There is very much at work in Matthew 16:13-20, and I will try to deal with it all in a very brief manner. First, do you notice that the answers as to who Jesus is are all wrong? The world misunderstands who Jesus is and it is only when the matter is referred to the Church that we get the right answer. And, in fact, it is precisely when Peter speaks that we get the answer; his fellow Apostles are silent.
Second, notice that Peter has received a special grace from the Father. It is not by mere flesh and blood (or human wisdom) that Peter knows. It is because the Father has given him this special grace. As Catholics we believe that this special charism continues with Peter’s successor, the Pope.
Jesus then called Simon “the Rock” or Peter. This was not a personal name at the time. It was not at all common for persons to change names at the time, and this is a very significant moment. It signifies that Simon’s role in salvation history is dramatically changing. He is now the rock on which Jesus will build his church. Much is often made by non-Catholics about the fact that in Greek (which the Gospel is originally written in) the word petrus (Peter) has a connotation of a small rock. I have been told by them that Jesus is really trying to make Peter’s role smaller than we are making it out to be.
I would answer in a few ways. First, this doesn’t pass my “smell” test. It doesn’t seem to fit the context that Jesus is make a small deal out of Peter; that just doesn’t smell right. Second, we should note that Greek nouns have gender. Petrus is masculine. Matthew could have chosen petra the feminine form of the noun and avoided the connotation of small stone, but then he would be calling Simon a girl! Third, many scholars argue that this distinction was largely abandoned in the dialect of Greek in which Matthew wrote his Gospel. Fourth, we must recall that when Jesus spoke to Peter he was not speaking Greek anyway; he would have been speaking Aramaic and he would have called Simon kepha. This has no connotation of small rock.
Tomorrow, I will look at the promise of Papal infallibility that is in this passage.
 | About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children. |
No comments:
Post a Comment