Jesus had just praised Simon for his answer to the question, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon had declared, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus was so impressed by him and his answer that he changed Simon’s name to Peter, and gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Strangely, however, Jesus strictly “ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.” By observing what took place immediately following this dramatic moment we can understand why Jesus demanded that his disciples tell no one that he was the Messiah.

“From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day raised again.” Peter and the disciples were glowing with joy when Jesus announced that he was the Messiah, but now he was putting a damper on their excitement by talking about suffering and death! The Messiah was to enter Jerusalem as Israel’s conquering hero. He would crush the Romans. Israel would rise again, strong and independent. He would inaugurate a golden age! What’s this talk about suffering and death? Again, Peter was the first to speak.

“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Peter was such a good guy. He was telling Jesus that he, and all of Jesus’ followers, would never allow that to happen to him. He would be safe with them. He would, indeed, enter Jerusalem as a victorious hero. What a reaction he received! “Get behind me, Satan!”

Poor Peter. His heart was in the right place. He loved Jesus. He didn’t want anything to happen to him. He had to try to stop Jesus’ negative thinking. But he wasn’t listening; he was reacting. Jesus was unveiling his God-given destiny. “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Jesus wasn’t angry with Peter. He was heart-broken. This was another temptation Jesus experienced, the temptation to abandon his mission and to take on the role of the conquering hero. His colleagues were his tempters.

Jesus experienced three powerful temptations during his ministry. The first took place immediately after his baptism in the Jordan River. The Spirit descended upon him and his Father proclaimed him “beloved” in a voice from heaven that everyone present could hear. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” That moment of affirmation lasted only a short time. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the Devil.” In the desert he confronted the demons within him.

The first demon arose from his physical hunger. “If you are the Son of God turn these stones into loaves of bread.” No, his bodily needs would never override his deeper hunger for “every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

The second demon took the form of adulation from an adoring crowd. The temptation came as he stood on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.” The angels would protect him from any harm, and the people would go wild over this incredible feat. No, he would never heal or perform miracles as an ostentatious show of his abilities. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

The third demon was the darkest of all the demons, the temptation of power, absolute power. Standing on a high mountain he saw all the kingdoms of the world. “All these I shall give you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” His response to the demon of power was clear and stern. “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord your God shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’” His inner demons conquered, “behold, angels came and ministered to him.”

Now, Peter initiated a second round of temptations. Jesus had revealed that he was indeed the Messiah. But no one ever dreamed what it would mean to take on that mission. His mission involved his rejection by the religious leaders and a terrible, violent death. I can picture Peter, hearing Jesus prophesy his own death, running over to him, putting his arms around him like a father trying to comfort his crying child after a nightmare. No, no. This is just a dream. “No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

Jesus needed Peter to get his back. He didn’t need another temptation. He needed to hear, “How can I support you?” His mission wasn’t easy. He wanted friends and colleagues to give him strength. It may seem cruel, but Jesus couldn’t let Peter continue with his delusion. “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.”

The third and most difficult temptation would take place after he had eaten his last supper with his disciples. They all followed him to Gethsemane. There he separate his special friends, Peter, James and John, from the others to support him while he prayed. He opened his heart to them. “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.” He left them, fell to the ground and prayed to his Father suffering his last temptation. “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” It was the moment to meet his destiny. Judas had betrayed him to the religious leaders. Peter had just declared, “‘Even though I should have to die, I will not deny you.’ And all the disciples spoke likewise.” But twice Peter, James and John were asleep when he returned from his prayer. Soon they would all flee. Abandoned, he would enter the crucible.

When Jesus begged Peter to “Get behind me,” he was inviting Peter and the others to share his mission. It wasn’t easy for him, and it wouldn’t be easy for them. It won’t be easy for us. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

A final thought. I’ve always interpreted this statement of Jesus’ metaphorically. A cross was any burden that I might carry. It could be illness, my own or a family member’s. It could be problems in my family. It could be a financial crisis. But I never imagined that I would hear reports of Christians being crucified in Syria. I never imagined that I would see a video of Coptic Christians being marched to a beach in Libya and beheaded.

