Is. 22:19-23; Ps. 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom.11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20
Jesus the key to heaven! “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus speaks to Peter these words which have since been a “key” and the cross of division not unity for the Christian people. For Catholicism “you” represents a person, Peter, the Vicar of Christ and his successors and to Protestantism represents the church self-governed by the people. Where the truth lies holds the key to authority and the cross in responding to the resistance.
In the first reading, the Lord’s servant Eliakim is given the “robe” of authority by the Lord, the “key to the House of David”. The “key” has the power to “open and shut” and Eliakim is “fixed…like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family”. Here we see a person not only given the “key” but a sign of the “key” to come in Jesus. Old Testament history from Abraham to Jesus is a succession of leadership for the people of God who hold the place of honor, responsibility and accountability that is the cross in serving our God the Father.
Jesus is the “key” to heaven. He entrusts Peter with himself to remain with us in the Eucharist, body, soul, and divinity and in the priesthood in “persona Christi”. Peter and his successors are the “rock” to sustain the church where the key lies. We pray, “do not forsake the work of your hands”. The work is the church with Jesus as the cornerstone of this foundation of faith. The fruit of this work is the people of God for the harvest is plentiful but laborers are few as scripture reminds us. In this we recognize the call to the priesthood is not being heard while the population continues to increase.
We are also reminded, “For who has known the mind of the Lord…”, only what comes “from him and through him and for him are all things” revealed. The church then is the deposit of faith coming from Jesus and through him to all the Fathers, Doctors, saints, and people of our God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus divinity is working through our humanity when we call upon him, invite him into our presence, and respond in acceptance of his will in our lives. The mind of the Lord speaks to our mind, his love to our hearts, and his will to our will for courage to proclaim our faith in him and come and follow.
Jesus, the key to heaven is the way, the truth, and the power “and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”. The power to “bind and loose” comes from Jesus through the church and not apart from it. We all share through our baptism a role as priest, prophet, and king in the church of God. In this role we share the cross to serve under authority in the body of Christ. Our obedience in the church is to Christ himself and woe to those who would open the gates of the netherworld inside the church to sin and bring judgment upon themselves. Even if the attempt happened, we have the power of exorcism to reject Satan and renew the church in times of crisis.
These are times of crisis as we witness scandals in the church and in the world seeking to divide the people of God as wolves in sheep’s clothing. While professing inclusiveness, tolerance, and diversity we witness an attack on tradition, symbols of faith, and violence for restitution of past sins in the world. How did we get here and how do we recover from this?
It began with an attack on the family. Divorce and abortion were the first divide to bring division in the covenant of love facilitating disposable relationships. Children were the next divide superseding the values of home with the values of the institutions of learning to plant the seeds of agnosticism. The new harvest of individuation murdered the belief of a universal truth for the logic of separatism in identity, no longer male or female, good or bad, right or wrong, only self-justified. Once self-justified the next step of attacking other political, economic and civil institutions out of self-righteousness falls into the world of acceptable tolerance. What remains is to bring down the institutions of faith and that has already begun. This is the culture of death and many are being lost and few are responding to this attack.
We recover from a culture of death by returning to the source of all life and unity, God in the Trinity. Jesus holds the keys to the kingdom in all Christianity. The Church is the bride of Jesus as a mother to “bind and to loosen” with the authority of Jesus guided by the Spirit in the Vicar of Christ. The God of love is also the God of the laws of heaven and we are to follow the source of all truth as we profess, “Jesus saves!”
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