Homily – 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Rock is used as an image to describe solidity and strength.  “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken,” we hear in Psalm 62:2.  Rock stands firm and cannot be moved.  It is appropriate, then, to use this image for God as a reliable foundation.

After Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus said to Peter: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.”  It is no longer about God that the image of rock is used, but a human being.  Peter is the rock on which Christ will build his Church.  Peter is the foundation and the strength on which the Church will be built.  However, the rock called Peter is not as solid and firm as it might suggest.  The rock Peter would soon be shaken and shattered when Jesus told him that the Messiah would suffer and die.  The rock Peter would soon deny the same Messiah he professed.

It is on the shaky rock of Peter that Jesus places the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Instead of written rules and constitution, it is a person that the foundation of the Church is laid.  Jesus knows the weakness of Peter, and yet he chooses and places his trust in him.  Jesus takes risk on Peter.

My priesthood ordination is coming up later in the year.  In taking a candidate for ordination, the Church is also taking a risk.  Just as Christ places the foundation of the Church on Peter, it is the human flesh that God continues to build the Church upon.  It is you and I that are given the keys of the kingdom of heaven – to bind and to loose.  God knows the weakness of our hearts, yet God chooses us and gives us the authority and power to build up a world of justice, love and peace.

This is not to say that everything relies on us, it is quite the opposite.  We must always rely on God for assistance and inspiration, otherwise we will go off track.  With everything in between, Paul reminds us in the Second Reading that ultimately it is God’s time and God’s design, not ours.  If we truly believe that this world is created and sustained by God (as we confess each Sunday), then we should be aware that it is in God’s world that we live as we go about our daily work.  And isn’t that marvellous!

By Deacon Tien Tran