The Gospel for Tuesday’s celebration of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles:
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:13-19
Many things could be written about this passage–and have been!–but one small thing is often overlooked. When Simon (not “Peter” just yet) responds to Jesus’ question, Jesus calls him “Simon son of Jonah.” Yet in John’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly, and solemnly, identifies Simon as “the son of John. (John 1:42, and three times in John 21:15-17). There is no known relationship between these ancient names. One was not confused with the other. How/why is Simon “son of Jonah”?
Jonah is mentioned by Jesus 4 times before this in Matthew’s Gospel–referring to himself. (Chapter 12, in verses 39, 40, and 41, and then once more in chapter 16:4). This last mention of Jonah occurs not long before Jesus refers to Simon as “son of Jonah” in verse 17, and that is in the context of blessing and re-naming Simon as “Peter” or “Rock.”
When Jesus is giving Simon a new name (a new identity, for the person IS his/her name) he is looking well ahead at two crucial ways in which Simon is “a son of” Jonah, Jonah’s “heir” as it were, in the grand sweep of the history of God’s interaction with his world.
First, Jonah was a prophet who struggled with his call and at first did not obey the call of God, but ran away from it. Peter, after great protestations of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, denies he even knows who Jesus is as the crucifixion approaches. With Jonah, God simply tries again and commissions him a second time to fulfill his calling. With Peter, Jesus will try again with Peter, as written up for us in John’s Gospel: “Peter, do you love me more than these? Feed my sheep.”
Second, Jonah was sent to successfully preach repentance to the Assyrians, a hated, pagan nation, in their capital city of Nineveh. Peter will be martyred in Rome, becoming forever united to the history of the city, capital of the pagan Roman Empire. In Rome, Peter’s successors will oversee the evangelization of the pagan world by the Church.
A “son of Jonah,” indeed!