“And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
———
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mt 16:13-23)
It’s always good to get the full context of a passage of scripture in order to better understand what the author intended. To hear only the first part of this passage gives us an inflated understanding of Peter’s role in the community. But with the second part we begin to understand how flawed “Rocky” can be and the need to think as God does. Today’s picture is of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
