version simply recognizes Peter as the rock on whom he will build his church. The reason for this, is that Matthew’s gospel is a version done for the church in Jerusalem, where Peter is the head of the local church. Thus, he is given the power to lose and to bind.
I think it is good to look at Mark’s and Matthew’s version side by side. We see that there is the original spirit of Christ in the gospels, but we also see how it was adapted by humans. In the end, Jesus asks us to embrace him as the Son of God; the source of God’s life for us. This Spirit of Jesus is what will make us disciples of Christ and ours is to let his spirit into our hearts. So, in the end, we must decide if we want to lose our hearts to the grace and love of God, or if we will bind ourselves to our own will, centered on our selves rather than the Kingdom of which we can become the rock that brings God’s truth to all things.