Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Matthew (16: 13-23) in which Simon says to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” and Jesus gives him the name Peter (which means ‘rock’) and says, “on this rock I will build my church”.

Fr Paul says this reading is a turning point in the Gospel. Three times the disciples have been roused on for their failure to understand who Jesus is, and now, with an almost perceptible flash of inspiration, Peter replies to the question with a full confession, not merely (as in Mark) that Jesus is the Messiah, but that Jesus is son of the living God. Jesus replies by giving him a new name and explaining its meaning. The Aramaic name, Kephas, means ‘Rock’, which enables Jesus to play on the word for the foundation-stone of ‘his assembly’.

To Peter Jesus also gives the power to bind and loose, by the use of opposites Jesus is implying to the Semitic mind that he is giving all power to Peter. But it is important to recognise that the same promise is made to the community itself in Matthew 18:18, the community discourse, giving it the same authority to bind and loose. To Peter, then, is given the power in the person of the Church.

Fr Paul says, mindful of today’s Gospel, we might ask ourselves, ‘How can I come to know and proclaim to others who Jesus really is, the Son of the Living God?’