Homily for 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
21st Sunday of Ordinary Time
Aug. 27, 2017
Matt 16: 13-20
Is 22: 19-23

I’d already drafted this homily for my 1st Sunday celebration in a D.C.-area parish when I was informed at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday that there would be a visiting missionary preaching at all the Masses.  I wasn’t amused at such late notice, but at least I have something fresh to offer my couple of dozen readers.

“Jesus said to him in reply, ‘I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt 16: 17-18).

We’re all familiar with keys:  house keys, office keys, car keys, keys to briefcases and bicycle locks, etc.  Keys give us access and security.  We use keys to enter places where we find privacy, protect secrecy, secure important papers or possessions.  We use keys—or locks—to keep out others who don’t belong.

The sacred Scriptures this morning use keys as symbols of power and authority.  In the OT reading, the prophet Isaiah informs 2 royal officials that one will be removed from office and the other given his key, his authority.  This is God’s word.

In the gospel reading, Jesus speaks figuratively of giving Simon son of Jonah—Simon Peter—“the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  That’s why so many jokes speak of St. Peter as the porter who greets the deceased at the pearly gates.

But the language is figurative.  Jesus is giving Peter authority, authority that he is to use to upbuild Christ’s Church, to secure the Church against the darkness of the netherworld—the underworld, the world of death, the world of evil and sin; the Greek word in Matthew’s text is hades; and to bind and loose.  “Bind and loose,” or open and close, what?  To bind and loose sins; to open or close the doors of the Church.  Peter receives the authority to admit sinners to Baptism and Reconciliation, to open up the doors of God’s mercy thru the Church, to set people free; or not to admit them or grant forgiveness because some condition is lacking, such as genuine repentance or a firm purpose of amendment.

So the Church is having a big debate these days over access to Holy Communion.  No one is worthy of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus, as we proclaim in the Communion rite at every Mass:  “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”  But God in his mercy, thru the Church, grants access to the most sacred mystery of our faith to those who confess their sins and seek to live as disciples of Jesus, and refuses access to the unrepentant or unconverted.

If the gates of the netherworld—or of hell, as hades is sometimes translated—are not to prevail over Christ’s Church, then Peter’s authority must continue in time.  We believe that it passes to his successors, the bishops of Rome, the Popes.

We may also give some thought to other authorities.  When we read today’s Scriptures, we hear that Eliakim is given authority that he might “be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Is 22:21), and Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven to secure salvation for God’s people.  Authority is meant for the service, protection, and assistance of others.  That is true for public authorities—Shebna and Eliakim were public authorities—and for Church authorities like Popes, bishops, priests, and deacons.

So we expect our civil leaders to provide for our national security, e.g., against nuclear war or terrorism; to assist the victims of natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires; to work for social justice for all our people regardless of race, national origin, age, state of health, economic status, etc.

We expect our religious leaders to work hard to bring us the life of Jesus in the sacraments, to preach the Word of God, to comfort the sick and the anguished, to set examples of discipleship.

But most of us are authorities of some sort.  Parents have authority in their household, employers and managers in their businesses, teachers and catechists in their classrooms, doctors and nurses in their offices and wards, Scout leaders in their packs and troops, and so on.  All of these forms of authority are opportunities to defend the kingdom of God against the darkness and the evils of the netherworld, to be fathers (or mothers) to people (regardless of age); to bring the Gospel to life in our world, at least silently and sometimes explicitly, by our imitation of Jesus “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16), whom we claim as our master and our model.

I think it’s apropos to quote from the editorial in the June issue of Columbia, the magazine of the Knights of Columbus.  After noting that parents are responsible for the spiritual formation of their children and a reference to preserving the faith even in the face of religious persecution, the editorial says:

In the Western world, the duty of Christian parents to practice their faith and witness to their children is no less serious.  As faith is undermined by dominant ideologies and met with increasing indifference or scorn, Christianity in the West is threatened by an extinction of a different kind—related in no small part to the collapse of the domestic church, the family.

The love of a mother is unquestionably important and irreplaceable in the lives of her children, but fathers also play an indispensable role, especially when it comes to passing on the faith.  According to a major study …, the strongest predictor of a child’s future church attendance is the religious observance of the father.  The study found that between 66 and 75 percent of children whose fathers regularly attend church go on to become at least irregular churchgoers as adults, even if the mother does not practice.  If the father does not practice, however, at least 60 percent will stay away from church altogether, even if the mother is devout.

So, parents, and dads in particular, to you is given the key to the kingdom of heaven.  Exercise your authority with faithfulness, love, and constant good example.