Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

MATTHEW 16:13-20
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE HEARD THIS GOSPEL PASSAGE? AND I THINK WE ALL HAVE PICTURES IN OUR HEADS. WE CAN PICTURE PETER BLURTING OUT HIS ANSWER BECAUSE WE KNOW PETER IS QUICK TO SPEAK, DOESN'T ALWAYS THINK FIRST. AND WE CAN ALMOST SEE HELL TRYING TO BREAK DOWN THE GATES THAT PROTECT THE CHURCH. AND WE KNOW, OF COURSE, THAT THIS IS WHERE THE IDEA OF THE PAPACY COMES FROM. TOO BAD OUR PROTESTANT AND ORTHODOX BROTHERS AND SISTERS CAN'T SEE THAT AS CLEARLY AS WE DO. SO, END OF STORY, LET'S MOVE ON.
BUT WHEN I READ ABOUT THIS PASSAGE, I WAS STRUCK BY SEVERAL THINGS THAT AREN'T IMMEDIATELY APPARENT. JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES, FIRST OF ALL, ARE IN A PAGAN COUNTRY. CAESARIA PHILIPPI WAS NOT IN ISRAEL, BUT IN THE AREA TO THE NORTH. IT WAS AN IMPORTANT ROMAN CITY, AND ONE OF THE CENTERS OF THE CULT OF THE GOD PAN. UNDER PAN'S SHRINE WAS A DEEP CAVE, CLOSED OFF BY GATES. IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD WENT DOWN INTO THE AFTERLIFE THROUGH OPENINGS INTO THE EARTH LIKE THESE. MOST OF THE PEOPLE OF JESUS' TIME, PAGAN AS WELL AS JEWISH, BELIEVED IN SOME SORT OF ABODE OF THE DEAD. THE BIG ARGUMENT AMONG THE JEWS WAS WHETHER THE DEAD WOULD RISE AGAIN OR NOT, NOT WHETHER THERE WAS SOME SORT OF EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. IT WAS GENERALLY AGREED THAT THIS PLACE OF THE DEAD, CALLED HADES IN GREEK, SHEOL IN HEBREW, AND HEL IN THE LANGUAGES OF NORTHERN EUROPE, WAS SORT OF A SHADOWY IMITATION OF OUR WORLD, WHERE THERE WAS NO COLOR, NO MUSIC, NOTHING TO DO. WHETHER YOU HAD BEEN GOOD OR BAD ON EARTH DIDN'T MATTER. THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD EXPERIENCED NO PLEASURE, NO PAIN. AND MATTHEW, WHO WROTE IN GREEK, HAS JESUS REFERRING TO HADES, NOT HELL AS WE THINK ABOUT IT.
THE SECOND POINT HAS TO DO WITH THE ANSWERS GIVEN BY THE APOSTLES TO JESUS' TWO QUESTIONS. THE FLIP ANSWER TO "WHO DO PEOPLE SAY THAT I AM" IS THAT JESUS IS A PROPHET, MAYBE EVEN ONE OF THE PROPHETS OF OLD COME AGAIN. IF YOU READ THE PROPHETS, YOU WILL NOTICE THAT PROPHECY IS PRETTY MUCH RELATED TO ONE OF THREE TOPICS: FIRST, THERE IS THE ACCUSATION THAT THE PEOPLE ARE TURNING AWAY FROM GOD; SECOND, THERE IS THE OBSERVATION THAT THEIR CURRENT DISTRESS IS CAUSED BY THIS; AND THIRD, THAT IF THEY RETURN TO THE WAYS OF THEIR ANCESTORS, GOD WILL COME TO THEIR RESCUE. PROPHETS NEVER DEVELOPED MUCH OF A FOLLOWING IN THEIR OWN TIME. MANY WERE JAILED OR MARTYRED.
BUT TO PETER, THE LAST TO SPEAK, NOT THE FIRST, IS REVEALED THE TRUTH -- THAT JESUS IS THE ANNOINTED ONE. AND HIS ADMISSION OF THIS FACT IS LIFE CHANGING. BECAUSE THE MESSIAH WAS NOT TO BE A PROPHET; HE WAS INSTEAD, TO USHER IN A NEW AGE. AND IF YOU ADMITTED THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH, THE LOGICAL THING TO DO WAS TO GIVE YOUR LIFE OVER TO HIM. AND THAT IS WHY JESUS BLESSES PETER AND PROCLAIMS THAT UPON PETER AND THOSE LIKE HIM, HE WILL BUILD HIS GATHERING, THE CHURCH MADE UP OF THOSE CALLED OUT OF THE WORLD TO FOLLOW THE MESSIAH.
