Luke’s account of Peter’s Confession underscores in a way more clearer than Matthew and Mark Jesus’ mission as prophet who will be rejected and put to death. He is the Pierced One of Zechariah 12:10-13:1 who will occassion the effussion of the Spirit and the purification from uncleanness and will inaugurate — as Paul would add — the time of God’s favor for both Jews and Gentiles.
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Guide for the Gospel Text
Compare the Lucan narrative of Peter’s Confession with that of Mark 8:27-30 (see this table) and note the following:
1. Luke’s account of Peter’s confession is not tied to Caesarea Philippi as a point of reference as in Mark (he and disciples are walking towards it) and Matthew (he and his disciples are there). For Luke, the place is immaterial. He associates the event to an action of Jesus — prayer. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus prays in important events of his life. In the event of Peter’s confession, it is the revelation of Jesus’ passion and death that is underlined.
2. To Jesus’ question about who the crowds think he is, the disciples echo the opinion expressed by Herod in verses 7-9. He is identified with the Baptist, then with Elijah, and a resurrected prophet from the past. Jesus’ identification with a resurrected prophet hints at the suspicion that his appearance is a signal that the day of the Lord is at hand (see also the crowd’s reaction in Luke 7:16). Besides, the answer reported is from "the crowds", perhaps referring to the crowds at the Feeding of the Multitudes (vv. 10-17). The miraculous feeding could have been identified with the eschatological feeding of mannah. His identification with Elijah comes as no surprise since in Luke, it is to Jesus, not to the Baptist, that Elijah is associated. We know this not only from the fact that Mark’s saying about the identification of Elijah and the Baptist (Mark 9:12-13) is omitted by Luke but also by the numerous parallels that Luke makes between the OT prophet and Jesus. Below are some examples of the way Luke associates Jesus with Elijah
- Jesus compares himself with Elijah (Luke 4:25-26)
- Jesus brings back the son of the widow of Naim (Luke 7, 11ff), a pericope that is unique to Luke. (See 1 Kgs. 17:17-24)
- Jesus’ saying about holding the plough and looking back is his response to a disciple who makes a request similar to that made by Elisha to Elija (1 Kgs. 19:20; compare Luke 9:62)
- Elijah brought down fire from heaven (1 Kgs. 18:38; 2 Kgs. 1:10.12). Jesus spoke of casting fire upon earth (Luke 13:49) and prevented his disciples from calling down fire on the Samaritans (Luke 9:54)
- Elijah had an ascension (2 Kgs. 2:11), Jesus too had an ascension, announced in Luke 9:51 and recounted twice (Luke 24:51, Acts 1:4)
3. Peter’s reply to Jesus’ question "Who do you say that I am?" echoes what the angel says to the shepherds about the babe of Mary: "For today has been born for you a Savior who is Christ and Lord." (Luke 2:11).
4. Mark’s account of Peter’s Confession ends with Jesus commanding the disciples to keep the confession as a secret. Mark 8:31 begins a new unity with the introduction of a narrative segment introduced by "and": "And he began to teach them…" In Luke, the first prediction of the passion (together with the sayings on the cost of discipleship, vv. 23-27) comes as an explanation of the command that the disciples are to keep quiet about the confession. "And he rebuked them … saying ‘It is necessary…’"
Review of the Sunday Readings
The gospel reading from Luke has a theme that John has associated with the contents of the first reading from Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1. The liturgical selection for the first reading begins with a line that indicates the last days: the pouring of the Spirit, here further specified as that of "grace and supplication". Following it is reference to an event that involves repentance and mourning over one who has been pierced. Who is this pierced one? The mention of mourning in Hadad-Rimmon in Megiddo’s plain reminds one of a king of Judah, the young king Josiah, who was killed in battle (cf. 2 Chronicles 35:22-25). It was during the time of Josiah that the book of the Law was discovered in the temple which was then being renovated (cf. 2 Kings 22) . This discovery led to a reform movement led by the king (2 Kings 23). Josiah is remembered as a champion of the Law:
Before him there had been no king who turned to the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, his whole soul and his whole strength, in accord with the entire law of Moses; nor could any after him compare with him (2 Kgs. 23:25).
The conversion ("they will turn") and the mourning of the people will be the occassion of their purification "from sin and uncleanness." (13:1). The similarity of this pierced one to that of the suffering prophet in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is easily recognizable. And so John uses this oracle of Zechariah in association with Christ pierced with a lance (John 19:34.37).
The reading from Galatians 3:22-29 can be divided into two parts: (a) 22-26 which continues Paul’s explanation of the role of the Law with respect to the Promise made to Abraham and how this is accepted in faith, while in (b) 27-29 Paul explains the effect of this faith on the Christians who by their baptism have become the descendants of Abraham. See Mag-aral Tayo for the 12th Sunday
Both these readings remind us of the full context of the gospel reading. He whom Peter confesses as "the Christ of God" is the Suffering Servant who by HIs death and resurrection inaugurates for us Christians the time of grace and faith.
Suggestions for the Lesson
The gospel readings of Ordinary Time put before us the life and works of Jesus. As we come out of the Easter season and the three solemnities that immediately follow it, the selection from Luke forces us to look back at the liturgical journey just made reminding us of the salvation wrought in Christ. The lesson that can be drawn from this is manifold, but one can underline an aspect of the life of the Body of Christ that recent events in Philippine life has proved relevant but which ordinary preaching easily passes over in silence: the prophetic mission of the Church.
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