"Tungod kay ang nagsugid sa imo sini nga butang indi tawo, kundi ang akon Amay sa langit"

Ebanghelyo subong nga Adlaw (Mateo 16:13-23)

Karon, sang didto na sila ni Jesus sa lugar sang Cesarea Filipos nagpamangkot siya sa iya mga sumulunod, "Sin-o bala ang pagkilala sang mga tawo sa akon nga Anak sang Tawo?"

Nagsabat sila, "May nagasiling nga ikaw si Juan nga manugbautiso. Ang iban nagasiling nga ikaw si Elias. May iban pa gid nga nagasiling nga ikaw si Jeremias, kag kon indi, basta isa sa mga propeta."

Nagsiling si Jesus sa ila, "Pero sa inyo, sin-o bala ako?"

Nagsabat si Pedro, "Ikaw ang Cristo, ang Anak sang Dios nga buhi!"

Nagsiling si Jesus sa iya, "Simon nga anak ni Jonas, bulahan ka, tungod kay ang nagsugid sa imo sini nga butang indi tawo kundi ang akon Amay sa langit.

Kag sa sini ginatawag ko ikaw nga Pedro nga kon sayuron 'bato'. Kag sa sini nga bato pagatukuron ko ang akon iglesya kag bisan ang gahom sang kamatayon indi makadaog sa iya.

Sa imo ko ihatag ang awtoridad sa ginharian sang Dios. Ang bisan ano nga indi mo pagtugutan diri sa kalibutan amo man ang indi pagtugutan sang Dios, kag ang bisan ano nga tugutan mo amo man ang tugutan[b] sang Dios."

Ginpaandaman dayon ni Jesus ang iya mga sumulunod nga indi gid sila magsugid bisan kay sin-o nga siya amo ang Cristo.

Halin sadto nagsugid si Jesus sing maathag sa iya mga sumulunod kon ano ang matabo sa iya. Nagsiling siya, "Kinahanglan gid nga magkadto ako sa Jerusalem. Didto magaantos gid ako sa himuon sa akon sang mga manugdumala sang mga Judio, sang manugdumala nga mga pari, kag sang mga manunudlo sang Kasuguan. Ipapatay nila ako, pero sa ikatlo nga adlaw mabanhaw ako."

Sang pagsiling niya sadto gindala siya ni Pedro sa ulo-unhan kag ginsaway, "Ipalayo lang sa imo ang ginhambal mo nga ina. Indi pag-itugot sang Dios nga matabo ina sa imo."

Nagliso si Jesus kag nagsiling sa iya, "Palayo ka sa akon Satanas! Ginabalabagan mo ako nga maghimo sang kabubut-on sang Dios tungod kay ang imo hunahuna indi iya sang Dios kundi iya sang tawo!"

Prayers:

"Lord Jesus, I profess and believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Make my faith strong in temptation and adversity that I may follow you faithfully as my Lord and Savior."

***

Reflection of the Daily Gospel:

Who is Jesus for you? At an opportune time Jesus tests his disciples with a crucial question: Who do men say that I am and who do you say that I am? He was widely recognized in Israel as a mighty man of God, even being compared with the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah. Peter, always quick to respond, exclaimed that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. No mortal being could have revealed this to Peter; but only God. Jesus then confers on Peter authority to govern the church that Jesus would build, a church that no powers would overcome.

Jesus plays on Peter's name which is the same word for "rock" in both Aramaic and Greek. To call someone a "rock" is one of the greatest of compliments. The ancient rabbis had a saying that when God saw Abraham, he exclaimed: "I have discovered a rock to found the world upon". Through Abraham God established a nation for himself. Through faith Peter grasped who Jesus truly was. He was the first apostle to recognize Jesus as the Anointed One (Messiah and Christ) and the only begotten Son of God. The New Testament describes the church as a spiritual house or temple with each member joined together as living stones (see 1 Peter 2:5). Faith in Jesus Christ makes us into rocks or spiritual stones. The Lord Jesus tests each of us personally with the same question: Who do you say that I am?

When Jesus told his disciples that he must suffer many things, be rejected by the religious authorities in Jerusalem, and then be put to death, he also prophesied that he would be raised on the third day. Peter, always quick to respond, rejected the notion that the Messiah must suffer and be killed. This wasn't the kind of Messiah that Peter and the Jews expected. They didn't understand that the prophet Isaiah, some 700 hundred years before Christ's birth, foretold that God's Anointed One would come as the Suffering Servant who would be despised, rejected, and put to death to atone for the sins of the world [see Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53:1-12] . Jesus saw in Peter's rejection a temptation to avoid the way of the cross which involved obedience and trust in God's will, and voluntary suffering and sacrifice for the sake of others. Jesus rebuked not only Peter but Satan, the greatest of angels who disobeyed and refused to serve his Lord and Creator. Are you ready to follow the Lord Jesus, to suffer and die for him, that you may also share in his glory and resurrection?