Both of the readings for Mass today have to do with a person that is given keys, and a position of authority to open and close, or bind and loose. The prophet Isaiah said that God gave Eliakim the key to the House of David. Then in the gospel reading today, Jesus (who descended from the house of David) gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
They were both given positions of authority because they were trustworthy, very faithful, and used good judgement. God didn’t trust Shebna, the first master of the palace in today’s first reading though, so he fired him. That seems to happen a lot with God. People who once pleased Him, later become a big disappointment to Him, and so God had to relieve them of their position of honor and give it to someone else.
King Saul and King David are two rulers in the old testament that the same thing happened to them. King Saul completely fell from God’s grace and so God replaced him with David. King David in turn, dramatically fell from God’s grace too. It was only because of his deep repentance that God forgave him, and gave him another chance.
Actually, the same thing happened with Saint Peter too. He denied Jesus, but was very sorry for it, and Jesus forgave him, and not just gave him another chance, but put him in charge of his entire church.
God is very merciful with people who are truly sorry for the things they have done that are wrong, and so is Jesus Christ. Why do so many of us beat ourselves up for such a long time after we have committed a sin?
People often look back at their youth and all the crazy things they did, or bad judgements they made, and ask themselves how they could have acted like that? Maybe they did some things that had lasting effects on their life, or the lives of their family and friends. In hindsight, it could have been prevented, if they had just listened to the still small voice of their conscience, reminding them of the right thing to do.
Guilt can eat people alive inside, when something triggers the memory. They can’t let it go, and feel like they are not holy, or do not deserve to be treated as a good person, because, inside of themselves, they think they are not worthy. Even if God forgives them, they can’t seem to forgive themselves.
This is where belief comes into the picture. The reason Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, was because he truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of God. All of Christ’s disciples loved him (except Judas), but it was because of Peter’s belief, that Jesus built his church on him.
Do we really believe that our priests have been given the authority to bind or loose sin, both on earth and in heaven, through the sacrament of confession? For those who have lingering feelings of guilt that just won’t go away, even after we go to confession, it may be because of a lack of belief that the priest really does has the authority to release us from our sins. This authority has been passed down in an unbroken line, from Jesus Christ himself.
Faith is the antidote to doubt and a lack of trust. If you remember, Peter had faith in Jesus, that faltered when he actually walked on the water. Peter had faith in Jesus again, until Christ was arrested, and his faith faltered then too. For each time Peter denied Jesus after he was arrested though, Jesus asked him if he loved them? Then he asked him to serve him in a specific way.
The same could be said of us as well. Jesus knows our failings, but still, he loves us. If we have tried to show him by our lives, that we love him too, then we need to let go of the past, just like Saint Peter did. He believed in Jesus and trusted him enough to let his failings go, after Christ forgave him.
The hope we can have for our own lives, is that Jesus does not expect us to be perfect either. But, he does expect us to believe in him, and love him. If we can honestly say that we do, then today is a new day. The story of our lives is not over yet, any more than it was for Saint Peter in today’s gospel. Our lives are a clean slate.
Jesus said the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against his church. We are the church, and the devil has no hold over us, that Jesus can not free us from.
Sunday Mass Readings:
Isaiah 22: 19-23 / Psalm 138 / Romans 11: 33-36 / Matthew 16: 13-20
