Readings and Reflections : Thursday :  6 August 2020 

Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34           Psalm 51 : 10 – 17        Matthew 16:13-23 

Collect : 

Glorious God, 

You shower creation with abundance: 

awaken in us a hunger for food that satisfies, 

that in the miracle of being fed 

we will be empowered 

to feed the hungry in Jesus’ name; 

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God now and forever. 

Amen

The first reading speaks of greact hanges coming to Israel’s people, changes that  come from God and will be established in a new way  –  not in fear and retribution, but in love. “I shall set my law within them, writing it on their hearts, I shall be their God and they shall be my people.”  What a beautiful gift we have been given to be able to witness how the relationship between God and humanity evolves and grows; how the sins of the past are forgiven and a new covenant initiated, not by a punitive master, but by a God who reveals Himself in love and in relationship to, and with us. 

Psalm 51, is a Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.  This has caused him to take stock of his inward dispositions and affections, leading him to confess his need for the Lord to create in him a clean heart (Psalm 51:10).  In so doing, he displays his awareness of his need for divine grace.  John Calvin comments, “By the term create … [David] acknowledges that we are indebted entirely to the grace of God, both for our first regeneration, and, in the event of our falling, for subsequent restoration.”  The Christian life is a matter of grace. Grace initiates our salvation, it sustains our salvation, and it will complete our salvation. 

We see in the first half of the Gospel, the affirmation that Simon gives to Jesus’ question, “Who do people say that I am?” After affirming that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour proclaims to Simon that he is now Rock, Peter, and upon this rock, Christ will build his Church. 

Some may argue that the Greek splits the use of the word rock into “Petros,” rock, and “Petra,” a rock or a piece of rock, questioning if Jesus really meant this to be a statement of authority given to Peter. However, in the Epistles, we read Peter named not with the Greek words for rock, but the Aramaic. The Aramaic, the language that would have been most common at the time of Jesus, uses the word “Kephas” (English Bibles translate this as Cephas). Kephas has only one meaning, rock. Therefore, the Petros vs. Petra argument is resolved by Scripture itself, Peter is Kepha, Petros, or rock. 

There could be another objection to the idea that this passage indicates an authority given to Peter. The argument is based on the fact that in the second half of the passage, Jesus called Peter, Satan, when Peter rebukes Christ for saying that he must go to Jerusalem and die. Some will even argue that Peter was given the keys of the kingdom in one breath, and then they were taken away in the very next breath. The key to understanding this is to look at the Greek for what is meant by “Get behind me Satan.” The Greek word is “Opiso,” which is not a word of excommunication or rejection, but a call to get behind and follow something or someone. Therefore, the exhortation to Peter is not a removal of something given to him, but rather a deeper call that, in order to follow Jesus as the Son God, Peter needs to follow Christ more intently and see the world, not through human eyes, but as God sees the world, through the eyes of faith. 

With this as the setting, there is another question that comes out which is woven into the spiritual exercise for today: What does it mean to receive (or give) keys to another? If I give you my keys (car keys, house keys, office keys), I am giving you access into my life. You would have access to just about every part of my life. Therefore, to give someone your keys also indicates trust and a relationship where you are willing to give a level of access to another person. 

Keys in the ancient world allowed for even more access. The keys were giant, and once obtained, you would have access to the city gate, giving you full access to the life of that community. This is where we get the modern practice of giving a symbolic “Key to the City” to someone who is seen as trustworthy and/or heroic to a given town. Today’s passage shows that Jesus is sharing authority and access to the Kingdom of God with Peter, in a way never seen before. And from the standpoint of salvation, Jesus allows us access to the Kingdom as well, through the vessel of the Church and her “Gate Keeper.”   

Let us Pray : 

Oh God,

Create in me a pure heart and

renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Amen