The Church has long regarded this passage as the foundational moment for the establishment of the ministry of the pope as head of the Church.  The symbol of keys appears in the papal crest, the sign both of governance and of leadership that is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ.  Peter, the rock, symbolizes that the human community that is the Church, rests on the permanence of its divine foundation.  Although Jesus commissions Peter to a ministry of reconciliation, that same mandate is given to all his disciples.  The strength of the Church depends on a communion of love, justice, and mercy.

The encounters between Jesus and Peter are always intriguing.  Peter’s humanness appeals to us.  In today’s story, he wants to walk on the water like Jesus, but loses his nerve and begins to sink.  There may be something of Peter in each of us.  Deep in our heart we want to follow the Lord, yet there are moments when we vacillate and wonder if we can believe everything the Lord teaches and everything he asks of us.  In those moments we can lose our nerve, or renew our faith and cry out, “Lord, save me.”  And he always does.

The miraculous feeding of the multitude marks a defining moment in the public ministry of Jesus.  His compassion for the crowd leads to an abundance of blessings symbolized in the twelve baskets of fragments left over.  Although Jesus performs the miracle, the disciples distribute the loaves and the fish.  In this gesture, Jesus leaves a teaching for the disciples and for us.  We are called to share in his ministry, as he clearly states, “Give them some food yourselves.”  We may not have the same powers of Jesus, but we have the same mandate: to nourish our brothers and sisters with the compassion of the Lord.

Jesus continues to teach his disciples, and us, about the Kingdom of God by using parables and images that we easily understand.  Who among us would not want to find a great treasure?  Maybe we are thinking of winning the lottery! Or, what would it be like to find a rare pearl?  In both cases, we would be excited and surely want to share our good fortune with others.  The kingdom of heaven is the treasure, the pearl.  It is given to us by God, no digging, no ticket required.  It is pure gift.  And it is meant to be shared with great joy.

In two short parables Jesus portrays the amazing power of the Kingdom of God.  The size of the mustard seed is contrasted with the astonishing spread of the Kingdom as it grows to embrace countless people, just as the uncounted number of birds come to rest in the fully grown bush.  In other words, there is no end to the breadth of God’s reign on earth.  The yeast that leavens the dough tells a similar story.  A small amount can create enough bread to feed many.  But these images remind us that each of us can be instruments of the Kingdom of God.  We may only be one person, yet our faith can affect an untold number of people; we are the seeds of God’s embrace, the leaven of God’s love in the world.

We learn from Jesus today that God is aware that there are weeds growing within the wheat.  God is content to let them grow together, only to be separated later, at harvest time.  We let God be God while we grow into the harvest we are meant to be.  Our lives are not to be filled with judgmentalism but with mercy.  “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.”  These are gentle reminders for us that as disciples, followers of the Son of God, we are content to allow God to act in his own time.