SERMON/HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER 22ND FEBRUARY 2024

SERMON/HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER 22ND FEBRUARY 2024

1Peter 5:1-4; Ps.23; Matthew 16:13-19

Divine Presence through Authority

Today, we celebrate the Chair of St. Peter. To better understand what we celebrate, it is necessary we first understand what we are not celebrating. We are not celebrating a worm-eaten oak-wood arm-chair supposedly used by Peter. Our focus is not on an artifact or monument that reminds us of the glory of earlier days. We are celebrating something alive.

The Chair of St. Peter signifies the authority Jesus gave to Peter to be the head of his Church. How this authority came about is contained in today’s gospel. However, we are not celebrating Peter as a person. Usually, when people get elected into a political or any exalted office, a party is thrown in their honour to celebrate their achievement. They are the center of attraction. That is not the case here.

In this celebration of the Chair of St. Peter, Peter is not the center of attraction but Jesus himself. Jesus gave Peter authority to govern the Church so that in Peter, Jesus will continue to govern his Church. So, we are celebrating the continual presence of Jesus with us through the authority he breathed on Peter.

Apart from remaining with us in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is with us in the ruling office of the Church. To celebrate the chair of St. Peter means to pledge our loyalty to the government of the Church. This celebration avails us the opportunity to access our level of conviction that Christ is present in the leaders of the Church and our obedience to constituted authorities.

Peter was not the best of the apostles; infact, soon after bestowing this authority on him, Jesus said to him: “get behind me Satan”. Apart from Judas who betrayed Jesus, Peter denied Jesus three times. So, his selection was not based on qualification but on Christ’s desire to remain with his Church. God wants us to respect his ministers to the extent that they minister God to us. This means that even as they represent God to us, we do not mistake them for God himself.

When you board a bus, you respect the driver to the extent that he/she is driving you to your destination. If it happens that the driver is taking a rout that does not lead to your destination, you will not relax on the bases that he/she is a driver; you will most likely step down from the bus and board another one that will take you to your destination. So, the authority that Jesus gave Peter does not mean that we are not capable to knowing God except through Peter; it rather means that we must be docile to Peter as he leads us to Jesus.