Peter the Rock
The images of Christ as a new temple and Peter as the rock are wonderfully illustrated in the beautiful and theologically rich painting by Pietro Perugino entitled Delivery of the Keys. The painting shows a magnificent landscape, which alone makes it a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance art. But what is more interesting is what is happening in front of the landscape. Behind the figures of Jesus, Peter, and the others who are gathered around them, there is a building that represents the Jerusalem Temple. Yet, Perugino’s rendering of the Temple looks curiously like the building that still occupies the site, a structure built upon the raised foundation seen in the painting—the foundations of the long-gone Temples of Solomon and Herod. Never having visited Jerusalem himself, Perugino painted his Temple based on then-contemporary pilgrims’ sketches of the gold-domed, eight-sided Dome of the Rock, the mosque built by Muslims in the seventh century. Perugino depicts other buildings that wouldn’t have been there at the time of Christ but which pilgrims would have seen and sketched, such as Constantine’s triumphal arch.
Directly in front of these “modern” buildings—i.e., circa fifteenth-century Jerusalem modern—Perugino shows Jesus giving the keys to Peter. Note that this is not taking place in Caesarea Philippi, where the actual event took place, but on the Temple Mount. Since Solomon built his Temple on this mount or “rock,” the same one upon which Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, this is a symbolically fitting setting for Perugino’s painting: for Christ is building his Church—his own holy Temple, if you will—upon the “rock” of Peter. Perugino brilliantly juxtaposed these two rocks: that of Abraham’s sacrifice and Solomon’s Temple in the background and that of Peter in the foreground.
The theological significance of the painting is even more poignant because the painting is displayed in the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals gather to elect a new pope as successor of St. Peter. Following his election in the last conclave, Pope Francis would have sat looking directly at that painting. This is another example of how Catholic art is never simply decorative. It’s theological and catechetical. Just as in Perugino’s painting, it’s always teaching us something important about the Faith.
After saying, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,” Jesus continued, “And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). The word translated as “gates of Hades” is also rendered “death” or “gates of Hell” in other English translations. These words are a sort a code for the “powers of Hell.” We see this frequently in Scripture. For example, out of respect for the divine name, pious Jews would say “Heaven” instead of “God.” In the New Testament, “kingdom of Heaven” is often used in place of “kingdom of God,” although the meaning is exactly the same. In this case, Jesus didn’t want to give Satan the honor of being named, so he used a circumlocution. Instead of saying “Satan,” Jesus referred to him as the “gates of Hades.” This is a great promise. Peter would be the foundation of a new kingdom—the Church—and the gates of Hell would not be able to withstand it. There is a great power endowed in this new temple.
Remember that David’s kingdom had been conquered and his descendants exiled. The great Solomonic Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC, and even the Temple built by Herod the Great, still standing at the time of Christ, would be destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. Jesus was saying that he is the new Temple, and that his Temple would be greater than Solomon’s Temple. He would lay a foundation stone that would not be overturned. Understanding how this relates to David and the Solomonic Temple helps us to understand Christ as the New David and it helps us to understand the meaning of the new Temple that he built on the rock, which is Peter.
