The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
Introduction: May you continue to follow the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you follow Jesus, the Priest, the Prophet, and the King!
Those who lead and govern us are called to do what is for
the Good of all those under their authority. Yet, as history has shown us, not
all those who have been placed in positions of authority, or have assumed
positions of authority by themselves, have used their power for the Good of
others. Some have abused their offices and acted selfishly. Those who lead
should model their leadership on that of the One Who came to serve, rather than
be served, and to do all He could for the Good of all. Jesus truly is The
Prophet, The Priest, and The King, Who exercises true authority over all.
Authority. That’s what we hear from today’s readings. Near
the end of the 8th Century B.C., Isaiah speaks harshly to Shebna, master of the
palace, telling him that he has abused his authority, given wrong advice to the
king, and will be held accountable for it. The Responsorial Psalm is a hymn of
praise, probably from one who is in authority (most probably, King David),
praising the even greater authority and power of God. St. Paul finishes this
section of his letter to the Romans, realizing that he does not have the
ultimate power to bring his Jewish sisters and brothers to the Lord Jesus. He
praises God Who is above all wisdom and authority and Who will take care of
everything according to the divine plan, which is beyond Paul’s understanding.
In the Gospel, after St. Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of
God, Jesus empowers Peter with the authority to lead the Church.
First Reading: Isaiah 22:15, 19-23 ‘I will place on his
shoulder the key of the house of David.’
Commentary: This
reading from Isaiah goes well with the gospel reading about the appointment of
Peter, for there Peter is appointed as head of Jesus’ own team. In this first
reading Isaiah predicts that Eliakim will take the place of Shebna as master of
the king’s palace in Jerusalem, and that God will invest him with authority. To
open and close the doors of the palace was the privilege of the master of the
place. To the Hebrew mind such a pair of opposites often signifies everything
in-between, so that opening and closing the doors mean having control of
everything that goes on. No one else may interfere. Similarly by the pair of
opposites ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ Peter is given total authority over the
assembly or community of Jesus that is the Church. Equivalently, as Eliakim is
given the key of the palace on his shoulder (or, as we would say, round his
neck), so Peter is given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Peter is sometimes
pictured as the doorkeeper of heaven, but ‘the kingdom of heaven’ is far wider:
it means ‘God’s sovereignty’, which Jesus came to establish on earth, in which
all obey, worship and give glory to God.
Responsorial Psalm 138:1-2a. 2bc, 3. 6, 8bc. O LORD, your
merciful love is eternal; discard not the work of your hands.
The psalm today is a hymn of praise to God for being the
ultimate authority in life. Some scripture scholars say it may have been a hymn
used by a king or person in authority, acknowledging the higher authority of
God. In the psalm the speaker realizes that all good things come from the power
of God, Who hears the cry of the poor. It is also a prayer of petition, asking
God to remember the divine promises of old.
Second Reading: Romans 11:33-36: ‘From him and through
him and to him are all things.’
Commentary: After
his long and thorough exposition of the way in which the work of Christ won our
salvation, and by his loving obedience wiped away the proud sin of Adam’
disobedience, Paul has been agonizing about how the Jews can have failed to
recognize this fulfilment of God’s promises to Abraham. Quoting one passage of
scripture after another he finally comes to the conclusion that in the end, in
God’s good time a remnant of Israel will be saved. How this will be he really
cannot explain. Throwing up his hands in incomprehension, he can only burst
into this wonderful hymn of praise to God’s inscrutable Wisdom. We simply
cannot understand God’s plans and methods. This concluding passage comes close
to the wonderful passage at the end of the Book of Job. Job has rejected the
shallow explanations for his sufferings suggested by his friends, when God
intervenes to show Job how mighty and wise he is. Job can only admit that God’s
Wisdom surpasses anything human beings can conceive, and God’s might infinitely
transcends any human power. So Paul willingly grants that God must run his own
world, and we cannot even attempt to challenge God’s reasoning, for everything
begins and ends in God.
