The passage on the new covenant is a story about the reality of God's grace. Given the infidelity of the people, God must begin anew. Against the bleak background of Israel's failure to respond, God seizes the initiative and writes this covenant on the hearts of the people, not on stone tablets. The result of this action is that Israel will be able to be faithful. Indeed she will recognize her God without the need for intermediaries. God has created anew the very core of humanity. This passage urges us to break out into praise, into wonderment over our God's capacity to convert evil into good. This is indeed Good News.

Matthew lets us see the perception and yet the limitations of Peter. Owing to a divine revelation he confesses Jesus to be the Son of the living God. But when Jesus qualifies His messiahship in terms of the suffering Son of Man, Peter resolutely refuses to accept this identification. "No such thing shall ever happen to you." To be sure, the rock of Jesus' Church is not all that sturdy. Peter is perhaps a good paradigm for us. We take delight in being recognized as disciples of Jesus. However, we do not always delight in contending with the cross that goes hand in hand with discipleship. We want a Jesus on our own terms! We choose to separate the cross from the crown.