The birthplace of Christianity is crying out the prayer of Jesus, “My God, why have you abandoned me?” The martyrs have taken up the cross. They’ve followed him. Their witness is a gift to us. They’re pleading with us to follow them, to strengthen our faith, our commitment. We must not remain asleep. They’re crying out to us, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.”

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

These words of Jesus are the traditional starting point for the Church’s teaching regarding the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A second New Testament passage focuses and interprets this power of binding and loosing. “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained’” (John 20:22-23). In the passage from John’s Gospel Jesus clearly gives his power to forgive sin to the apostles. We continue to celebrate this gift in our Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Extraordinary as this gift is, Jesus was entrusting more than the power and authority to forgive sins when he gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Let’s examine this passage closely. We begin by noting the setting for this event.

Jesus brought the apostles to Caesarea Philippi, a place sacred to the religions of the pagan world because it was believed to be the birthplace of the Greek god Pan. It also was the site of a magnificent temple to the divine Roman emperor. Inside a cave in the hillside there flowed a spring. This was one of the sources of the Jordan River. Jewish memory associated the river with Joshua and the entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land. In this place sacred to Romans, Jews and Gentiles, the entire world one might say, Jesus asked his core group of disciples a transcendental question, “Who do you say that the Son of Man is?”

The answer came quickly. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” Jesus’ eyes lit up when he heard this answer. His heavenly Father had given this insight to Simon, not “flesh and blood,” not mere observation. This answer, this insight, was so profound that it initiated a dramatic response from Jesus. Immediately he changed Simon’s name to Peter rock. “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” By changing his name Je-

sus was declaring that Peter was a new person.

Peter saw the inner reality of the Jesus event. Jesus was the Messiah, but not the conquering hero people expected. The Messiah was “the Son of God.” Something radically new had begun to evolve on earth – the kingdom of heaven.

It’s important to note that Simon didn’t receive the keys of the kingdom, Peter did. “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

The phrase “blessed are you” should ring a bell. Matthew begins chapter five of his Gospel with nine acclamations that we’ve come to call the Beatitudes. Blessed are you who are poor in spirit! Blessed are you who mourn! Blessed are you who are meek! Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness! Blessed are you who are merciful! Blessed are you who are clean of heart! Blessed are you who are peacemakers! Blessed are you who are persecuted! Blessed are you who are insulted and persecuted because of me! These are the marks of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Peter’s recognition of Jesus as Messiah and Son of God earned him the acclamation of the kingdom. “Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah.” When Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter he sealed a transformation in him – he was to be the first stone of the new edifice Jesus was building. He then gave the new man, Peter, a mission. He entrusted the keys to the kingdom to him.

The symbolism of the keys comes from a Jewish tradition. The Scribes were considered stewards of the treasury of divine wisdom. When they were granted the title, “Scribe” they were given a symbolic key meant to open and close the door to that treasury. They were commissioned to interpret the Law, the body of divine wisdom.

Jesus awarded the keys to the kingdom of

2 heaven not only to Peter, but, through him, to everyone who is born again – who takes on the life of the Beatitudes. Through us, the kingdom of heaven is being built one stone at a time. By our being living examples of the kingdom – by being humble and poor of spirit, by mourning with those suffering loss, by living simply and unselfishly, by interacting with pure and honest hearts, by laboring for peace, by willingly suffering persecution and insult for the kingdom of heaven we extend Jesus’ invitation to enter the kingdom community. What an exalted and demanding mission we have accepted!

I began writing this reflection in the days following the events at Charlottesville and Barcelona. I rested my head in my hands as my mind grappled with the tremendous upheaval going on. I wanted to weep as I thought of the suffering the human family is inflicting on itself. It’s a dark time not only for our country, but for our world.

With these events resounding in my mind and heart, I felt challenged by the account of Peter’s confession of faith in a way I have never been before. I felt that this passage had a powerful message for today. I knew it wasn’t merely a passage about the Church’s power to forgive personal sins. I struggled to understand the meaning of the keys. After days of reflection I realized that the keys were the Beatitudes – the new commandments Jesus gave us. They don’t tell us what to do or not do. They tell us what to be. They challenge us to be reborn just as Simon was reborn as Peter – the rock.

