In our first reading God takes authority from Shebnah and hands it to Eliakim to be steward over the Jewish nation: ‘…I will commit your authority to his hand….And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.’ We see in the Gospel the keys handed to Peter as steward of the Church in like manner, ‘…whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ We can therefore compare Eliakim in the Old Testament to Peter in the New. What do Jesus’ words mean – bind and loose? Where God bestows on Eliakim authority over the ‘inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of Judah’, Jesus’ actions and words go further: he confers on Peter, and the apostles, not only the first papal authority but also his power to forgive sins. For us that is crucial: anyone who is excluded from the community through sin is not accepted in community but anyone who seeks forgiveness is reconciled with the community; community here is
both the church on earth, us, and the community of God in heaven, so our reconciliation with the church is too our reconciliation with God. Our faith leads us to believe who Jesus is. Whether we, on being asked by Jesus answer as Peter did, we believe in this reconciliation and our belief in the God who loves us and holds us in being. What we cannot answer is the questions posed by Paul in the second reading, ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ While we can offer our thoughts as to who we think Jesus is we cannot begin to offer answers as to whom God is, as the wisdom of God is too deep for our very limited capability. Jesus as man we can relate to, his words, his actions of forgiveness and healing, his suffering, because we hear the word of God in scripture and experience his presence among us in the Eucharist, the
body of Christ. We believe too in Jesus as God, divine, the Son of the Father; and it is the Holy Spirit which inspires this belief but knowledge and understanding of God’s wisdom is way beyond our pay grade.
Today we can listen to the question Jesus asks of those in the Gospel. Are we like those hazarding a guess as to whom we think the Son of Man is? Do we need a Peter among us to enlighten us? Throughout the week perhaps we can reflect on Jesus asking us personally who WE think he is and does the Holy Spirit grant us the wisdom to know him? To know him is to love him and we can share our thoughts and our love for him. To help us reflect on who we think Jesus is and how we might describe him I would like to share an extract from Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, theologian, psychologist, professor, who lectured at many prestigious universities but found peace in the last ten years of his life as chaplain to the L’Arche Community in Canada, homes dedicated to the shared lives of people with disabilities and assistants. He writes: “I vividly remember the day on which a man who had been a student in
one of my courses came back to the school and entered my room with the disarming remark: ‘I have no problems this time, no questions to ask you.
I do not need counsel or advice, but I simply want to celebrate some time with you.’ We sat on the ground facing each other and talked a little about what life had been for us in the last year, about our work, our common friends, and about the restlessness of our hearts. Then slowly as the minutes passed by we became silent. Not an embarrassing silence but a silence that could bring us closer together than the many small and big events of the last year. We would hear a few cars pass and the noise of someone who was emptying a trash can somewhere. But that did not hurt. The silence which grew between us was warm, gentle and vibrant.
Once in a while we looked at each other with the beginning of a smile pushing away the last remnants of fear and suspicion. It seemed that while the silence grew deeper around us we became more and more aware of a presence embracing both of us. Then he said, ‘It is good to be here’ and I said, ‘Yes, it is good to be together again,’ and after that we were silent again for a long period. And as a deep peace filled the empty space between us he said hesitatingly, ‘When I look at you it is if I am in the presence of Christ.’ I did not feel startled, surprised or in need of protesting, but I could only say, ‘It is the Christ in you, who recognises the Christ in me.’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘He indeed is in our midst,’ and then he spoke the words which entered my soul as the most healing words I had heard in many years, ‘From now on, wherever you go, or wherever I go, all the ground between us will be holy ground.’ And when he left I knew that he had revealed to me what community really means.” (Reaching Out).
Deacon Rob
Saturday, August 22, 2026