 the anointed one, he who is set apart, separated from the rest of the people, in a way, with a dignity high above others. The expected Messiah was to be a human hero, a liberator and the ruler in the last days, but not the ultimate Saviour.
However, the image of the Prophets about the Messiah pointed to different vision: the vision of the ideal King who will not rely on the power of horses or soldiers to win his battles. The prophetic King’s reign will be of perfect peace and justice, and He will be a Shepherd: a human figure, but with divine characteristics.
When he calls Jesus, the Messiah, Peter is doing something no one else had done before him: Peter identifies Jesus with the ideal King that brings about the perfection of God’s Kingdom.
For Peter, Jesus is the Saviour of the Chosen People of God.
Napoleon said: “I know men. Jesus Christ is more than a man”. This is what Peter professed: Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is God.
The question of Jesus is an important one. Jesus does not ask this question out of curiosity to build up his ego. Jesus has walked all this time with His Disciples and wants to test if his message has passed through his words and deeds, has been received and perceived. The whole history of salvation depends on this question: if no one has perceived who He is, there will no be future for the Church, for the New People of Israel.
least somebody understood him!
Peter is a blessed man[6].
to give Peter the Keys of the Kingdom.
These two promises rest on two symbols: the rock and the key.
In the Old Testament God was the “Rock”[7] and in the New Testament Jesus is the “Corner Stone”[8]. Jesus knows that the building depends on Himself and on God.
Peter is the first stone of the building which is the Church, but we should not think so much of the Church that we come to know later in history with its organized structures. At that moment, Jesus is forming a tiny community that represents the Old Testament “a congregation of people” (Qahal –in Hebrew-).
In this sense, Peter and the Apostles are the foundation of the building that is the Church, and all of us are living stones that belong to that same building. Jesus is the Cornerstone and Peter and the Apostles are the first living stones[9].
The key is the symbol of responsibility and power given to some persons to decide who must enter and who must remain outside.
Jesus is the Door[10], the only Saviour and Lord. With his death He opens the gates of Paradise and closes the way to perdition. Jesus breaks open the doors of the Kingdom and nothing will prevail against it[11].
Peters exercises his service as the elders who delivered Justice at the gate of the city of Jerusalem[12] did. In this sense, Jesus is placing Peter as the steward of his Kingdom.
And Peter did his good job as a faithful servant of the Lord when he opened the door and delivered the first proclamation of the Kerygma to Jews and gentiles alike after Pentecost[13]. He opened the door of faith in Christ to the gentiles, too[14]. He had a great responsibility of leading the infant Church to the non-Jews. This early Christian Church needed a leader and Peter was the leader. Peter took those decisions and God built up His Church on those living stones: Peter and the Apostles.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that thou art - Thou my best thought, by day or by night; Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Thou my great Father; thine own may I be, Thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.
Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise; Thou mine inheritance, now and always; Thou and thou only first in my heart, High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won, May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Jesus takes his disciples to a lonely place where He was to meet them away from other worries and preoccupations. We, too, need to take time away to create around us a place of quiet and silence to speak to God and to listen to God speaking to us.
“Who do you say that I am?” is the definitive question to which we need to give an answer to Jesus, each one of us, personally, as Peter did. Jesus wants to know how much He is important for us, how much His words have reached the depths of our heart.
Who is Jesus for us, for me?
We are the living stones, the foundation stones, for the faith of others, built upon the Apostles and built on the only Rock, Jesus Christ. We can contemplate how God has gifted each one of us with faith to cherish and to share.
Peter and Paul and the rest of the Apostles did their part in proclaiming and living out the Gospel of Life. It is our turn to be stewards of God’s Kingdom, active members of a living and loving community of believers.
[1] Matthew 2:11: “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh”. [2] Matthew 27:54: “Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’” [3] Mark 8:27-30 [4] Mal. 3:23: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts”. [5] Matthew 14:33: “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” [6] Matthew 11:25: ”At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”. [7] Genesis 49:24: “The Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel”. Deuteronomy 32:4: “The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he”. 1 Samuel 2:2: ““There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God”. 2 Samuel 22:32: “For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?” [8] Ephesians 2:20: “Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone”. [9] 1 Cor. 3:11: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ”. [10] Rev. 1:18; 3:7: “[I am] the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades”. “These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens”. [11] Acts. 2:24.27: “But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power”. “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption”. [12] Deut. 21:19; 25:7: “Then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place”. “But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate.” [13] Acts. 2: 41; Isa. 22:22 [14] Acts. 10:34-35: “Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him”.Jack Thom was born at West Wyalong, NSW, on 18 October 1908, the son of William H and Ellen Thom. In 1940 at Waverley he married Helen Alice, the daughter of Harry and Mabel R Carter. He died at Collaroy Plateau on 3 October 1993, aged 84, survived by his three children. A requiem mass was held at St Francis of Assisi Church in Paddington and he was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium.
Jack Thom was living at Waverley when he enlisted in the Australian Army on 10 February 1942. He was discharged as a private on 3 July 1943. Jack Thom practised as a solicitor.
Jack Thom was