Weekday Saints. Mark G. Boyer
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16).
The Matthean Jesus makes it clear that Peter is the foundation for the church: “. . . [Y]ou are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (16:18). The play on words does not work in the English translation of the Greek text. In Greek, the word “petra” means “rock”; thus, the name “Peter” indicates that the man is the foundation of the church. As most notes in Bibles indicate, Peter is known by his Aramaic name, “Kephas,” in the early church. “Kephas” is derived from the Aramaic word for rock, namely, “kepha.” In both Greek and Aramaic the word play is obvious, but is missed in English translation. In order to capture the intent of the Matthean Jesus’ words, the verse needs to be translated like this: You are Rocky, and upon this foundation I will build my church.
Matthew is the only gospel to use the Greek word “ekklesia” (or “ecclesia”), translated into English as “church.” The word does not refer to a building, as it does in contemporary parlance. In Matthew, church is an assembly of people. This community is built on and held together by the Rock, Peter.
Another Petrine passage is added by Matthew. Jesus gives the keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter. In the ancient world, a key was a sign of authority; it gave its bearer the ability to admit and to keep out. Jesus assures Peter that whatever he binds on earth will be bound in the kingdom; and whatever he loses on earth will be loosed in the kingdom.
The Church has understood this passage to be her basis for continuing the teaching of Jesus for two thousand years, especially concerning matters of faith and morals. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting St. Maximus the Confessor, states, “. . . [A]ll Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation since, according to the Savior’s promise, the gates of hell have never prevailed against her” (834).
Today’s feast celebrates the fact that we “believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church,” as we profess in the Nicene Creed, founded by Christ on the Rock (Peter) and presided over by Peter’s successor.
Meditation: What does it mean to you to be a member of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church?
Prayer: Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Simon Peter’s profession of faith led your Son to declare him the foundation stone of the Church and to give him the authority to teach your truth. Keep us faithful to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church and grant us admittance to the kingdom, where you live and reign with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
March 19: Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
David
2 Samuel 7:4–5a, 12–14a, 16
Scripture: “. . . [T]he word of the LORD came to Nathan [the prophet]: Go and tell my servant [King] David: Thus says the LORD: Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam 7:4, 16).
Reflection: The short, pieced-together passage for this Solemnity of St. Joseph is part of a much longer discourse given by the prophet Nathan to King David. The king proposes to build a house for God, that is, a temple in Jerusalem into which the ark of the covenant will be placed. However, instead of David building a house for God, the LORD declares that he will build a house, that is, a dynasty, for David.
Biblical theologians refer to this as the “everlasting covenant.” God promises David that there will always be a king from David’s family ruling in Jerusalem. The promise made to David around 1000 BC continued until 587 BC when the last king of Judah went into Babylonian Captivity. After this, the everlasting covenant became a messianic expectation; God would provide a messiah, who would rescue the people and restore the Kingdom of Judah politically and religiously. Historically, this never happened.
One of the earliest writers about Jesus of Nazareth believes that he is that hoped-for messiah. Around 80 AD, the author of Matthew’s Gospel began his book with a “genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). Joseph, to whom Mary is engaged, is addressed by an angel of the Lord in a dream as a “son of David” (1:20). Thus, the author of Matthew’s Gospel presents Jesus as the fulfillment of the messianic expectation ignoring two problems. First, if the Holy Spirit is the father of the child in Mary’s womb (1:18), Joseph is not the father and the genealogy back to David does not work. Second, Jesus did not restore the Kingdom of Judah; he died at the hands of the Romans occupying what had once been that nation.
However, if Joseph is understood as the legal father of Jesus, then the author of the first gospel has made his point. Carefully, he declares through the angel of the Lord that Jesus “will save his people from their sins” (1:21). Like the other unexpected people listed in his genealogy, especially the four women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, wife of Uriah), the author of Matthew’s Gospel proclaims Jesus to be the messiah through whom God fulfills his promise.
The author of Matthew’s Gospel understands that God works in ways that people often do not understand, and Joseph, husband of Mary, is one prime example of that. When we hear about someone who has had her cancer disappear unexpectedly, the LORD has fulfilled a promise to heal his people. A marriage that was about to end in divorce may be saved by God through a friend’s advice. A woman’s alcoholism may provide the Holy One the occasion to draw her closer to himself. We cannot name all the ways God saves his people, but we can declare that the LORD keeps his promise.
Meditation: In what unexplained way has God worked in or through your life to save you or another person?
Prayer: Almighty Father, you raised up Joseph, a righteous man, to be the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster father of your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant us the grace to see your saving work in our lives that we may praise your goodness. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Righteousness
Romans 4:13, 16–18, 22
Scripture: “. . . [T]he promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom 4:13).
Reflection: “Righteousness” is a very important biblical word, especially for Paul. Righteousness defines a state of being in a healthy relationship with God. In his letter to the Romans, Paul argues that Abraham’s trust of God was a response to God’s offer of a relationship with him. In accepting the free gift, God declares Abraham righteous apart from the Torah, which had not yet been given to Moses. This enables Paul to conclude that anyone who accepts God’s offer of grace with an appropriate response is righteous.
This argument is important for Paul, because he wants to include the Gentiles—non-Jews—among those to whom God has offered righteousness through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jews and Gentiles who accept God’s grace and respond through faith that God raised Jesus from the dead are righteous. God has invited them into a healthy relationship with him, and they have responded.
Paul is declaring that God’s promise to Abraham was not the result of any works that Abraham did; in other words, Abraham did not earn righteousness. Righteousness was a gift offered to him by God. If righteousness can be earned, then there is no reason for faith, trust in God’s reliability. In Pauline understanding, Jesus is the model of trust. He was handed over to death and raised by God. Anyone who believes in the God who raised Jesus from the dead is declared righteous by God.
In the context of this solemnity, the pericope from Paul’s letter to the Romans is chosen to highlight the righteousness of St. Joseph. According to Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph was “a righteous man” (1:19). He did not understand Mary’s pregnancy, but after divine intervention, placed his trust in the words of the angel of the Lord. According to the Torah, he should have divorced her— and he would have been declared righteous by works—but following the angel’s directive, he took her as his wife, trusting in God’s