(Mt 16:13-19)

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

Matthew 16:14 They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Matthew 16:15 He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'

Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

Matthew 16:18 And I say to you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The Gospels are not works written in haste, but the meticulousness with which they were composed and structured indicates that they were studied and composed at length by people who were truly skilled and capable in the art of narrative and communication. They are works of great intellectual depth and have purely theological, doctrinal and pastoral purposes.

In this passage, Peter solemnly and elaborately confesses that Jesus is the true Messiah and the true Son of God. However, the passage is also one of the most discussed and contested in the history of Christianity since the Protestant Reformation, because of the words that Jesus spoke to Peter, which conferred incredible authority on him. On the one hand, therefore, there is the Catholic world, which sees in it the theological and divine foundation of the papacy; on the other, the Protestant world, which seeks to diminish its significance, often grasping at straws. Unfortunately, time and space do not allow us to deal with this issue.

Jesus introduces his disciples to the truth about himself through a seemingly simple question that appears to be thrown out there. He asks what people say about the Son of Man, that is, about him, Jesus. Verses 13-14 report the rumours circulating about him, a sort of homemade statistical survey, which results in a summary of titles that highlight the complex and multifaceted mystery of his person: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, a prophet. We are at the heart of the Christological question of Matthew's Gospel, which sees two groups of people in confrontation: the men, who are strangers to the group of disciples, and the disciples themselves. The former propose solutions according to the Old Testament pattern; the latter point to a new perspective. It is therefore a confrontation between a group that bases its understanding of Jesus on the Old Testament, and thus tends to explain Jesus according to the patterns of the past, and a group that, breaking away and opposing the first, points to Jesus as the new salvific event of the Father. This confrontation takes place in Caesarea Philippi.

The city stood at the foot of Mount Hermon, near the source of Nahr Banyas, one of the three sources of the Jordan River, one of which was believed to be the gateway to the kingdom of death. In Hellenistic times, the cave from which the river sprang was sacred to the Greek god Pan. Jesus takes his disciples as far away as possible from the influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and Peter's confession takes place in a pagan area.

The people, seeing the miracles that Jesus performed, thought he was one of those extraordinary figures who were to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus is considered a man of the past, and if he is a man of the past, he will certainly perform the same works that all those servants of the Lord performed in the past. The people's response indicates their inability to detach themselves from the Old Testament canons; they cannot read reality except through the filter of the Mosaic Law.

Even today, people want Jesus to be like all other men. If he is like all other men, he cannot do anything special. He will do what all other men do, in the manner of all other men. Man, instinctively, is accustomed to thinking of God, the Lord Jesus, in all his religious categories, finding a place for him in his filing cabinet.

"But who do you say that I am?" Jesus is not interested in what people think. Jesus is interested in his disciples knowing who he is, because every falsehood they introduce into his Person and his mission will have consequences for all humanity. The salvation of humanity is linked to the truth about Jesus.

Peter gives an immediate answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Messiah of God. The Messiah of God is the Son of the living God. We are at the summit of Christological faith: Jesus is not the Baptist raised from the dead, he is not Elijah, nor Jeremiah or one of the ancient prophets, a view that tends to bring the event of Jesus back within the more understandable and comfortable Jewish faith, but he is 'the Christ, the Son of the living God'. Jesus is not a man of the past. In Christ there is a mystery that goes far beyond all of Israel's past. In Christ there is something completely new. Jesus is not only the Messiah of Israel. He is the Messiah of Israel because he is the Son of the living God.

Calling Jesus 'Son of God' redefines the very term 'Messiah', recognising him not simply as a man sent by God, but as God himself, who becomes incarnate in Jesus and whose divine nature is recognised, so that Jesus becomes the 'Davar' of the Father. The Hebrew term 'davar' means 'word', but not in the sense of a simple voice or sound, but as a word that is also action, in which speaking and acting coincide. The Davar, therefore, designates an event that is accomplished through the Word and in the Word itself; a Word that becomes an event. For this reason, Jesus can be defined and considered as the very action of the Father.

Linking together the two titles "Christ and Son of God" constitutes the summit of Christological faith, since it means bringing together the messianic expectations in the shocking novelty of the divine sonship of the man Jesus, who is thus also confessed as God. It means attributing to the Messiah, always conceived as a man, the very divinity of Yahweh.

In response to the profession of faith, which reveals the true identity of Jesus, Peter is declared blessed. Blessedness has always signified the close relationship between man and God. Man is declared blessed because he is overshadowed by the presence of God. Blessed, therefore, indicates a kind of election that God bestows on his faithful, but it also indicates the choice that man has made in favour of God, placing himself on his side. In any case, it is a relationship and a privileged condition in which the blessed person is placed. Peter's declaration of blessedness, therefore, places Peter within the very sacredness of God and defines him as a kind of person consecrated to Him.

Peter's blessedness, therefore, depends on a divine election, which has allowed him to access the mysteries of the saving plan being fulfilled in Jesus. This is why Peter is blessed, because he is made a participant in the saving plan and, therefore, placed in a condition of divine privilege. Particularly interesting is the contrast between the two expressions 'flesh and blood' and 'my Father in heaven'. It is as if to say that the mystery of the person of Jesus cannot be attained by human efforts, since this mystery far surpasses them, being hidden in the very secret of the Father who is in heaven. Understanding Jesus is therefore a gift from above, a revelation that is realised only if man places himself before God in a humble attitude of welcoming faith, without pretending to understand, since God gives but does not allow himself to be robbed. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)