Father Mark Nolte - Aug 23

St. Philip Catholic Church: Good morning everybody. So today's gospel just kind of put this in context a little bit so we can understand it. So Jesus is entering into the region of Caesarea Philippi. That's pagan territory. There's this non Jewish. Okay, that's one big deal. These are Jews, Jewish men with a Jewish leader going into non Jewish territory. That may be like you going into a neighborhood in Nashville or Franklin that you would not think of going into. So everything Jesus does is with intention and intentionality, not by accident. So he's bringing them into this pagan territory. And imagine all these pagan temples in the background. The Syrian gods, the Greek gods, you know, in that time they had all these gods. And Jesus is up standing before the twelve. And Jesus is approaching Jerusalem. He knows his time is short. He knows he's going, this is what awaits him. These twelve men do not know that. He knows I don't have much time with these twelve guys. I call them the twelve knuckleheads because they're knuckleheads like me. You know, one of the things I love about the chosen series, how many of y'all seen the chosen series? I love that because I they think they do a great job of showing and reminding us these twelve men were ordinary, most of them uneducated men who he chose to be the leaders of the Catholic Church. What were you thinking, Jesus? You're supposed to get educated people, aren't you? It's not how God works. And he knows that these men still don't quite get it. Do you ever are you ever that way where you just don't quite get it? You don't quite understand the teachings of the church sometimes. He knows that he's gonna be crucified and buried, and he's gonna return to the Father, and he's gonna pass his mission on to these men, and these men have to know. Not only the mission, but they have to know who they're following. You can't follow somebody you don't know. And first of all he takes an opinion post. So imagine all these temples in the background, all these Greek gods that the culture's worshipping, and he's saying, Who do the people say that I am? Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Not one of them said you are the Son of God. Not nobody has said he's God. They all think he's a prophet, which is a compliment, but still fall short of who he really is. Now keep in mind you and I know who Jesus is. We know who he is two thousand years later. These men are still scratching their heads trying to figure out who this guy is. Because when he's standing in front of him, remember he's a dirt poor Galilean carpenter. Poor. Probably wearing ragged clothes. He's a carpenter. He's homeless. He doesn't have a penny to his name. And he's saying, Hey, who does everybody say I am? And not if you notice, none of them answered. They're but because they haven't figured it out. You know, it took the Catholic Church 300 years, three hundred years, to finally define who Jesus Christ is. There were heresies throughout the early church. Jesus was only man, he was not God. And then there are other heresies saying, No, he's God but not man. They were trying to figure it out. And then Peter, by the grace of God, by divine revelation, says to him, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. That's who you really are. In other words, you're more than just a carpenter, you're more than a prophet. You are the Son of God. You are God in the flesh. That's who you are. Now Peter did not come to that conclusion because he read a book or he got it off the internet. Jesus says Peter, Simon Nobody showed you that, but my Heavenly Father revealed that to you. Then he makes it more personal and he turns to them and he says, But who do you say? Now, today, in this world, let's look at three world religions Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism. We're the only world religion that would say Jesus is God. You tell a Muslim that they go right? They they don't like that. They believe Jesus is a prophet and they respect that. Ju the Jews believe he was a prophet at best. Hindus say he was some kind of a spiritual sage, a great man, spiritual man, but not God. We're the only world religion that holds Jesus up as God. Hopefully you believe that, if you're a Catholic. Why is that so important? Because if he's just a man, y'all you need to go home. Go home. Because then we're just worshiping a piece of bread. Right? But as Catholics, we know that he's fully God and fully man. We know that on this altar he's going to give us his body, blood, soul, and divinity because he can do that. He's God. You some cat non Catholics will Well, how do you Catholics? How can you believe in all that stuff? Because got with God all things are possible. He can turn bread and wine into his body and blood, soul and divinity if he wants. Would you agree with me on that? Please say yes. Because if you don't say yes to that, then I'll talk to you after Mass. So He knows these men have to understand this. He doesn't have much time. They have to understand. That He's the Messiah, He's the Son of the Living God, He's the promise of the Father to Israel. And that this message