Feast of Sts Peter and Paul: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.

A reflection for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul based on the Gospel for the day, Matthew 16:13-19. Written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA.

www.tarsus.ie

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

St Peter and Paul
St John’s Priory
Dublin D08 F8NW
29 June 2025
Reflections on Matthew 16:13-19

Welcome
Perhaps it comes as a surprise that the feast of Peter and Paul takes the place of the Sunday, including the readings. There is an advantage in this: with the election of a new bishop of Rome, we can reflect on the role of Holy Father in maintaining union and communion. The feast also affords an opportunity to do some close reading of the important Gospel passage, Matthew 16:13-19.

Topic
This podcast, exceptionally, has more biblical study material in it than usual. We will take four steps.

Steps
1. Broad background
We begin by looking at the very broad background. It seems clear that the historical Jesus did not foresee the eventual break with the Judaism. His mission was to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. Of course, the followers of the Gospel did indeed break with Judaism eventually — a painful experience, as we can see in the Acts, Galatians and Romans and the Gospel of John. It was also critical — but as they faced the crisis no one pointed back to any advice from Jesus, simply because there was none. It is therefore no surprise that the historical Jesus never mentions the word “church” and it is instructive that the word is used only in Matthew’s Gospel and never in Mark, Luke or John. Even Matthew uses the word “church” only twice: in our Gospel from chapter 16 and also in Matthew 18 (to be looked at in a moment).

2. What about chapter 18 then?
In Matthew 18, we notice a passage about church discipline — surely reflecting the experience of Matthew’s community at the time of writing:

Matthew 18:15   “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

As such, the text cannot possibly go back to the historical Jesus — simply because such issues did not arise during the ministry of Jesus. Nevertheless, it goes on to talk about binding and loosing. Such language reflects Rabbinic tradition: the authoritative interpretation of the Torah involved binding and and loosing, meaning to forbid and to permit. The idea is that God will ratify and stand behind when Peter (and the others) enact such decisions.

3. What about Peter?
The Gospel of Matthew was written, most likely, in Antioch in Syria around ad 85 or 90. As we know from the Acts and from tradition, Peter was a key figure in the church there. At the time of writing, of course, Peter was long dead but a memory remained of the authority of Peter when it came to the interpretation of the Torah. How old is that tradition? The wording used is worth paying attention to: Bar Jona is Aramaic, meaning mostly likely “son of of John.” The play on the word rock actually works more neatly in Aramaic than in Greek: you are kephāʾ and on on this kephāʾ I will build my church (Peter is not known name until then). Hades is a Greek word used to translate Sheol, the underworld of Israelite imagination. The extra words in our Gospel, are found only in Matthew:

Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

As Daniel Harrington notes in his Sacra Pagina commentary on Matthew:

The very Semitic character of the language in Matt 16:16b–19 (“Simon Bar-Jona,” “flesh and blood,” the Peter-rock pun, etc.) suggests that the piece originally circulated in Aramaic or at least in a highly Semitized Greek. We are most likely dealing with a pre-Matthean tradition that Matthew inserted into the text.

4. And so…
Bearing all that in mind, it looks as if we are dealing with an oral tradition which comes from the time after Jesus but before the writing of Matthew’s Gospel. It is the hope of Matthew’s community that the gift of interpreting will continue in the spirit of Peter, the key apostle for the church in Antioch. The recognition of a Peter-type role can also be traced in other documents of the New Testament such as chapter 21 in the Gospel of John or in the First Letter of Peter (a very late document which attempts to reconcile Pauline and Petrine traditions). Eventually, the Peter tradition came to stand for communion, in the emerging, lower case c, catholic church.

As Daniel Harrington again notes:

It is hard to be sure about the role of Peter in the Matthean community’s controversy in the late first century. It is significant that twenty-five years after his death Peter retained at least a historical importance. Beyond that is speculative. But within the community Peter may have functioned as the founding apostle or patron saint. Perhaps the leaders traced their spiritual pedigree back through Peter much as the rabbis did through their teachers.

Conclusion
In the Catholic tradition, this paragraph has been made to bear a great deal of extra weight. These verses are in letters two meters tall high up in St Peter’s basilica in Rome. Something of the magic and wonder is expressed in the music of Palestrina: his motet Tu Es Petrus (you are Peter) is magnificent. 

The Petrine office of the bishop of Rome eventually evolved into a symbol of unity and source of communion. On this feast day, we can make our own the collect for today:

O God, source of every good gift and sure foundation of our unity, 
as we honour and revere Saints Peter and Paul, 
grant your Church a share in their zeal for the gospel. 

Strengthen our faith to be witnesses, 
even unto death, 
of the one Lord, Jesus Christ, 
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
God for ever and ever. Amen.