Sunday Lectionary: August 21st

August 21, Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this week’s readings we hear the passages of Scripture which have been used by the Church throughout the centuries to defend the Primacy of Peter and the authority of the Pope. Our Gospel Reading, in particularly, was cited at the First Vatican Council in the document “Pastor aeternus”.

I’m going to do my best this week to ensure that these notes remain a Scripture commentary, rather than an apologetic defense of the Papacy. I may well write a more apologetic piece later in the week. 😉

“When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel.” – Ezekiel 3:10

 

Reading I: Is 22:19-23

The First Reading this week is our hermetical “key” for understanding the Gospel Reading.

In this section of the prophet Isaiah we hear how Shebna, the Chief Steward of the Kingdom, was replaced by a man called Eliakim. Understanding this ministerial office is critical to our understanding of what Jesus says in the Gospel which, in turn, is paramount to our understanding of the Papacy.

In this passage we see foreshadowed a man on whom God would bestow His blessing. This man would exercise authority on behalf of the King in the administration of the Kingdom. He would be a secured feature, a father to the people and an honoured member of the family of God…

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.”

Questions:

• What is happening here in Isaiah?
• Who is Shebna?
• What kind of job did he have?
• Who is Eliakim?
• What symbol of authority is Eliakim given?
• What does he mean when he says “when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open”?

Commentary:

“Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: ‘I will thrust you from your office…'”

Through the Prophet Isaiah, God “fires” Shebna from his position as “master of the palace”. Up until this point, Sheba was the Chief Steward, the Prime Minister in the Davidic Kingdom. The Master of the Palace was not the one ultimately in charge, the King was, but the Prime Minister exercised the King’s authority in the administration and running of the Kingdom. This is the same kind of post that Joseph (son of Jacob) had when he lived in Egypt.

“On that day…”

…when the Lord executes judgment…

“I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station…”

Donald Trump just says “You’re Fired”… 😉

“…my servant Eliakim…”

This is Shebna’s replacement. Eliakim is called the Lord’s “servant”, a title given in Scripture to prophets and those people whom God uses.

“I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority”

All the symbols of authority and the authority itself which Shebna currently possesses will be given to Eliakim. This transition takes place sometime around 701 BC.  Poor old Shebna is demoted to “secretary”. Ouch…

“He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah…to be a place of honor for his family”

In his role as Master of the Court, Eliakim will become an honoured father figure to God’s people.

“I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder…”

This is the critical verse.

In the Davidic Dynasty, the key was the symbol of the authority given to the Prime Minister by the King. He who had the keys had authority.

We are more familiar with the concept of someone receiving the “Keys to the city”.  The idea is somewhat similar. The person with the keys controls entry into the city or, in the case of the Davidic Kingdom, access to the King’s palace.

The verse above is quoted, in part, in the book of Revelation when Jesus is “writing” to the Church in Philadelphia through St. John:

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”

Again, the key denotes Christ’s authority. It also harkens back to the Messianic prophecy found earlier in Isaiah:

“For to us a child is born, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders” – Isaiah 9:6

“…when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open”

This means that what the Master of the Palace says, goes. If he declares something to be so, nobody else has authority to undo it.

Now, in the Davidic Kingdom there were other ministers in the Kingdom who could also “open” and “shut”:

“So King Solomon ruled over all Israel. And these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok—the priest; Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha—secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud—recorder; Benaiah son of Jehoiada—commander in chief; Zadok and Abiathar—priests; Azariah son of Nathan—in charge of the district governors; Zabud son of Nathan—a priest and adviser to the king; Ahishar—palace administrator; Adoniram son of Abda—in charge of forced labor” – 1 Kings 4:1-6

…but none could overrule the Prime Minister. This organizational structure was common in the Near Eastern Kingdoms. The Prime Minister had the highest power, second only to the King.

“I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot”

This word “peg” usually meant a tent peg, but here it means a peg driven into wood. It is painting the picture of something stable, reliable, …one might even say “rock-like”…hmmm…

 

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8

This psalm is a Davidic song of praise for God’s saving help against enemies and a prayer for His eternal protection.

R. (8bc) Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.

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.

I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.

The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.

Questions:

• What is the theme of this psalm?

Commentary:

“…with all my heart…”

This isn’t “heart” in the way we think of it today. In Hebrew thought it includes spirit, emotions, thought, courage etc.

