TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
23 AUGUST 2026
If
you want to connect with an important person, you have to go through a gate
keeper. When I was pastor of Saint Pius
X Parish, I was not very important. But,
I was busy. I had the good fortune of
having an excellent gate keeper. Anyone
who wanted to see me or talk to me went through Sherie Wilcox. She protected me from people with
questionable agendas, but was very welcoming to everyone else. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks
for God and removes Shebna, the king’s gate keeper, from his post. He had been serving himself, and not the king. Isaiah removes the key of the house of David,
the symbol of his power, and puts it on Eliakim, his replacement and the new
gatekeeper. It is a dramatic change of
power.
In today’s
Gospel, Jesus calls his disciples to Caesarea Philippi and stages a dramatic
change of power. Herod Philip had marked
this place, located at the foot of a dramatic rock, as a shrine to the pagan
god Pan. Many Romans believed that the
gates of Hades lay just beneath this rock.
There is also a Jewish synagogue nearby.
Simon confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living
God. He identifies Jesus as the Son of
David, the king, the one promised by the prophets for centuries. To Simon’s profession of faith, Jesus
announces three significant changes. The
dramatic rock at Caesarea Philippi is not the access to the underworld. Nor is the temple in Jerusalem built on the
rock of Mount Zion. Jesus changes Simon’s
name to Peter, or the Rock. He becomes
the rock or capstone on top of the gates of Hades. On his foundation, the church will be built
to prevent the underworld from attaching the world in the same way again.
The second
change relates to people. Jesus creates
an ekklesia, or our English word for
church. In the Greek world, an ekklesia was a group of people called
out for a specific purpose to make decisions.
The ekklesia provided a way
for people’s voices to be heard, responsibilities to be given, and decisions to
be made. No longer would decisions come
from the Romans or the Temple leaders.
The people would be empowered with God’s Spirit.
The third
change affects Peter and the disciples.
Jesus gives to Peter the “keys to the kingdom of heaven.” Just as God took the keys from Shebna and
gave them to Eliakim, Jesus entrusts them to Peter. He will train Peter and the other disciples how
to give people access to God. No longer
are the Romans or the Temple in charge of access. Peter and the disciples are now the gate
keepers. They would be responsible for
opening and shutting doors to others.
Saint Paul
invites us to consider the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of
God. Jesus does not entrust his power
and authority to any political, military, or community leader. He doesn’t set up a family member to be in
charge. The answer to the world’s
understanding of God is through the Church.
Simon Peter
does not give the correct answer to Jesus’ question on his own. He responds to a divine revelation. As we know from the Gospels, Simon Peter is
not perfect. He has his flaws. He often puts his foot in his mouth, and he
denied knowing Jesus three times out of fear.
But Jesus trusts Peter to be a good gate keeper, a good steward of the
Mysteries of the kingdom of God. As
Catholics, we recognize Pope Leo as the successor of Simon Peter. With the bishops in union with him, he is
responsible to be the good steward of the Church.
Each of us knows
the feeling of someone in power dangling keys of the kingdom in front of us,
telling us that we have not done enough or paid enough to have an audience with
someone who can help us. Like Simon
Peter, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. If we believe that and allow it to permeate
our lives, then we can participate in the work of the Church in giving anyone
who comes to us access to our King and heavenly Father.
