I Will Give You The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven

08-27-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

In both the Old and the New Testaments, God has always chosen individuals and conferred on them the authority to teach, to correct and to govern His people. In the Old Dispensation, these offices were distributed among the priests, the prophets and the kings. In the New Dispensation, Christ conferred these privileges on the Apostles and, in a particular way, on Simon Peter and his successors. In a way, we are safe to observe that the Readings for this weekend demonstrate God’s faithfulness to His covenant with David. While God pledged to replace an overbearing steward whose prideful actions threatened the integrity of the Davidic dynasty in the First Reading, in the Gospel passage Jesus appointed and conferred authority on Simon Peter to become the Royal Steward of the renewed Kingdom of David in the New Israel called ekklesia, the Church.

In the First Reading, during the prophetic ministry of Isaiah, Shebna, the Royal Steward of the palace, was arrogating royal privileges to himself. As a consequence, God instructed the Prophet Isaiah to inform him that the more righteous Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, would replace him in his position and be given all the authority and privileges hitherto enjoyed by Shebna. God promised to clothe Eliakim with Shebna’s robe, gird him with his sash, and give over to him the deposed Shebna’s authority which would make him father of Jerusalem’s inhabitants and of the house of Judah where the dynasty of David reigned. God also promised to hand over to him the “keys” of the “House of David,’ a symbolic guarantee of the authority he would enjoy as a consequence of the office he would occupy.

The First Reading achieves thematic convergence with the Gospel passage where Jesus pledged the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter, and empowered him to “bind” and “loose” in the New Israel; the conferral of this privilege was Caesarea Philippi where Jesus demanded to know what public opinion held Him to be. After getting various answers, He demanded to know the same of His Apostles. It was Simon Peter who then declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter demonstrated in his apt answer the difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ. Anyone can know about Jesus, but only a true disciple who has maintained a thriving personal encounter and right relationship with Jesus can truly know Him. Knowing Jesus should be the goal of every Christian.

Peter’s response must have pleased Jesus greatly because it was after this that Jesus proclaimed him the “Rock” on which He would build His Church, pledged to make it invincible against the gates of Hades (all evil mechanisations, erroneous doctrine, and ungodly ideas), and conferred on him (and successors to his office) the authority to bind or loose (teach, correct and govern) in the Church the New Israel. Through these privileges gratuitously conferred on Peter, Jesus gave, and continues to bequeath to His Church, the Divine assurance that evil and error shall not prevail against us. Moreover, Jesus provided the Church, His mystical Body, with legitimate continuing leadership, especially the successor of Peter, so that we need not speculate and debate endlessly about the application of the Gospel to the present day, but rather have authoritative and guaranteed guidance.

Let us pray that the Pope, the successor of Peter, may exercise his office with humility and courage and that we all may allow ourselves to be led right through the teaching ministry of the Church.

Please be kind and may God bless you.

Fr. Manasseh