“I will worship at your holy temple”

If David did write this psalm, this will refer not to the real Temple (since it hadn’t been built yet), but to the tent which was setup for the Ark of the Covenant.

 

Reading II: Romans 11:33-36

The Lectionary continues to move us through Paul’s letter to the Romans. Last week we looked at the issue of the Gentiles in Salvation History and this week Paul concludes that section with a doxology of praise for God’s wisdom, power and His saving plan for the whole world.

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.

Questions:

• What are the rhetorical questions Paul asks his readers in this passage?
• Paul asserts that God is ultimately in control. Can you think of how God has used what seemed like disasters at the time, ultimately for good?

Commentary:

“…inscrutable…”

Impenetrable, mysterious, impossible to understand

“For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?”

This is a citation from Isaiah:

“Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor?” – Isaiah 40:13

God is infinitely wiser than we are (even if we sometimes think He could use our advice).

“Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things“

This is a citation from Job:

“Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me” – John 41:11

The point here is that everything we have, we received have from God – there is nothing that we can bring to the bargaining table that He Himself did not give us.

 

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

Today’s Gospel is the essential Scriptural basis for the Catholic Papacy.  Christ, Himself the stone that was rejected by the builders (Psalm 118:22), chooses to found His Church on another unlikely candidate, Simon. Even today, Jesus continues to make strange choices as He calls us, flawed and broken human beings though we are, to be living stones in His Church. As Peter wrote in the first Papal encyclical:

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ – 1 Peter 2:4-5

The following episode takes place a little after the encounter we heard last week with the Canaanite woman.

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.

Questions:

• What is the question that Jesus asks His disciples?
• What were some of the replies?
• What does Jesus then ask?
• Who responds and what does he say?
• Why do you think people thought Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah or Jeremiah?
• Do you see a parallel between Peter’s profession of who Jesus is and Jesus’ profession of who Peter is?
• What Old Testament image would Jesus’ listeners have seen in his statements?
• Why do you think Jesus changes Simon’s name? Does that happen at other points in Scripture?
• What do you understand by Jesus’ statement that “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against [the Church]”?
• What do you understand by Jesus’ statements about binding and loosing?
• How does this relate to the First Reading?
• Why do you think Jesus orders His disciples to tell nobody that he was the Christ?
• Who is Jesus to you?
• When did you recognise Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”?

Commentary:

“…Caesarea Philippi…”

Just to be confusing, there are two Ceasareas. There is another Caesarea which was the great city on the coast built by King Herod.

The Caesarea being referred to in this passage was instead located north of the Sea of Galilee near Mount Hermon. It was an extremely pagan region and was originally called “Panion” in honour of the god “Pan”, featuring a statue of that god carved into a huge rock. Herod’s son Philip rebuilt Panion and renamed it to “Caesarea Phippi” in honour of both himself and Tiberius Caesar (“Caesar” + “Philip” = “Caesarea Philippi”).

“Son of Man……Son of…God”

Notice the parallel here.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God…Simon son of Jonah…you are Peter” 

Fulfilling his usual role as spokesman for the Apostles, Peter declares Christ’s divinity and that He is the promised Messiah King.

Notice that there is another parallelism here – first Peter declares who Jesus is and then Jesus does the same for Peter.

It is interesting that Jesus refers to Peter as “son of Jonah” because the name of Peter’s father was “John” (John 21:16) . There are a few different explanations as to what’s going on here:

1. It may just be that Jonah was another name for Peter’s father. This is entirely possible.

2. However, Jesus could be using a bit of symbolism here. Earlier in this Gospel, Jesus compared Himself to Jonah (Matthew 12:37-39), so Jesus may be indicating here that Peter is His spiritual son….

…or Jesus may instead be expressing something of the relationship between Peter and the Holy Spirit since “Jonah” means “dove”. It may be that He is saying that the spirit who confirmed Jesus’ Sonship at His baptism (Matthew 3:16-17) now inspires Peter’s confession of faith.

“…flesh and blood has not revealed this to you…”

The phrase “flesh and blood” was a Hebrew idiom for describing human beings and their frailty. Rather than this confession being brought about by Peter’s cleverness or piety, Jesus affirms that it came about through a revelation (“revealing”) of God.

