Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

 

Isa 22.19-23;  

Rom 11.33-36;  

Mt 16.13-20

Today's Gospel is very familiar. We heard it on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.  One important aspect emphasises the primacy of Saint Peter, the authority given him by Christ to rule, govern and sanctify the Church while the other aspect is quite puzzling. Our Lord gives the apostles a surprising command: "He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ." It seems a strange order for Him to give, especially after Peter's inspired act of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". This in other words is often called Messianic secrecy. 

St. Paul asks us in today's second reading, who knows the mind of God? At the incarnation, Christ veiled His godhead in flesh. During the three years of His public life, we read of great crowds following Him, being taught, being fed, being healed. The healings were probably what made the most impact. Yet He often told those He cured to tell nobody about Him.  Why?  Because He did not want His mission to be even more misunderstood than was already the case. 

Our Lord enjoined silence about the miracles He worked because in some sense those miracles could give unspiritual people the wrong idea about Him, Christ worked His miracles out of compassion. He did not want the crowds to think of Him as a mere magician. Magic is praeternatural. The Redeemer's work was supernatural. 

It's interesting that His command of silence was also made to demons, as we see in several instances when He heals someone possessed: 'Whenever the unclean spirits beheld Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." And He strictly ordered them not to make Him known.'This secrecy about His identity was consistent with the names He chose to apply to Himself. Rather than call Himself Messiah, He used the modest expression 'Son of man' about Himself. 

So where does the secret lies? It is at His crucifixion, the veil of secrecy  was torn in two, from top to bottom.  At last, the true nature of  the Messiah was revealed. Our Lord receives a change of title: The inspired words of the centurion give the game away loud and clear. "Truly this man was the Son of God". The secret was out. The one who had called Himself ‘Son of Man’ was actually the Son of God. 

After the Transfiguration as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, 'Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead' ".  Why this? Because, after He had risen from the dead, no one would take Him merely as a healer of the sick or as a political leader. After His resurrection, the truth would be plain enough. The one who called Himself the Son of man, the one who died, that same one had risen from the dead. The Son of man was in fact the Son of God.

 

The clarity of that new revelation was given power and conviction at Pentecost. The gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost empowered the Church to shout its secret from the rooftops. The secret kept hidden for ages was now to be proclaimed to all nations.  Never again would the Messiah command His disciples to keep silent about Him.  

Therefore, we all can say, No secret, no crucifixion. No crucifixion, no resurrection.  Without the resurrection, we are still in our sins, children of wrath, on a fast track to hell.  Thus, in every age, in every place where the Gospel has been preached, the Messiah repeatedly asks mankind the same searching question:  "But you, who do you say that I am?"  In reply to that question, Peter's infallible answer is the only response that is adequate to the case.