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Homily:
21st Sunday, Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Most of us probably don’t realize this, but every day we
carry around a little bundle of power in our pockets, purses, etc. No, in spite of what all of the advertisers
are trying to convince you of, it isn’t that latest Smartphone with the 80
billion aps on it. It is, in fact, our
keys. You see, keys are powerful. Sure, practically speaking they don’t seem to
do much: they lock and unlock our doors and start our cars, but when you look
at it a little more broadly, you see that they do in fact have a lot of power over
how we live our lives. Just think about
the last time you lost your keys. How
powerless did you feel? Particularly
here in the United States, without our keys we are immobilized. We can’t go anywhere because we can’t unlock,
let alone start our car, and we wouldn’t want to leave anyway, because we
either wouldn’t be able to lock the house or, if we could, we wouldn’t be able
to get back in. So, yes, keys are
apparently pretty powerful.
Well, maybe not exactly.
It’s not the keys themselves that have the power, but rather it is those
who possess the keys who have
it. Parents, of course, know this. How often have you—against your better
judgment—handed over your car keys to your teenager with the ominous warning,
“I expect you to bring it back in one piece, got it?” You realize that putting keys in their hands
is handing power over to them and so you feel it is your duty (and rightfully
so) to remind them of the responsibility that comes with it. This, I think, can help us understand our
readings today, because in both we see that power is being handed over to
another by the conferring of keys.
In the first reading, we see that it is God himself who has
this power, which he is exercising through the prophet Isaiah. In the reading we see that God is exercising his
power over the keys of the kingdom of Judah, taking them from one and giving
them to another. Shebna was given power
over the kingdom, yet he was not a good steward of the authority given to
him. So the Lord stripped him of the
keys and gave them to Eliakim, whom the prophet identifies as the Lord’s
servant and who, presumably, would be a better steward of the kingdom. Teens, could you imagine losing the keys to
the car to your younger brother or sister?
Multiply that disgrace by about hundred thousand and that’s what you
have going on here. You see, God was
looking for a good steward for his kingdom, someone who would serve the needs
of his chosen people well. Shebna,
apparently, didn’t cut it, so the keys—and, thus, the power—were given to
Eliakim.
In the Gospel today, we see a similar scene, though in this
instance it is more like a test. As a
group, the disciples are able to report all of the facts about what others have
been saying about Jesus. Yet when Jesus
confronts them and asks them to weed through all of that and tell him who they say that he is, only Simon Peter is
recorded as having a response. As a
result, Jesus reveals to Simon his plan for him in his Kingdom. Two things, I think, are important to note
here. First, Jesus carries the authority
to confer the keys of the Kingdom of God.
Now, no Jew in their right mind would ever presume to do this, because
they all knew that God alone had the authority to do so. Thus, Jesus is either outside of his right
mind or he really is God. (fyi, as
Christians, we believe the latter. <wink>) Second, Peter, in confessing that Jesus is
the Son of God, proves that he acknowledges Jesus’ authority and that he is
ready to be a steward of God’s Kingdom.
Thus, it is only after Peter
makes this confession that Jesus reveals to him his true calling, represented
by conferring on him a new name and by promising to give him the keys to the
Kingdom. Now there’s so much richness to
this story, but, unfortunately, we don’t have time to unpack it all. But what’s important for us to see today is
that Peter’s faith—that is, his ability to respond to God’s grace and confess what
was unknowable to his human senses alone, that is, that Jesus is God—is itself
a key to unlocking God’s loving plan for his life. And so we see, my brothers and sisters, that
faith is a powerful key.
Of course, as we encounter this reading today, we, too, are
confronted with the same questions. “Who
do they say that I am?” And for us
that’s a relatively easy question to answer.
We have nearly 2000 years of history and study behind us to help
us. In fact, there’s a whole theological
science—called Christology—that is dedicated to answering just that
question. The challenge comes, as it did
for the disciples who were with Jesus that day, when Jesus asks that second
question, “Who do you say that I
am?” No matter how deftly we synthesize
2000 years of Christology to make it sound like our own, if we answer using
only the knowledge we’ve gained through study of what others have said, our
answer will never be more than just that, what others have said about
Jesus. This question cannot be answered
by study alone. Rather, it also requires
a relationship.
Think about it. If a
close friend came up to you and said, “What are other people saying about me?”
how would you respond? My guess is that
it would be things like, “Oh, they say ‘he’s a nice guy,’ or ‘a good worker,’
or ‘a great soccer player.’” Or perhaps,
“‘she’s a good mother,’ ‘an excellent teacher,’ or ‘a nice boss,’” etc.
etc. And what if your friend then turned
to you and said, “Well, who do you say that I am?” If you don’t have a good relationship with
that person, what more can you say except what everyone else has already
said? Yet, if you have a relationship
with that person, you can look at him or her and say, “You’re Greg, or Susan,
or Cindy. You’re Larry, or Samir or
Elaina… and you’re my friend.” Do you
see the difference there? Without a
relationship we are unable to see that person for who he or she is. My friends, the same applies for our ability
to answer these questions from Jesus today.
We can’t just listen to what other people have said about him. Rather, we have to spend time with him and
get to know him. Then we will be able to
respond, “You are Jesus, my friend. And
because of this I believe that you are who you say you are: the Christ, the Son
of God.” My friends this is a powerful
confession. It is powerful because it
unlocks for us the relationship in which God can reveal his plan for us—that
is, his plan for our happiness—and so entrust us with the responsibility to
help bring about his kingdom here on earth.
Whether or not you are ready to make this confession today,
the important thing to remember is that there is always room for each of us to
deepen our relationship with God. Each
time that we encounter him in both the Word and the Blessed Sacrament—whether
here in the liturgy or in private prayer—we should ask him to reveal himself to
us more and more. However it is that you
decide to do that—whether it is through Bible Studies, time in prayer before
the Blessed Sacrament, participating in a Cursillo weekend or any other of the
ways we have available to us here in this parish—let God unlock the faith in
you that will be your key to unlocking the life that he has planned for you, a
life that will lead to your eternal joy in heaven.
Believe it or not, my brothers and sisters, we can even begin right here. As we each approach to receive Jesus in this Eucharistic meal, let us imagine Jesus asking us that question, “Who do you say that I am?” Then, let’s let our “Amen” echo Peter’s words and thus unlock for us the joys of God’s Kingdom.
Believe it or not, my brothers and sisters, we can even begin right here. As we each approach to receive Jesus in this Eucharistic meal, let us imagine Jesus asking us that question, “Who do you say that I am?” Then, let’s let our “Amen” echo Peter’s words and thus unlock for us the joys of God’s Kingdom.
Given at All Saints Parish:
Logansport, IN – August 24th, 2014
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