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This week’s theme is about Kingdoms and Keys.
IS 22:19-23
(The 1st Reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel.)
Scripture is one giant jigsaw puzzle. Some stories are more familiar than others, but all are important. At first glance and without some help, most of us have no idea what this reading is about. But it’s super important and worthwhile to crack it open. Let’s go.
Here’s the deal on these unfamiliar names, Shebna and Eliakim.
In the Old Testament, similar to today, Kings had “Prime Ministers” – or right-hand men. They were “over the house” when the king was not present. SHEBNA is this prime minister. He’s under King Hezekiah – one of the only good kings in all of scripture.
Hezekiah was good. Unlike other kings who leaned on other militia and neighboring allies for support when times were tough, Hezekiah trusted God completely.
If Shebna is the prime minister of a good king, why does God say he’ll toss Shebna out and fill his seat with this Eliakim guy? It’s because of this:
Armies were coming to destroy the kingdom. Hezekiah trusted God and asked his kingdom to also trust God. But his right-hand man Shebna didn’t trust God. Instead, as insurance, Shebna …. bought himself an expensive tomb in case he died. Just in case God failed them.
When God found out about this and saw the tomb Shebna bought, he said (just one verse before today’s reading), “What have you here? Whom have you here, that you have hewn for yourself a tomb here, Hewing a tomb on high, carving a resting place in the rock?” The LORD shall hurl you down headlong, mortal man!”
In other words, “What are you thinking, Shebna? I’m God. Trust in Me. All the way.”
So in today’s reading, God replaces Shebna with Eliakim, a trustworthy servant:
Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace:
“I will thrust you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
On that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;
I will clothe him with your robe,
and gird him with your sash,
and give over to him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.
I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;
when he opens, no one shall shut
when he shuts, no one shall open.
I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot,
to be a place of honor for his family.”
Let’s reflect: How are we doing with our complete trust in God? Are we more like Shebna, planning for God to be wrong – or is God pleased with our faithfulness, putting us in a place of honor for his family?
138: Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
Read this verse again after you get to the end of the post. Sounds like it’s coming right out of Peter’s mouth (or Eliakim) after receiving the keys:
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.
ROM 11:33-36
(The 2nd reading is usually from Paul’s letters. Speaks to how the early church was built after Christ’s death and resurrection).
The reading today is short, so pasted below. St. Paul closes a major portion of his letter offering awe and wonderment at the greatness of God, saying it is unsearchable and inscrutable. Interestingly, he is basically paraphrasing a verse in Isaiah 40 that goes like this: “Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor?” And truly, who can?
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.
MT 16:13-20
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Banquet of the Word. That is why we stand. We are about to hear from Christ himself.)
Today Jesus gives Peter the Keys to the kingdom. What we see here is the completion of the Old Testament imagery.
- King Hezekiah’s right-hand man = Shebna (then Eliakam). He sits over the house (The Kingdom).
- Jesus’s right-hand man (Jesus is also a King of course)= Peter, the first pope. He sits over the house (The Church) when the King (Jesus) is not present. So until the end of time, the popes sit over the Church because the King – Jesus – is not physically present (though He is present sacramentally).
Note that Jesus gave the keys to His Kingdom to Peter knowing full well he would deny Him at the cross. Not one denial but three. But Jesus knew Peter’s heart.
How many times do we need to be reminded that we do not need to be perfect to be loved by God? He just wants our HEARTS.
The other beautiful part of the story has to do with WHERE Jesus is when he gives the keys to Peter. They are standing near a huge temple built for Caesar that had been hewn into the side of a ROCK, near Caeserea Phillipi.
Jesus basically stood there and said 3 things:
- This temple hewn into the rock is NOT the rock on which I build my Church. I build it on you Peter, an admirable man. (The government of the time built that thing over there, but it’s an earthly temple.)
- The gates of Hell will not prevail against my Church. The Church over which Peter – and every pope after him – oversees. (It helps to know that at that phony temple built into the rock, a pit existed where human sacrifices were made, children were thrown to their deaths. A pit of Hell one might say.) There would be no death of this kind in Jesus’s kingdom. The gates of Hell would lose every time.
- What do you need when you’re locked out of your house? Your car? Your safety deposit box? You need a key. My friends, Jesus tells us today that The Catholic Church is our key. The key that unlocks everything. And we all have access to the keys of Heaven! Jesus handed those keys to Peter, and through the Sacraments, He hands them to us. We can never be locked out of God’s love. Of His promises. We must only follow Him.
As St. Paul said today, “To him be glory forever. Amen.” Let’s use our keys this week!
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Banquet of the Word 