WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.719 Today the church celebrates two great apostles, Peter and Paul. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:07.679 One was a fisherman, the other was a Pharisee. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:12.560 One denied Jesus three times, the other persecuted Christians. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:21.760 If you had been choosing world leaders for this movement, you probably would not have selected either one of these two. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:23.359 Yet God did. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:31.600 That alone should give every one of us tremendous hope, because holiness has never depended upon where you begin. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:35.439 It depends upon whom you allow to transform you. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:39.520 We turn to the gospel, we're in Caesarea Philippi. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:43.520 It was a place filled with temples dedicated to false gods. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:49.520 It was a city where political power, pagan worship, and worldly influence all came together. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:56.880 It is there, not inside the temple in Jerusalem, that Jesus asks a very important question. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:00:59.600 Who do you say that I am? 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.239 Notice that Christianity begins not with a rule, not with a commandment, not even with a miracle. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:07.760 It begins with a person. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:12.079 And everything depends on the answer to that one question. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:17.120 Peter answers, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:25.200 And Jesus immediately tells him that this truth did not come from human intelligence, it came from the Father. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.840 Then Jesus gives Simon a new name, Peter. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:36.079 In Scripture, whenever God gives someone a new name, he's giving that person a new mission. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.319 Abram becomes Abraham. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.480 Jacob becomes Israel. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:42.719 Simon becomes Peter. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:45.439 The name Peter means rock. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.959 Then Jesus says something extraordinary. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.640 Upon this rock I will build my church. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:57.359 Notice carefully, Jesus does not say build your church. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:00.159 No, he says build my church. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.319 The church belongs to Christ. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.799 He is the true foundation. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:12.879 Yet Christ freely chooses to govern his church through Peter and through Peter's successors. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.919 This is why Catholics believe that the Pope is not simply the bishop of a particularly important city. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:26.879 He is the successor of Peter, entrusted with preserving the unity of the entire church. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:30.719 Jesus then gives Peter the keys of the kingdom. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:37.280 And you have to remember that the Jewish people, for them, keys represented authority. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:46.560 In the Old Testament, the chief steward of the king's household received the keys as a sign that he exercised the king's authority in his absence. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:55.919 Jesus, the true king, now entrusts his authority to Peter, not because Peter is perfect, but because Christ is faithful. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:00.159 Then if we turn to the first reading gives us an incredible picture. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:10.879 Peter, the rock on whom Christ is building his church, is sitting in prison, chained, guarded by sixteen soldiers, facing execution. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:17.360 If anyone were watching from the outside, they would conclude that the church was finished, it was done. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:20.159 Its visible leader was about to die. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.280 The enemies of Christ appeared to have won. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.639 But Acts tells us something beautiful. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.319 The church was fervently praying to God for him. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:35.599 That sentence may be hidden in the first reading. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:47.599 Peter is rescued by an angel, the chains fall away, the prison doors open, not because Peter is powerful, but because God remains faithful to his promises. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:53.120 Jesus had already said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.080 Herod discovered that prisons cannot imprison the church. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.479 Chains cannot stop the gospel. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.199 Kings cannot defeat Christ. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.840 For two thousand years empires have fallen and risen. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.000 Persecutions have come and gone. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.360 Dictators have tried to silence the church. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:17.920 Scandals have wounded her. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.720 Weak leaders have embarrassed her. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:22.639 Yet the church remains. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:30.480 Not because her members are always holy, not because her leaders are always wise, but because Jesus keeps his promises. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.439 That's why today ultimately it's not a feast about Peter or Paul. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:38.160 It's a feast about the faithfulness of Christ. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:44.480 And every one of us must sit and answer that same question Jesus asked at Caesarea Philippi. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:55.839 Not who your parents say he is, not who society says he is, not even who your pastor says he is, but who do you say that he is? 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:01.839 Because the answer to that question will determine the entire direction of your life. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:04.240 Peter answered correctly. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:09.439 Then he spent the rest of his life learning what those words truly meant. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:16.800 May we always live in that same spirit, always searching to really know who God is. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:18.000 Amen.