Homily for the Week of August 24, 2014

TWENTIETH-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A 2014

Readings:  Isaiah 22:19-23; 

Romans 11:33-36; 

Matthew 16: 13-20

         A new school year will soon be here. We all have our own memories of school and of classroom participation.  One of the memories might be tests that are planned and announced by the teacher and some pop tests that are unannounced. At the time of Jesus there were no schools or teachers or classrooms like those with which we are familiar.  But Jesus very often called himself teacher, and many times his friends called him The Teacher.  In the Bible reading for today we listen to Jesus giving his closest friends a pop quiz. It was a basic question: Who do people say I am?

         This happened when Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, a pagan area about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.  They were standing at the base of Mount Hermon, in front of a bunch of niches holding statues of pagan gods at the top of which was a statue in honor of Julius Caesar. It is here that He asked his close friends who others thought he was. He got a variety of answers.  This was an indication that he was not well known -- perhaps much like the answers he would get from persons today. 

         Then Jesus turns the question around and makes it more personal.  He asked his friends who they though he was.  There was a long silence.  Then there were a lot of wrong answers. But then Peter answers correctly: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus then tells Peter that he gave the right answer. He got an A or 100% on the test. As a reward Jesus appoints Peter as the first leader of the church, or was later known as the First Pope.  Since Peter there have been 265 Popes.

         That passage has been the subject of much controversy over the past 2000 year history of the Catholic church. That the Pope is the head of the Church is a belief that has not been accepted by other Christian churches. And even on our part, we may not fully understand the implications of who the Pope is.  Some think he is sinless. Others give him supernatural power, others believe he cannot make a mistake; others think of him as a man who has too much authority, and some could care less about the Pope.