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Daily Reflection: 23/8/20

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

For today’s Gospel reading click the link below:
Mass Readings

(Isaiah 22:19-23, Rom 11:33-36, Matt 16:13-20)

Homily Reflection by Fr. JJ Fenelon

A group of playwrights gathered for a meeting to honour the greats in their field of work. One of them said, “Supposing Shakespeare were to stroll into our dining room at this moment.” Another replied, “We would raise a glass of port to the great man.” “Supposing,” asked another, “Jesus were to come here.” They all answered, “We would get down on our knees.”

That is the difference between the Man from Nazareth and other great people you can think of. Jesus Christ is God and all others, no matter what their deeds, are but actors strutting on the stage for a brief time and then exiting. 

While many accept Jesus as God there are many who don’t. Let us begin, just as today’s Gospel does, with a question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ There are, of course, a variety of answers from those who dismiss him, from those who are vaguely interested in him or in religion, and from those who have encountered his message and have followed him in one way or another. It is this third group who are His disciples whom He asks “Who do you say I am?”

When today’s Gospel opens, Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi in the northeastern corner of Palestine which was quite far away from Jerusalem. None of the religious authorities would look for Him there. This was not His usual territory. He felt His time was running out. Yet, He had much to teach His twelve close companions.

This, too, is one of the most decisive periods in Christ’s life. Though he was aware of His divinity, were His own people equally aware? Thus, he had to know whether the apostles had any inkling of whom they were traveling with. The right answer to his question would make his day, even his life. The wrong answer would mean he was a failure. Three years of hard work would go down the tubes. 

I have visited Caesarea Philippi many times on my pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The site where this incident happened is near the spring of Banias. When the guide brought us to the supposed location it was a place on a hill where there was an open cave that was dedicated to the God of Pan (God of Death). Inside the cave there was an altar and the Romans would offer sacrifices of animals and sometimes even human sacrifices. It is believed that against this backdrop of the cave that symbolized death, Jesus with his back to the cave faced the Apostles and placed this question that went to the heart of the matter, “Who do you say I am?”.

Imagine how he must have felt when Peter told him, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

Against the backdrop of the cave which symbolized death, Peter’s answer was an emphatic response that declared that Jesus Christ is the God of life.

This prompted Jesus to say to Peter, “Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in Heaven.”

Every one of them knew in his guts that the highest human terms one could think of were totally inadequate to categorize their Leader. He was an original.  

In the First Reading, the prophet Isaiah tells Shebna, the master of the palace, that Hilkiah’s son Eliakim would take over his place, be vested with authority from God and be a father to Jerusalem and the House of Judah and the key to the House of David will be given to him. This is a future reference to the Messiah, now proclaimed by Peter as Jesus the Christ, who will come from the House of David with full authority empowered by God and bring salvation to all peoples.

All the prophets preached repentance and asked the people to be faithful to God. Jesus came saying the kingdom of God was at hand when the Father would mete out forgiveness and mercy, and inaugur­ate the reign of peace and love. Jesus ate with prostitutes, sinners and tax collectors and was criticised for this (Mt 9:10-11).

This gentle, forgiving Christ offering us adoption by our loving Father – so unlike the expectations of religious people then or now – is revealed to us, not by flesh and blood, but by the Father himself.

Jesus’s work was not just another version of religious wisdom, but the establishment of a new community, a new covenant, a people intimate with the Father. Jesus is the ‘new wine’ (Mt 9:17) who established the new relationship between us and the Father, and between us as sisters and brothers.

St Paul in the Second Reading makes the reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ as the one whose wisdom and knowledge are beyond all human understanding, and all that exists comes from Him; all is by Him and for Him. To Him be all glory forever! Amen.

The public manifestation of Peter’s faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Anointed One, was immediately rewarded by Christ who wanted Peter to know two facts.
Firstly, he had been especially blessed by God in being given this knowledge.

Secondly, Peter was given a singularly important role in the infant Church: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven’ (Mt 16:18-19).

It is not enough to learn what others, even apostles, said about the Teacher. One could write an encyclopedia on Jesus and still not be a believer. Even movies have been made.


To each baptized person, Jesus leans over and whispers, “But YOU…who do YOU say I am?” This is a question not only directed at His disciples but also to each and every one of us. It is about the integrity of our belief and our preaching as his church. Jesus must forever be one’s discovery. Christianity does not mean memorizing the Nicene Creed. But it does mean knowing our Saviour. 

Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, assassinated in 1980 while defending Jesus, said eloquently: “Christianity is not a collection of truths to be believed or laws to be obeyed. Rather, Christianity is a person. Christianity is Christ.” 
When St Paul was writing to young Timothy, he did not write, “I know what I have believed.” Rather, “I know WHOM I have believed.” (2 Timothy 1:12) One can know a lot about Jesus and yet not know Jesus.


Are you a follower of Jesus or just a distant admirer? (Unknown)