now they're going to take and spread to the world. And then he asked him, who do you say? You know, he asked each one of us, that's a great question. But but who do you, each one of you here today, who is Jesus to you? Not just something you read from the catechism or learned in Catholic school, whatever. That's good, but who is he to you? Do you know Jesus or do you just know about Jesus? Because when most of my Catholic early part of my Catholic life, my twenties and thirties before I went into seminary, I knew. A little bit about Jesus. I went to Catholic schools. But he was kind of a guy in the past. He wasn't really alive within me as he is now. He's alive in me now. I have a relationship with him. I didn't have that back then. I didn't know I could have that. It's important that we know who he is if we're gonna follow him. And then he goes on to say, Peter. Hey Pete, come over here. Imagine him doing this in front of the other eleven. These are men. Keep in mind, these are men. Sorry, guys, I'm picking on. Hey Pete, come over here. You're gonna be the head of these guys. And here's the keys. So what are keys? Keys give you access, right? They unlock they lock, they unlock, they give you access. He's actually giving him that's very symbolic. He's telling Peter, I'm giving you access to my kingdom. Through your baptism today, we have a baptism. Dorothy Jane is going to be given access to God's kingdom. Did you know that? That little baby right there. Is going to be given access to the kingdom of God. Because we all share in the keys, not like Peter, and not like the successors, our holy fathers. I'm not saying the same, but we all have been through baptism given a new identity. And this is exactly what Jesus does in the gospel today. He turns to Peter and he says, Simon, Peter, you are rock, because Peter means rock. This is who you are. He's telling Peter, this is who you are, you're rock. And upon your rock I'm going to build my church. And the gates of the netherworld, which is hell, shall not prevail against it. Why is he telling Peter and the twelve this? Because he knows that they're all going to be martyred, except for John. He knows that when he leaves and returns to the Father and sends his Holy Spirit to them and sends them out on mission, that there's going to be a spiritual battle. They're gonna battle with hell. And he says, but the gates of hell shall not prevail. If you look at all the kingdoms of this world in world history, they're gone. You ever thought about that? But there's one kingdom, and it's manifested through the church. Look at all look at everything the Catholic Church has gone through in church history. It's gone the Catholic Church has gone through some really, really bad, dark times. And it's still here. The Catholic Church has had some corrupt popes. Let's just admit it. We've had some bad popes. But they're still hold that office of the papacy. And that's what he's saying. He's telling these men, look, I'm giving you the keys. I'm entrusting to you my divine authority. In other words, I'm not going to leave you alone. Yes, I'm going to ascend to the Father, but I'm going to send my Holy Spirit to you. And I'm going to become f enfleshed in you. And it's going to be my authority manifested through you. Does that make sense? A lot of times people say, Well, who's the Catholic Church think it is telling us what to do? It's God's divine authority on earth. That's what the Catholic Church is. Its leaders. Our Holy Father. But it's the message Jesus is giving to Peter and to the others is a message of hope. He knows that they're gonna go through hell. They're gonna go through hell. Some of you all have been through hell. Some of you here you're going through some really tough times. And you look at our country sometime, don't watch too much news by the way, okay? Look at our country, look at this world. Sometimes you look around, I look around, there's so much evil, and I you wonder, are we gonna make it? It just seems like evil has the upper hand. Does does that ever feel that way to you? Like evil has the upper hand? Is that just me? And the Lord always reminds me of this gospel right here. The gates of hell shall not prevail. Yeah, they're gonna have their day. They're gonna have their hour, so to speak, but God will have his day. All we need to know as Catholic Christians is we win. I remember a priest telling us in the seminary we were studying the book of Revelation. He said, I I can sum it up I can sum up the book of Revelation with two words. And he got up on the whiteboard and big words he put, We win. good, we're done with our class. Good. So yes, Jesus is the Son of the living God. He's our Master, our Savior, our Lord. He's God in the flesh. He's with us. And He's given the keys to the kingdom to our spiritual leaders. To weak, broken, sinful men and women. That's how God works. He works through broken people. But in the end, he still his kingdom still stands, doesn't it? Doesn't that give you a lot of hope to know his kingdom on earth manifested in the church? It still stands. It's still here. And it will be here forever. Just put your hope in him.