A Cycle – 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time 23

Mt. 16:13-20

There is no doubt that the aftermath of the pandemic has created many challenges for the church.  It also has created an enormous opportunity for the mission of Christ to once again be the source of excitement.  Recent surveys reveal some frightening and startling data which is being used to conclude the church is in decline.  Surveys show ten percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics. Three quarters of our youth believe they do not have to go to church every Sunday to be a good catholic. Catholic marriages have declined by two thirds, and you do not have to be part of a church to be Christian.

The book “Forming Intentional Disciples” published in 2012, provided data showing at that time Church Attendance by young adults was roughly three out of every ten. The data in that book left you to wonder what the future holds and if the “gates of the nether world” could overcome the church.  When will this trend be reversed and the gates of the nether world be defeated by the church?  When will the church stand up and reverse this decline of people believing the church has nothing to offer?  But what if it continues?  What if we keep missing the opportunity to help people believe Christ is relevant today.  What if we have abdicated our baptismal call to share in the life of Christ as “priest, prophet and king.” 

We all too easily hear the words “the church” and we think of two thousand years of history from Peter to Francis.  We think of Rome, the seat of our own Diocese or our local parish.  We have forgotten we are the church, living stones being built up into holy people.  Yes, we have a structure but without people we have no church.  We overlook how God at the beginning of His relationship with His people chose someone to be in authority.  But we, the people, were expected to be examples to non-believers. 

We can look at Abraham, whom God chose to be the father of a great nation with whom God made a covenant.  But I prefer to look at Moses. He was chosen by God to lead God’s chosen people to the promised land.  God’s covenant was confirmed to Moses and Moses was given the commandments and the law.  The scriptures reveal Moses sat in judgment, deciding disputes between the people. Moses was in fact the one who held the keys, the one who consulted God and applied the law as God intended. But he was directed to share that burden and God would pour His spirit upon those chosen.

 Long before Peter made this declaration of faith, he and the rest of the disciples were sent out to heal the sick, cast out demons and proclaim the kingdom of God is at hand.   That, my brothers, and sisters, was and remains the mission of the church.  That is our mission as believers, as disciples.  This declaration by Peter in today’s gospel follows weeks and months of Jesus challenging the disciples to believe.  Before Jesus announces that Peter would be the one on which the church was to be built all the disciples were being formed and prepared to carry out the mission of Jesus.  The world would not be evangelized by Peter sending out letters from Jerusalem, but by the disciples going out from there and sharing the good news with everyone they encountered. 

Jesus was not establishing central place from which the world would be evangelized but instead it would be a source of empowerment and help to communities of faith. In those communities’ people would live the gospel message and by their witness others would desire to experience what they were living. Living stones bringing others to life and faith in Jesus Christ.   

 Keep in mind before this declaration about Peter being the foundation Jesus asked the disciples a profound question – who do you say I am.  Their answers were that he was a past prophet returned to earth.  Elijah, John the Baptist, or another prophet.  But Peter, said He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Insight given to him by the Holy Spirit.  That simple statement about Jesus is the mission of the Chruch.  We need to proclaim Jesus Christ as the answer to all we seek.  He is the only way to the Father.  Everything we do as church should declare Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. 

If the church is going to reverse all those statistics indicating we are in a decline, we, ordinary men, and women empowered by the Spirit will be the ones who need to boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord.  We need to bring His presence into the streets, the homes, the places where people are seeking something to satisfy that longing for something meaningful in their lives.   

The church has formed us, taught us, and has nurtured us for an encounter with the Spirt.  It is then we would, like Peter, embrace forgiveness won for us by Christ. It is at that moment we would be compelled by the Spirit to share our faith with those who are skeptical about the church.  We are the only ones who can stop the forces that are proclaiming the way to happiness is found in the thing’s society offers us. 

This gospel is not a look backward into history, it is forward looking into the future where the whole church will acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.  When we are actively sharing our faith, those who doubt will begin to search.  Searches will turn into believers, and they will find their way into the building we call our church. They will join us, worship with us, and go out and tell others what God has done to fill them with joy, peace, and certainty.