ROCK! What a powerful image of the kingdom! Think about how many times Jesus told his disciples not to be afraid. They were to be as solid as a rock. Their mission was to transform the world through the way they lived through the Beatitudes.

It’s a tremendous challenge for us to live a kingdom life – a life energized by the power of the Beatitudes. We must be careful not to sink back into the chaos of the world. We have to have tremendous courage. We can’t be afraid. Remember always what Jesus promised. “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew reports that Jesus “withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.” This was outside Jewish territory. It’s the area we call Lebanon, the land of the Phoenicians. Jesus may have needed a break. Traveling into Gentile territory could hopefully give him some peace and quiet. The religious leaders had been stalking him taking note of everything he said and did. He was in open and hostile conflict with them. On the other hand, his popularity with the people was growing. They followed him hoping for healing and hungry for his preaching. Going into Gentile territory would give him a break from the harassment of the religious authorities, and a bit of rest from the crowds. However, the peace and quiet was short-lived. A Canaanite woman began calling after him.

There was no love lost between Canaanites and Jews. Upon entering the Promised Land, the Jewish people were confronted with the populations already living there. They were pagans and racially different.

It’s not clear from the account whether the woman was alone and following Jesus and his disciples, or if there was a small crowd of people who had heard of Jesus following them and this woman called out from within the crowd. However, this Canaanite woman began shouting to get Jesus’ attention. She used a very special phrase. “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!” The phrase acknowledged him as the Messiah, Son of David, and as Lord. The disciples are embarrassed by her shouts and plead with Jesus to send her away.

Jesus answered them in a strange way. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If he was sent ONLY to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, why didn’t he dismiss her? He didn’t send her away because he needed to have her join him in a most profound teaching. His answer to the disciples was what they would have expected to hear. Remember, there was a wall between Jews and Gentiles. The disciples believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior of the Jewish people. The Gentiles would not part be a part of Jesus’ mission.

“But the woman came and did Jesus homage.” She had already shouted that her daughter was “tormented by a demon,” and that she needed his help. She pleaded with him a second time, “Lord, help me.” What he said to her shocks us. But it shocked the disciples and the woman in another, way. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

Referring to someone as a dog was a terrible insult. Jesus and the disciples would have been most familiar with the term “Gentile dog” because it used commonly. Years later the disciples would hear the term “Christian dog” spit at them. This is how we hear what Jesus said. However, Jesus didn’t use the ordinary word for dog. In Jesus’ time dogs often ran wild. They wandered the streets, rummaging through garbage. They were often rabid. We sometimes see this situation in developing countries. But Jesus didn’t use the term for that kind of dog. That’s what shocked the disciples and the woman. The word he used referred to “a cute little lap dog.”

When he used that word the disciples must have taken a second look, and the woman must have broken into a child-like smile. She moved right in with a playful response. “Please, Lord, for even the little lap dogs eat the scraps that fall form the table of their masters.” Jesus must have been smiling when he acknowledged the tremendous love and faith she had. “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”

This woman’s heart-felt plea was the catalyst that broke down the Gentile/Jewish divide. She fully expected to be sent away. She expected to be dismissed as a rabid street dog. But Jesus was everything she had hoped he would be. He connected with her heart. He applauded her faith. He healed her daughter. There was no religious/racial wall separating her and Jesus.

I can never read this passage without thinking of the opening line of Robert Frost’s poem, Mending Wall. “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”

We’ve been building walls since the beginning of humankind. We try to keep people in with them. We try to keep people out with them. They’re not always made of stone. Sometimes we put up a psychological wall to separate us from some people who are different from us. We may not know how to integrate them into our world. So, we try to shut them out. Sometimes class is the wall separating us. Social stigma separates us and is sometimes the most horrible and cruel wall that we build and maintain.

I was once in a subway car when a truly wretched man came in. His clothes were ripped and filthy. He had messed himself. He held a cup in his dirty hand and began to ask for money. Not one person responded to his plea. In fact, one woman, with great aplomb, jumped up from her seat and, holding her nose, ran to the other end of the car.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” As Jesus so often said, “Let those who have ears to hear, hear.

