Gospel Reflection on Matthew 16:13-20
August 23, 2026
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesare′a Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli′jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
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Occasionally we hear of someone being given the keys to the city. Today this is mostly a ceremonial honor. But the custom originated in a time when being appointed the master of a house meant having great power. The key, in fact, was often so large it was laid on the shoulders of the one to whom it was given. And once the new master of the household arrived and received the key, whenever they opened a door, no one could close it. And when they closed the door, no one could open it. Opening and closing were irreversible acts, acts that no one would be able to undo.
These kind of actions are so unlike our typical kinds of behavior. We're constantly changing our minds. Our choices are always in flux. We vacillate in chaotic and confused ways, and we can be so fickle in our sentiments. The notion that something can be opened forever or closed and never opened again seems absurd. But if we can hear this rightly, it contains within it the promise of the eternal love of God.
In the Gospel, we're presented with the moment Peter learns to call Jesus by his real name. In that moment, Peter recognizes the hidden truth that his Master is the Son of God. And it is at this moment that the keys of heaven, the key of the irreversible, is revealed. Whatever is bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. We've associated this binding and loosing as acts of judgment, and they create for many a note of fear as if somehow the church or God can send someone to heaven and others to hell.
But binding and loosing are not contrasting acts: both lead to heaven. One opens the way to heaven by freeing us, loosening us from our failures, from the memory of our weaknesses, through the work of forgiveness. The other binds us to God and to one another under a common Father.
The mission of Christ is to throw open the doors of heaven permanently so they can never be closed ever again. And when God creates community, when God binds people together, nothing can separate them from one another or from God. In the Our Father we pray, 'do not lead us into temptation.' The great temptation is to doubt these realities, that we have free access to God, and that we are really bound to each other.
We go through moments when we believe that God is somehow against us on account of the things that we may have done or failed to do. And we also go through times when we believe that we're alone on our own before God. But God is never against us, nor will God ever abandon us. In all things, he opens the door wide to us, and he asks us to bear witness to this openness.
If we claim to know God, it means we become witnesses to mercy and to community. In the Gospel of John, Jesus unites Mary and John from the cross. To Mary he says, "Behold your son." To John he says, "Behold your mother." They were not mother and son previously, but Jesus binds them together. This is the power of the cross of Christ: to bind strangers together, to make isolated individuals into one single body. And this is the great challenge placed before us in today's fragmented world. We're called to throw open the doors of heaven by the way we practice forgiveness and to unite people together in lasting bonds of love by the way we practice charity.
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