AND IT IS THEN THAT JESUS MAKES THE STATEMENT, SO OFTEN MISINTERPRETED: "THE GATES OF HADES SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT". I THINK WE ALL SEE THIS AS A PROMISE THAT EVIL WILL NEVER OVERCOME THE CHURCH. BUT IN THE IMAGINATION OF THE DISCIPLES, SITTING THERE OUTSIDE THE FAMOUS CITY IN WHICH THE ACTUAL GATES OF HADES WERE SAID TO EXIST, IT MAY HAVE HAD A VERY DIFFERENT IMAGE. IT ISN'T ABOUT EVIL OVERCOMING THE CHURCH, IT'S ABOUT THE CHURCH OVERCOMING THE BLEAK UNDERWORLD OF DEAD SOULS, AND ALL THAT IT IMPLIED. FOR IF NOTHING YOU DID ON EARTH HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE AFTER DEATH, HUMAN LIFE DOESN'T AMOUNT TO MUCH; AND DESPITE THE CALLS OF SOME, PAGANS AND JEWS ALIKE, TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE POOR, TO TEND TO THE NEEDS OF WIDOWS AND ORPHANS, TO SEEK JUSTICE FOR ALL, THERE WASN'T MUCH INCENTIVE.
BUT WHEN JESUS PRONOUNCES THAT THE CHURCH WILL OVERCOME THE GATES OF HADES, AND ONE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCE OF THIS IS THAT HUMAN LIFE HAS MEANING, TRANSCENDENT MEANING. EACH ACTION ECHOES THROUGH ETERNITY, EACH PERSON IS TRULY VALUED AS A SON OR DAUGHTER OF GOD. AND THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING.
WHEN YOU GIVE FROM YOUR SURPLUS TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NOTHING, THE GATES OF HELL ARE BEING OVERCOME. WHEN YOU DEVOTE YOURSELF TO MAKING THE WORLD A MORE JUST PLACE, THE GATES ARE CRACKING. WHEN YOU SHARE YOUR FAITH WITH LITTLE ONES, AS A PARENT TEACHING A CHILD, OR A TEACHER IN FAITH FORMATION, THE GATES SHATTER.
AND HADES IS A JOYLESS PLACE, WHERE NO ONE FEELS PLEASURE OR PAIN. BUT THE FOLLOWERS OF THE MESSIAH BREAK DOWN THOSE GATES, AND BRING JOY TO THOSE WHO HAVE NO JOY. JESUS COMPARED HIS DISCIPLES TO THE ATTENDANTS OF A BRIDEGROOM, WHO ARE TO REJOICE BECAUSE THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN WHICH BEGINS HERE ON EARTH, IS A PLACE OF RELENTLESS JOY, JOY THAT CAN'T BE OVERCOME BY DEATH, JOY THAT GUARANTEES RESURRECTION.
IN THE END, THAT'S THE POINT. JESUS HIMSELF TRAVERSED THE REALM OF THE DEAD AND ROSE AGAIN; AND THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWERS OF THE MESSIAH CANNOT BE CONFINED TO A SHADOWY COLORLESS EXISTENCE LACKING EMOTION, LACKING MEANING, LACKING PURPOSE; BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT WE WILL RISE AGAIN, WE KNOW THAT THE CHURCH WILL OVERCOME THE GATES OF HADES, WE KNOW THAT EVERYTHING WE SAY AND DO IS NEVER INCONSEQUENTIAL.
PETER MUST HAVE KNOWN THAT HIS RECOGNITION OF THE MESSIAH WOULD CHANGE HIS LIFE, AND IT DID. AS WE FOLLOW HIS CAREER, WE SEE THAT HE HAS INDEED LEFT EVERYTHING TO FOLLOW JESUS. HE MAKES MISTAKES, HE SUCCUMBS TO COWARDICE, HE HAS DISAGREEMENTS WITH THE OTHER APOSTLES. HE IS BEATEN, IMPRISONED, AND EVENTUALLY, CRUCIFIED. AND ALWAYS HE REMEMBERS THAT DAY WHEN THE FATHER REVEALED TO HIM THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH.
IF WE SAY, "YOU ARE THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD" WE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE THE CHURCH, WE ARE THE PEOPLE CALLED OUT BY JESUS. AND WE RECOGNIZE AS WELL THAT AS WE GO ABOUT FOLLOWING OUR MESSIAH, DOING THE WORKS HE DID, SHAPING OUR LIVES TO IMITATE HIS, WE ARE OVERCOMING DEATH AND DARKNESS; AND WE HAVE THE CERTAIN HOPE THAT THE CHURCH WILL WIN THAT BATTLE, THE GATES OF HELL WILL BE FOREVER BROKEN DOWN BY RESURRECTION.