Today’s gospel reading presents us with a very powerful dialogue between Jesus and Peter. Most people are quite familiar with it, especially in the context of establishing the papacy and appointing Peter as the first Pope. And familiarity often leads to missing other important details because “we already know what it is all about.” As human beings we are very efficient when it comes to how we see, hear, and read – we don’t pay attention unless we have to.
And that is a perfect segue into the first important detail. Right before today’s passage, Matthew’s gospel places Jesus at the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and the disciples walked from there to the region of Caesarea Philippi, some 20 miles north, seemingly just to have this dialogue. Why? Well, this area was not Jewish. The main population were Gentiles, and it was in fact the location of an important shrine dedicated to Pan. In other words, it was a safe environment to have a conversation about a sensitive topic: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Or in Mark’s words: “Who do people say that I am?”) Here, away from any Jewish audience, the disciples are more at liberty to answer this question. And likewise, when Jesus asks them “Who do you say that I am?”, they don’t have to be on their guard in how they answer.
The answer that Simon Peter gives highlights a second important detail. He says: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” The fact that Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah is not unusual – the disciples certainly had all reason to believe (or at least hope) that Jesus was the embodiment of a priest, prophet, and king. It is beyond doubt that they expected him to be the promised descendant of King David. But Peter also names Jesus “the Son of the living God.” That would have incurred an immediate charge of blasphemy if he had said this in Jewish territory. It is also something that Peter could not have known or figured out on his own, as Jesus points out. It is a revealed truth – revealed to Peter by God himself. This is indicative of God choosing Peter – calling him to a special office.
An ancient literary instrument (chiasmus) is used to further highlight the importance of Peter. Where Peter identified Jesus by title “Messiah” and parentage “Son of the living God”, Jesus identifies Peter in similar terms (but in reverse order). He mentions his parentage “son of Jonah” and title “Peter” (a title, because the Greek word petros simply means rock). This chiasmus construct assigns high importance to Peter.
This passage is also the first time in the Gospel that Jesus refers to “my church”.
And if all of this is not enough to show the importance of these events, consider that this gospel passage is regarded as the hinge point of Matthew’s gospel – it is the climax of the first half. The climax of the second half is the passion and resurrection. Together, they tell us who Jesus is, and what he has done for us.