Some movies have certain scenes that are iconic without even needing any dialogue. There is the T Rex foot slamming down into the mud in “Jurassic Park,” Rocky training for his fight on the steps of the Philadelphia museum of art, Charlton Heston as Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea, and so many more. One such iconic scene is on my mind as we ponder this Gospel passage for today. It is from the movie, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” In this final movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo Baggins, the main protagonist, has made it to the slopes of Mount Doom, where he is trying to destroy the ring of Power. He only needs to get to the top of this volcanic mountain in order to cast the ring into its molten depths and thus destroy it once and for all, but he can’t. The ring has so compromised him that all he can do is lay there. Thankfully, his good friend Samwise Gamgee is there with him. So Sam, seeing that Frodo can’t go on, picks him up, slings him over his shoulder, and carries him up the mountain. It is an awesome scene. Sam’s actions speak so much of his love and devotion to his friend Frodo.
Today Jesus confronts his disciples with the question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they give the answers that they have been hearing from people ever since Jesus started His public life of teaching and performing miracles: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” And then comes the most important question, the one that challenges them and all of us throughout the ages. Jesus poses it to each of us, personally: “But who do you say that I am?”
“Who do you say that I am?” That is a powerful question. It forces us to grapple with our relationship to Jesus. Because how we respond is meant not just to give information about Jesus, but to be an expression of the Truth with a capital ‘T’ which guides our lives. Peter responds well, he cooperates with the faith that the Holy Spirit has placed in his heart and says: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Because of his faith and the graces that Jesus knows He will pour out on Peter as the first Pope, allowing him to act with His own authority, Jesus says that Peter will be the rock on which He will build His Church, that solid rock which the gates of Hell will not prevail against. Peter is not to be this Rock on his own, but is called to continue to do just what He did in this moment–to lean on the power of the Holy Spirit given to Him by the Father. Jesus emphasizes this by saying: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”
This point where Jesus indicates that He will give Peter the keys to the kingdom of Heaven and give Him the power to bind and loose indicates that He will be able to exercise authority in the Church. This symbol of the keys and the power of binding and loosing was nothing new. We heard about it in the first reading with Eliakim, the one who the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, is giving the authority of the king in place of Shebna, who had previously exercised it. How does God describe this authority and power? By giving Eliakim the keys:
I will clothe him with your robe,
and gird him with your sash,
and give over to him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.
I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;
when he opens, no one shall shut,
when he shuts, no one shall open.
So Jesus gives Peter this great authority to exercise in His name, but He knows that Peter is not quite ready to use that authority, because He doesn’t yet have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that will allow Him to exercise that authority and power well. This is why He tells Peter and all of His disciples not to speak about Him being the Christ, the messiah. They need the power of the Holy Spirit to help them live out that proclamation.
We can see by his actions that Peter wasn’t yet ready to exercise his authority. What was he doing when Jesus was betrayed and crucified? Like so many of his brothers, He was denying Jesus and abandoning Him.
Jesus knew that Peter would have these moments of failure, but He also saw who Peter could become when his heart was set ablaze by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. He saw how Peter, one day, with great courage, would have the bravery to be crucified upside down at the hands of the Romans. There is such incredible power available to us when we lean into the power of the Holy Spirit given to us in Baptism and strengthened in our Confirmation!
That old adage really is true: “Actions speak louder than words.” Throughout our lives, there will be moments where our actions don’t live up to the faith we profess. It is easy enough for us to say that Jesus is the Christ, the messiah. We proclaim this every time we say “I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God,” in the Creed. But those words alone can ring hollow if we don’t allow them to be the Truth that guides our actions.
The truth is, each and every day, Jesus poses that question to us: “Who do you say that I am?” When we find ourselves facing the decision of whether to pray or to spend a bit more time scrolling through social media, Jesus asks us: “Who do you say that I am?” Is He the Messiah, worthy of our time, or is He just one amongst many things in our lives. When we face people speaking falsehoods about the dignity of unborn children, how do we respond? “Who do you say that I am?” Is Jesus just one among many teachers for us, so that we can disregard Him speaking to us in Scripture about how we have been loved by God since He formed us in our mother’s womb? When we have the opportunity to be patient with the person who it would be much easier to just explode on, Jesus asks us: “Who do you say that I am?” Will we let Him bring our emotions into check or just treat Him as a friend who doesn’t understand how annoying this other person is.
Our call is the same one which Jesus has given to all His disciples down through the years: to cooperate with the power of the Holy Spirit within us, the Personal Love of the Father and Son. When we ground ourselves in Him and His power in us, we can answer Jesus’ question not just with words, but with our lives. Peter was empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that the one who abandoned Jesus at Calvary eventually himself submitted to death on the cross. He eventually exercised his power well as the first pope because He submitted to the power of the Holy Spirit alive in him. Probably none of us will be called to be the successor of Peter as pope, but we can imitate Him here and now by living in the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives where the Lord has called us to be.
That image of Samwise carrying Frodo up the mountain is burned into my mind because it represents selfless love in action. Throughout the centuries, countless saints in the Church have not just spoken the truth, but lived the truth. Truth in action is the most powerful tool for sharing the Gospel. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to give us the supernatural strength to live out the Truth in all the circumstances of our lives.
+ Father, thank you for sending us Jesus, your only son, as our Savior. Jesus, give us the strength to not only speak the truth, but live in it. Holy Spirit, give us the power to do this. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. +