On Christology and Ecclesiology -- The 21st Sunday of the Year
Isaiah 22:19-23
Matthew 16: 13-20
Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your post.
On that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash on him. I will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honour to his ancestral house.
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Interesting lections. And, a very interesting juxtaposition of sayings. There seems to be a great deal of binding and loosing in earth and heaven, but what is it all for?
The Church makes strong claims about Jesus in the selection from Matthew. The community of Matthew struggles here with two difficult issues: Who is this Jesus; and how can the church really be a sign of Jesus' on-going activity in the world?
The Church, today, seeks an answer for Jesus' question, Who do you say that I am?, by a pointed reflection with these two stories. Who Jesus is and what all this binding and loosing is and is for. The image that interests me the most, today, is the peg.
The Church makes strong claims about Jesus in the selection from Matthew. The community of Matthew struggles here with two difficult issues: Who is this Jesus; and how can the church really be a sign of Jesus' on-going activity in the world?
The Church, today, seeks an answer for Jesus' question, Who do you say that I am?, by a pointed reflection with these two stories. Who Jesus is and what all this binding and loosing is and is for. The image that interests me the most, today, is the peg.
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