“Simon son of Jonah…And so I say to you, you are Peter”

This change of name evokes memories of the renaming of “Abram” to “Abraham” (Genesis 17:5) and “Jacob” to “Israel” (Genesis 32:28). Like before, a change of name signals a change of purpose and mission.

Interestingly, there is no record of the name “Peter” (“Petros”) being used in history as a proper name prior to the events described in this passage.

“Peter…rock…”

The Greek “Petros”, rendered here as “Peter” means “rock” (like the name “Rocky”). It is on this rock that Christ says He will build His Church.

There is wordplay here that we miss in the English, but that is present in the Greek and other languages. Here’s the Greek:

“kagw de soi legw oti su ei petroV kai epi tauth th petra oikodomhsw mou thn ekklhsian kai pulai adou ou katiscusousin authV”

It’s rather hard to parse the Greek and see the wordplay, so here it is in French:

French: “Tu es Pierre et sur cette pierre…”

Earlier we compared Simon’s name change to that of Abram’s. It is interesting to note that, later in Isaiah, Abraham is described as the rock from which the Children of Israel came:

 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth” – Isaiah 51:1-2

You may hear people try and say that the two rocks mentioned in today’s Gospel passage are two different rocks since Peter is called “Petros” and the rock on which Jesus will build His Church is “Petra“. However, the only reason that these two words are different is that Peter, being a man, had to have a masculine ending (in Greek, “os”) for the word “rock” (otherwise he’d have been called something like “Rockette”).

Regardless, this conversation would have almost certainly have taken place in Aramaic where the word kephas would have been used in both instances. This Aramaic name for Peter is preserved in several spots of the New Testament:

“You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” – John 1:42

“…he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve” – 1 Corinthians 15:5

(“Cephas” is the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic “Kephas”)

“…upon…[which] I will build my church…“

In saying that He will build His Church, Jesus portrays Himself as a New Solomon. Solomon was the natural son of David who built the Temple in Jerusalem:

“Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain” – Psalm 127:1 (Psalm of Solomon)

Jesus then, as the New Solomon, the “Son of David”, builds a New Temple, made this time out of “living stones”. Paul would later write to the Ephesians and tell them about the foundation of the Church:

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” – Ephesians 2:19-20

This word “church” is only used here in Matthew’s Gospel and only two other times:

“If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” – Matthew 18:17

The Greek word used here for “church” is “ekklesia”, from which we get the words like “ecclesiastical”. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, this same word is used to describe the congregation of Israel after they have been led through the sea to Mount Sinai. In the New Testament that word is used to describe the community of the New Covenant who have passed through the waters of baptism.

“…gates of the netherworld …”

The “netherworld” is literally “Hades”. This was the Greek name for the place were departed spirits dwelt, basically equivalent to the Hebrew “Sheol”. This was a temporary place and distinct from Hell.

Jewish legend said that the great foundation stone of the Jerusalem Temple sealed off the shaft which led to the netherworld. Jesus appears to be drawing from this idea. In saying that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail, He is saying that the powers of death will not overcome the new Temple (the Church) built on the rock of Peter.

“…keys to the kingdom of heaven…”

As we saw in the First Reading, these are symbols of authority, the position of Prime Minister in the Davidic Kingdom where the Chief Steward exercises the authority of the King in administering the Kingdom. This is their primary symbolism.

….but for the sake of completeness, here are some of the different Catholic and non-Catholic interpretations of the keys (of varying merit)… I’ve heard it said that the keys are simply the Gospel. I heard someone once say that they represent the Sacraments. One commentary suggested that these were the “keys” used by Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41) and again at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:23-48) to declare that access to God’s Kingdom had been “unlocked” for both Jews and Gentiles.

“…bind…loose”

This means to administer the affairs of the Kingdom with authority.

This binding and loosing is also evocative of the “binding” interpretations of the Law made by Rabbis.

It also suggests the power to include or exclude members of the community.

“Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.”

This event takes place in an especially pagan and Gentile area. In Jerusalem there were many false notions about the Messiah as a political figure. I think that this is the reason Jesus caution His disciples before they enter Jewish territory again. Had Peter’s confession of faith been made in Jerusalem, it would have likely caused a political firestorm.

If Jesus can choose this guy, then there’s hope for us all!

St. Peter pray for us!