THIS may be the day of “Peter and Paul”, but, going by the principal-service lectionary, Peter is the one who counts. The second and third service lectionaries confirm the same priority. The reason for joining the two saints is that 29 June commemorates their martyrdom during persecution by the Roman emperor Nero in 64. In the Church of England, we can choose whether to keep the double celebration, or mark Peter alone.
Back in January, we commemorated Paul’s conversion; so it makes sense to give attention to Peter now. In the course of the year, we encounter Paul constantly through our Bible reading, but Peter only rarely. Peter’s meaning for us does not lie primarily in his preaching or writing, but in the honour accorded to him by Jesus.
Peter has not worked out the puzzle of Jesus’s identity by himself: God has disclosed that messianic identity to him. Matthew uses a powerful word to describe that disclosure: apocalyptein. It means “to reveal”, but with an eschatological dimension: God has given Peter a vision, an encounter with truth which also reveals an element in the divine purpose.
Honest commentators must admit that verse 18 is problematic: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” It is one of only two places in the Gospels where Jesus mentions “church”. In the other place, a local gathering of believers is meant (Matthew 18.17). Here, though, the meaning is unambiguously Church with a capital “C”, and not “the Church of God”, but, Jesus says, “my Church”. We do not need to commit ourselves to full Roman primacy, or supreme papal authority, to feel the power of the eternal bond being revealed here between the Master and his chief disciple.
The Pentecost-miracle indicates that the Church belongs to the apostolic era, not the time of Jesus’s life. Here, Matthew cuts across this by reminding us that the Church is not a human association, but a divine possession, and that it has both a universal dimension (16.18) and local expression (18.17).
What do we learn about the Church from Jesus’s words here? First, it is already a part of Jesus’s vision for the Christian future. His earthly self will not see that future, but his eternal self will go on shaping it through the coming of the Spirit upon his followers, and their sharing of that Spirit with others.
Second, it is not an institution, still less a building or buildings, but a fellowship of human beings. Its foundation is neither rock nor rules, but a living individual: Peter, who imitates Jesus in being a first-born (Colossians 1.15, of Jesus; Hebrews 12.23 of Christians), and a first-fruits (1 Corinthians 15.23, of Jesus; Romans 8.23, of Christians). What Jesus declares here, John also affirms (21.15-19).
The “gates of hell” (AV) cannot prevail against the Church. The language suggests conflict, combat. But there is a non-combative interpretation. The gates of hell must stand either open or shut. If open, they are always ready to let in those unwise enough to live without God, or against God. But if the gates of hell stand shut, they represent resistance to God’s attempts to break in and overwhelm evil. They may be barred, locked, barricaded, guarded. But they cannot withstand God for ever. His goodness, his love, will prevail against them. Perhaps the only great mystery about evil is its extraordinary resistance to God’s self-evident (to those within the covenant of grace) love. In the end, Jesus says, even that resistance will crumble.
The language of “binding” and “loosing” has been taken as bestowing authority on the Church, Peter’s authority, to pronounce what is and is not binding upon the faithful, and to forgive people — or not forgive them. But “binding” and “loosing” is also the language of exorcism, which could point to setting people free from the power of evil, and binding them to what is good.
In verse 20, Matthew goes back from whatever unique source he must have been using for verses 17-19 to follow Mark once more. It is a relief: such holy mysteries are not a comfortable resting place. An unexpected message in this Gospel came to me just as I was finishing writing: in Revelation, heaven’s gates stand always open (21.25), but, in this vision, although Peter holds the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, heaven itself has no gates.
