Jesus, with His friends, has travelled far north into the region of Caesarea Philippi. In this secluded spot He asks them who people think He is. There’s variety of opinions: perhaps He’s John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But what about the apostles themselves: what do they think? It’s Peter who answers on behalf of all: “You are the Christ,†he says, “the Son of the living God.†He recognizes not only that Jesus is the Messiah, “the Christ,†but He is divine, the very Son of the living God. Jesus tells him that he is blessed, that only a special revelation of the Father could have enabled him to recognize Him as the Son of God, and to make his confession of faith in Him.
Jesus goes on to tell Simon that he is to have a new name, a highly significant name. He is to be called Peter; in the Greek of the New Testament, Peter means quite simply, “the rockâ€. Jesus adds that it’s upon this rock the He will build His Church. And Peter is to hold the keys of the kingdom. In our first reading we heard how a new master of the palace was entrusted with the keys of the kingdom as a sign of his authority in the Church, to have the power of binding and loosing, having the task of leading the people of God in their long, sometimes difficult, journey of faith.