We’re going to reflect on Matthew’s account of the storm at sea. He begins his narrative with a quick introduction. “After he had fed the people, Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd”. Look closely at this introductory statement. Jesus had just performed an incredible miracle. He fed five thousand men, not counting the women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish and, after everyone had eaten, there was enough food to fill twelve baskets with what was left over. But immediately after the leftover food had been collected Jesus MADE his disciples leave the scene. He directed them to get into a boat and go to the opposite side of the lake. He remained behind to dismiss the crowd. Why would Jesus want to separate himself from his disciples?

If we look to another account of the multiplication of the loaves and fish we can come up with an interesting answer. “When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘Truly this is the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.’ Since Jesus knew that they were going to carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone” (John 6:14-15).

We have to remember that the Jewish population was not happy under Roman rule. Periodic insurrections occurred and were brutally suppressed. The feeding of the five thousand could have stoked up the people’s hope that Jesus was indeed the Messiah who would lead Israel to independence. Matthew reported an incident involving James and John. Their mother came to

Jesus pleading that they be placed in the two top positions of his kingdom. The other Gospels also report the disciples bickering over which one of them would take a place of honor in Jesus’ kingdom. They, along with the people, expected Jesus to set up a Jewish kingdom that would be free of Roman domination. This miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish could have become dangerously political.

Jesus dismissed his disciples demanding that they meet him on the other side of the lake because he most likely feared that they would become intoxicated by the people’s excitement. His kingdom wasn’t an earthly kingdom at all. There would be no conquering armies. There would be no first or second in command.

Jesus’ kingdom, the new Israel, would be built on the foundation of the old Israel, and would continue to be nurtured by God. More profoundly, perhaps, the twelve baskets of bread and fish that were left overrepresented God’s first gift to all those who would internalize the kingdom, Jew and Gentile alike. Jesus’ kingdom would conquer the world through self-sacrifice and loving hearts.

While Jesus walked along the shore of the lake to meet with the disciples, they were making little headway because of the powerful wind of a sudden storm. Jesus had sent them away from the political storm, but another and more powerful storm struck them. It was a crisis of faith.

It was the fourth watch of the night when the storm was at its strongest. The night was divided into four watches. The fourth watch was between 3 am and 6 am. This was considered the “darkest” time of the night. Even today, that night shift in a hospital is called the “death” shift.

Though the kingdom was to be built on selfgiving and loving hearts, it didn’t mean that Jesus’ disciples would cruise through life continually enjoying the sun and fine weather. The disciple had to have a deep faith in Jesus. This incident at sea testified that he would continue to journey with them even through the darkest of times and the strongest of storms.

Consumed by their fear, the disciples couldn’t believe that Jesus was walking toward them oblivious of the strong wind and the rough sea. Instead of being joyful upon seeing him they feared him, thinking that he was a ghost. But he broke through their fear by encouraging Peter to walk on the water with him. Peter did walk on the water until his faith weakened and the sea began to swallow him. But Jesus reached out to him. A mere touch of his hand was enough to save him.

John’s Gospel relates a powerful teaching that Jesus presented at the Last Supper, one we must never forget. “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33b). We will all face storms. Not one of us will go through life without experiencing upheavals and crises. Sometimes even our lives or the lives of people we love may be in danger of being swallowed up by the dark waters of the world. Our faith is the only thing that will save us. We must always look beyond the storms that will come. We must, as true and committed disciples, keep our eyes focused on the kingdom Jesus promised because our faith is the leaven that Jesus mixes into the darkness of the world. Eventually it will grow. Eventually it will conquer the world transforming it into the kingdom “so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28b).

In the New Testament there are six accounts of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Matthew and Mark each recount two separate miracles; Luke and John each report one. The account we’re reading today is from chapter 14 of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus feeds 5,000 men. In chapter 15 Matthew recounts another incident where Jesus feeds 4,000 men. It’s interesting to compare the six accounts. They’re similar, but none are exactly the same. Though it’s tempting to study the differences, I’m going to focus solely on the account we read today from the 14 th chapter. Let’s put this account into the context of events that had been unfolding around Jesus.