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20. ‘You are Peter, and I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’
Commentary: At
last Peter recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. At last he
realizes that in Jesus they can see the action of God. The disciples followed
Jesus as soon as he called, but for a long time they were puzzled what to make
of him, of his wonderful teaching and his godlike personality. Now comes a
shaft of light and understanding. We too often take some time to appreciate the
true worth of someone we know well: a little gesture can sometimes reveal just
how generous and thoughtful they are. Peter suddenly grasps that there is God,
acting among them, a daunting or even terrifying thought. Jesus replies to
Peter’s recognition with his own generosity, giving him a new name, ‘Rock’, for
this is what ‘Peter’ means. If you name something, you make it your own, take
it to yourself. This is just what Jesus does with Simon who becomes his own
Peter. That is the importance of the naming of a child at Baptism: Jesus takes
us to himself and we become his. The early Christians called themselves ‘Those
over whom the name of Jesus has been called.’ We may have been named Mary or
John, but the name of Jesus has been called over us and we have become
his – with the responsibility of following in his footsteps.
Reflection: 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.
Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD), an early church father comments on
Peter's profession of faith in Jesus:
Peter did not say "you are a Christ" or "a
son of God" but "the Christ, the Son of God." For there are many
christs [meaning anointed ones] by grace, who have attained the rank of
adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature the Son of God.
Thus, using the definite article, he said, the Christ, the Son of God. And in
calling him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ himself is life
and that death has no authority over him. And even if the flesh, for a short
while, was weak and died, nevertheless it rose again, since the Word, who
indwelled it, could not be held under the bonds of death. (FRAGMENT 190)
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.
Jesus then confers on Peter
authority to govern the church that
Jesus would build, a church that no powers would overcome because it is founded
on the rock which is Christ himself. Epiphanius, a 6th century Scripture
scholar who also translated many early church commentaries from Greek into
Latin, explains the significance of Jesus handing down the "keys of the
kingdom":
For Christ is a rock which is
never disturbed or worn away. Therefore
Peter gladly received his name from Christ to signify the established and
unshaken faith of the church... The devil is the gateway of death who always
hastens to stir up against the holy church calamities and temptations and
persecutions. But the faith of the apostle, which was founded upon the rock of
Christ, abides always unconquered and unshaken. And the very keys of the
kingdom of the heavens have been handed down so that one whom he has bound on
earth has been bound in heaven, and one whom he has set free on earth he has
also set free in heaven. (INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28)
The Lord Jesus offers us the gift of unshakeable faith,
enduring hope, and unquenchable love - and the joyful boldness to proclaim him
as the one true Savior who brings us the kingdom of God both now and forever.
Who do you say he is to yourself and to your neighbor?
Lord Jesus, I profess and believe that you are the Christ,
the Son of the living God. You are my Lord and my Savior. Make my faith strong
like Peter's and give me boldness to speak of you to others that they may come
to know you personally as Lord and Savior and grow in the knowledge of your
great love.
Daily Quote from the Early
Church Fathers: Christ, the Son
of the living God, by Epiphanius the Latin (315-403 AD)
Did the Lord not know what people called him? But by
questioning he brought forth the conviction of the apostle Peter and left for
us in the future a strong affirmation of faith. For the Lord questioned not
only Peter but all the apostles when he said, "Who do you say that I
am?" Yet one on behalf of all answered the King, who is in due time to
judge the whole world. He is God, both God and man. How miserable does this
make those who are false teachers and strangers now, and to be judged in
eternity. If Christ is the Son of God, by all means he is also God. If he is
not God, he is not the Son of God. But since he himself is the Son, and as the
Son takes up all things from the Father, let us hold this same one inseparably
in our heart because there is no one who escapes his hand. (excerpt from
INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28).
loving Jesus in his church: “On
this rock I will build My Church.” —Matthew 16:18
Adam, the first man, was in a “deep sleep…While he was
asleep, [God] took out one of his ribs…[and] built up into a woman the rib that
He had taken from the man” (Gn 2:21). Eve, the beloved bride of Adam, was
formed from her husband’s side.
