Confident.Faith

Today we celebrate the Festival of St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor. Best remembered as a companion of St. Paul, St. Timothy grew up in a Christian household. After meeting Paul on his (Paul’s) second missionary journey, Timothy accompanied Paul on further missionary journeys and was with Paul in Rome. According to tradition, Timothy was martyred in Ephesus around AD 97, where he served as bishop after Paul’s martyrdom in Rome.

Today we commemorate Sarah. Wife (and half-sister) of the patriarch Abraham, Sarah followed Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans on his journey to Canaan. Childless until old age, Sarah was eventually blessed with a son — Isaac — who would become the second of the three major patriarchs of OT Israel, and carry on the line of the promised Messiah. Sarah is remembered for her faithfulness and her hospitality. She was buried in the Cave of Machpelah, the same cave where Abraham would also later be buried.

Today we celebrate the festival of The Confession of St. Peter. In response to Christ’s challenge: “But who do you say that I am?”, Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This — Peter’s confession — is the rock upon which the Church is built. As Christ makes clear, it is not “flesh and blood [that] [reveals]” this truth, but “[the] Father Who is in Heaven”.

Here in Matthew, and elsewhere in the NT, Christ makes clear that He gives the Keys to the entire Church, not to Peter alone, and with the Keys the power to bind and to loose: “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” As the Smalcald Articles state:

The Keys are an office and power given by Christ to the Church for binding and loosing sin. This applies not only to gross and well-known sins, but also the subtle, hidden sins that are known only to God. As it is written, “Who can discern his errors?” (Psalm 19:12).

It is truly this confession of Peter — that Christ is the Son of the living God — upon which the Church is founded, with Christ as cornerstone.