Homily for 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

August 23, 2026
Matt 16: 13-20
Wynhoven Apts., Marrero, La.
St. Joseph, Gretna, La.
MHC, Harvey, La.

Jesus Gives Peter the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven
(Tempio di Don Bosco, Colle Don Bosco)

“Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matt 16: 13).

On the last 3 Sundays, we’ve seen Jesus work wonders:  feeding a massive crowd with a few loaves and fish, walking on water, and expelling a demon.  If we had read the passages from Matthew’s Gospel that come between those episodes, we’d also have heard some of his teaching.

Today Jesus brings his disciples to the point where he’s been leading them, the crucial point of his earthly ministry.  He asks his disciples a fundamental question about his identity:  who do people think I am?

Drawing from current events and Israel’s messianic expectations, they offer some suggestions:  John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the old-time prophets, brought back to life by God’s plan.

That’s not really what Jesus wants to ask, however.  The fundamental question is, “Who do you say that I am?” (16:14).  You’ve followed me for months, you’ve heard my teaching, you’ve seen my miracles, you’ve gone out and preached and healed in my name, you’ve lived with me.  What does all that tell you about me?  What’s that all about?  Who am I, really?

We can imagine an awkward silence, some nervous looking around, some looking down at the ground.  You all remember moments like that in a classroom, right?

Finally, Simon Peter replies.  He sounds pretty sure of himself:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:15).  Jesus affirms his answer, emphatically.

Jesus’ question is fundamental for us, too.  Who is Jesus in our lives?

If we answer, “He is the Christ,” i.e., the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, God’s agent of our salvation; if we answer, “He is the Son of God,” the Second Person of the Holy Trinity—what does that mean for us?  Does it really affect us?  Can we follow him haphazardly?  Can we belong to him for an hour on Sunday and then just mosey thru the rest of the week with him on the sidelines of our lives?  Does “he is the Christ, the Son of the living God” require a conversion of us?  What impact does our answer have on our lives—on how we act, how we speak, how we think?

Jesus’ response to Simon Peter also requires our attention.  He says he’ll build his Church on Peter, the rock of faith in him as the Messiah.  Jesus promises that the powers of sin and death shall not prevail against his Church; Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, to admit or to deny entry (16:18-19).  The Church belongs to Jesus Christ; but he entrusts it and its message of salvation to Peter.

That entrustment continues in the person of Peter’s successors, in the 266 men who have followed him up to and including Pope Leo XIV.  Christ has commissioned them to preach and preserve the Gospel of salvation, to combat the powers of error, of sin, of darkness, of death, and to dispense the mercy of God by which we sinners may be admitted to the kingdom of heaven.

The keys that Jesus gives to Peter may also be used to lock the gate.  Charged by Christ to determine what is authentic faith in him, Peter and his successors define true Christian faith and distinguish it from false teaching.  An example occurred last month when Pope Leo ruled that the Society of St. Pius X, which rejects the Second Vatican Council, is outside the faith of the Catholic Church, its leaders are excommunicated, and some of its sacraments are invalid.

On the positive side, you hear a beautiful expression of the gates of God’s mercy opening wide every time you go to confession.  In Jesus’ name, the priest gives you absolution:  “God the Father of mercies, thru the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; thru the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  [That was a demo, not a sacramental celebration.]  There is Christ’s Church at work, effectively prevailing against “the gates of the netherworld,” the gates of death, when the Church expresses Peter’s faith, preached and preserved by the Holy Father.