The Church Fathers wrote that the Church was formed from the
pierced side of Christ. Like Adam, Jesus was in a “deep sleep” when He expired
on the Cross. A soldier’s lance pierced His side and out flowed blood and
water, giving birth to the Church (Jn 19:34). Thus, the Church is the beloved
bride of Christ, formed from His side. “As Eve was formed from the sleeping
Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging
dead on the cross” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 766).
Jesus is the Head of the Church, and we are members of His
“Body, the Church” (Col 1:18). As members of the Church, we are the beloved
bride of Christ, as close to Jesus as His ribs, as dear to Him as the blood in
His Sacred Heart. Thus the divine love of Jesus Christ flows through the
Church. It’s not always easy to love the Church, composed as it is of members
who are all sinners. If we are unable to love the Church and its members, then
we cannot fully love Jesus (see 1 Jn 4:20), Who loves every member of His
Church, His Body (1 Cor 12:27). We are His bride, so let’s love those whom the
Groom loves.
Prayer: Jesus, help me to live in a manner befitting a
member of Your Church (1 Tm 3:15). “The jaws of death will not prevail against
[the Church].” —Mt 16:18. Alleluia! Jesus is risen! “O death, where is your
victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55).
The personal action for
today: What images come to mind
when I think of authority? Have I suffered from the abusive authority of
someone who has not used his/her authority in a proper way? Have I been blessed
by being under someone who sees her/his authority as a share in the role of
Jesus, The Priest, The Prophet, and The King? Do I pray for those who are in
authority over me? When I have been in a position of authority (as a parent,
manager, teacher, or boss), have I modeled my behavior on the servant-leadership
example of Jesus, Who came to serve, not to be served? How can I reassure
others that the ultimate authority is God?
Saint Rose of Lima: The first canonized saint of the New World has
one characteristic of all saints—the suffering of opposition—and another
characteristic which is more for admiration than for imitation—excessive
practice of mortification. Rose of Lima was born to parents of Spanish descent
in Lima, Peru, at a time when South America was in its first century of
evangelization. She seems to have taken Catherine of Siena as a model, in spite
of the objections and ridicule of parents and friends.
The saints have so great a love of God that what seems
bizarre to us, and is indeed sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying
out of a conviction that anything that might endanger a loving relationship
with God must be rooted out. So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose
used to rub her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she
wore a thick circlet of silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown
of thorns.
When Rose of Lima’s parents fell into financial trouble, she
worked in the garden all day and sewed at night. Ten years of struggle against
her parents began when they tried to make Rose marry. They refused to let her
enter a convent, and out of obedience she continued her life of penance and
solitude at home as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. So deep was
her desire to live the life of Christ that she spent most of her time at home
in solitude.
During the last few years of her life, Rose of Lima set up a
room in the house where she cared for homeless children, the elderly, and the
sick. This was a beginning of social services in Peru. Though secluded in life
and activity, she was brought to the attention of Inquisition interrogators,
who could only say that she was influenced by grace.
What might have been a merely eccentric life was
transfigured from the inside. If we remember some unusual penances, we should
also remember the greatest thing about Rose of Lima: a love of God so ardent
that it withstood ridicule from without, violent temptation, and lengthy
periods of sickness. When she died at 31, the city turned out for her funeral.
Prominent men took turns carrying her coffin.
It is easy to dismiss excessive penances of the saints as
the expression of a certain culture or temperament. But a woman wearing a crown
of thorns may at least prod our consciences. We enjoy the most comfort-oriented
life in human history. We eat too much, drink too much, use a million gadgets,
fill our eyes and ears with everything imaginable. Commerce thrives on creating
useless needs on which to spend our money. It seems that when we have become
most like slaves, there is the greatest talk of “freedom.” Are we willing to
discipline ourselves in such an atmosphere?
