Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa for the XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

You can find below the Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for the XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, on Sunday 27 August 2023.

Mt 16:13-20

“Listening” has been the central lesson highlighted throughout our journey in Matthew’s Gospel, from a Sunday to a Sunday: Listening to the Word on the mountain (Mt 17:1-9), the Word in the storm (Mt 14:22-33) and last Sunday we saw that there is also a Word for the foreign woman, who is also called to finally hear the Word (Mt 15:21-28).

Listening to the Word is also central to today's passage (Mt 16:13-20): We are still in a pagan land, where divinity has many faces, many names, many voices, making it hard to listen.

In this context, Jesus asks his disciples a question to see what they heeded and what they understood about what they heard, how the Word they heard led to knowledge, and specifically to a relationship.

For this is the purpose of listening: To grow in the relationship that sustains them, the relationship with Him. This is what Jesus cares about.

Jesus asks this question first of all in reference to people (Mt 16:13): Who do people think He is?

According to the disciples report, people think Jesus is a Word of the past ("John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or any of the prophets" - Matt. 16:14), a Word already spoken that has nothing new to say, which means a Word heard so many times, a Word that no longer opens any doors.

Therefore, in the people’s perspective it might seem that God does not have anything new to say.

But when the same question is asked to the apostles (Mt 16:15), the answer is different, and it reveals a deep personal knowledge, peculiar to those who have listened to Him, and know Him.

In fact, for Peter, Jesus is not a great personage of the past, but He is simply the Son of the Father; and the Father is not so much a thought, an idea, but He is the Living One. He is life, and the one that gives life: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" - Matt. 16:16.

However, Jesus does not praise Peter because he answered right: For it is not a matter of guessing the right answer, as in an examination. Rather, Jesus praises Peter because he listened, "for neither flesh nor blood has revealed him to you" - Matt. 16:17.

Peter is blessed because his words came from listening: He did not listen to his own understanding, wisdom and strength, but opened himself to hear a Word revealed to him by the Father Himself. He who reveals His secrets to the little ones (Mt 11:25), He who reveals Himself by revealing the beloved Son (Mt 17:5).

Hence, Peter is blessed. But Jesus immediately makes it clear that this blessedness does not make him priveleged, but rather subjects him to the act of service (Mt 16:18-19): The revelation of the Father, to whom Peter opened the door, is now entrusted to him and to all the disciples as a responsibility, of which the keys are a symbol: The door can now be opened, for all, and this is the task of the disciples.

How does this happen? It is interesting that at the very moment Jesus entrusts the Father's revelation to Peter and the disciples, He also asks them to guard it in silence (Mt 16:20).

It seems paradoxical, but obviously this encapsulates a profound truth, with two aspects.

The first, which Peter and the others have yet to grow in their knowledge of the Son of the living God. In the very next verse (Mt 16:21), Jesus begins to announce to his disciples that the way to the eternal of the Father will be fulfilled through the promise of life through Passover, that is, His Passion and death. Therefore, the disciples must learn to listen all the way to the Word of the Father, until this Word is silent on the cross. It is this silence that will put a final say on the truth of the Word.

Secondly, to witness and communicate with Jesus is not limited to words, but rather through a life transformed by his Word, which gradually is configured in the image of his Passover…

This Mediation was originally published on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please click here to read the full text.