Default
Today’s Gospel is the Confession of Peter. Where Jesus asks the Apostles, “who do you say that I am?”
And Peter, in classic Peter style, blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. It’s more of a reflex, more of a default than a thought process. Usually, it means that Peter has completely missed the point.
This time, surprisingly, Peter gets it right. When he says, “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The part that follows, where Jesus says, “you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church?” Catholics believe that this is where Jesus made Peter the first pope. Non-Catholics believe, well, pretty much anything but that.
And that’s where things seem to get stuck with this Gospel. With debates about Peter and popes and so on. Which means that all sides of the debate miss the most important part.
The part that follows. All that stuff about the keys of the Kingdom, binding and loosing. That’s the most important part, and here’s what that’s about.
Jesus is founding the Church. And the very first thing that He gives the Church? Remember, this is three years before Jesus gives the Apostles the Eucharist or the Great Commission.
The very first thing that Jesus gives the Church? The power to forgive sins. That’s what the whole “whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” thing is all about. Forgiveness. It’s what the sacrament of Reconciliation is all about.
Which means what? It means that the Church’s first instinct, the Church’s default, is supposed to be forgiveness.
We see it lived out in the life of today’s saint, Pope Leo the Great. Who was known for the fruits of a life grounded in forgiveness, by his ability to reconcile others with their enemies and with the Church.
But this isn’t just something for popes and sacraments. It means that for you and me as part of the Church, as Christians, forgiveness is supposed to be our personal default as well.
If we really are who we say we are (and Whose we say we are), then forgiveness needs to be our first instinct.
If someone takes us off guard, our reflex, our default, needs to be forgiveness.
If you’re like me, then don’t always live up to this. If I’m honest, there are times when my unthinking responses can be pretty far away from forgiveness.
Which means that you and I have got something we need to work on with God in prayer. So let’s begin.
May God grant us the grace to forgive, and a heart that is open to making forgiveness our first instinct, our default.
Today’s Readings