Chapter 13 ends by recounting a visit Jesus made to his hometown. Because of his powerful preaching and ability to heal, he was well known and had some celebrity status. He came to Nazareth and went immediately to the community center, the local synagogue, where he began to preach. The people reacted strangely to him. “They were astonished and said, ‘Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Are not all his sisters with us. Where did this man get all this?’” The commentary follows, “And they took offense at him.” I often wonder what the people of the town were feeling? If he had remarkable wisdom, and was able to perform mighty deeds why did they reject him? I would think that Jesus “came home” to share God’s Good News with the people he grew up with and knew so well. It must have been heartbreaking for him to have been rejected by them.

This event was followed by another emotional blow, the beheading of John the Baptist. To give an account of this event immediately before Matthew’s first account of the multiplication of the loaves and fish was no accident. Matthew was setting the stage for two contrasting meals.

John was beheaded during a birthday banquet for Herod at which the daughter of his wife, Herodias, performed a dance that delighted Herod and all his guests. So much did he enjoy it that he promised to “give her whatever she might ask for.” Herodias hated John because he had declared her marriage to Herod unlawful because she had been married previously to Philip, Herod’s brother. So she instructed her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Though distressed by the request, Herod commanded him to be beheaded. “His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.”

As soon as Jesus heard the news he “withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” This set the stage for the event, the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Jesus crossed the lake to a deserted place. He needed to be alone. He had just experienced rejection by the community he had known since his birth. The corrupt and hostile power of the state had just executed John, God’s messenger. He needed to think about his mission and to pray. But it wasn’t meant to be. The crowd followed him and met him on the opposite shore. “His heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.”

Darkness began to fall, so the disciples encouraged Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they could go to the surrounding villages to buy food for themselves. Jesus looked at them, and presented them with a challenge “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” The disciples told him that they only had five loaves and two fish. He took the food from them, and then ordered the crowd to sit down on the grass.

Let’s focus on this event. Many people followed Jesus to listen to his message and to be cured, but at the same time, the powers of darkness had begun to mobilize around him. The hearts of the people of Nazareth had turned against him. John the Baptist, the voice announcing the coming of the kingdom of God, had been silenced by the treachery of Herod’s “royal family.”

By pairing the story of Herod’s banquet with the account of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, Matthew was teaching by way of contrast. The powers of darkness revealed themselves in the glisten- ing splendor of a banquet in the royal palace with the head of the Baptist grotesquely displayed on a serving platter. By contrast, Matthew told us that the event took place in a deserted place as the darkness was falling. The crowd sat on the grass. This detail subtly invoked Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze…You set a table before me as my enemies watch.”

Jesus was ready to celebrate the banquet of the kingdom of God. But first, he wanted to establish a spiritual foundation for the event. His challenge to the disciples “to give them some food yourselves,” was to be that spiritual foundation. They were asked to give away all the food they had brought for themselves – five loaves and two fish. Once they had freely given away what they had, they were free to assist Jesus in addressing the hunger of the crowd.

“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied.”

In describing how Jesus distributed the bread and fish, Matthew was presenting a short description of the early Eucharistic celebration. A prayer was lifted up. The bread was broken, and then shared among the group. No one was excluded. Everyone was satisfied. At each Eucharistic celebration Jesus is always the Lord of the banquet. He continues to bless the bread and give it to his disciples who in turn distribute it to those hungering for a deeper life.

At the same time, Matthew was contrasting the perverted banquet at Herod’s palace with the heavenly banquet of the Eucharist. Herod’s banquet was polluted with court intrigue, revenge and murder. Jesus’ banquet was celebrated in a most simple way in a deserted place, but it was a miracle of self-giving, compassion, and healing. Where Herod’s banquet brought death, the banquet of the kingdom of God brought life, healing and community.

In our celebrations of the Eucharist Jesus, continues to look with compassion on all who gather to hear his word and seek his healing. He still instructs us, his disciples, to look beyond our needs so that we can give ourselves totally in service to one another. Even in the most dark and deserted place, Jesus will feed the multitude with the bread of life. There is always enough for everyone. No one will be sent away unsatisfied.