Reconciliation - The Restoration of Right Relationship

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 - Is 22:19-23

Reading 2 - Rom 11:33-36

Gospel - Mt 16:13-20

Divine Authority over Sin - The Catholic Church and it's Mission of Mercy

In the sense of the gospel, this is Jesus towards the end of his ministry, getting ever closer to Jerusalem and to the cross and after all this time preaching, teaching and healing, he wants to take an opinion poll and find out, does any of this matter? Does anyone really believe that he is the son of God?

So he asked them, Who do the people say that I am? And there's all kinds of guesses. Then he asks Peter, Who do you say that I am? And Simon, son of John, says, You are the Christ, the son of the living God, the Christ. He said, That was a loaded phrase to say the Christ means that to Simon, the Son of John, who will be Peter.

He believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace and a Savior, all wrapped up into one for Peter's profession of faith. He now receives a great reward, as Jesus said. Simon Son of John. I mean, to give you a name and a job.

Your name will be Peter Petrus, the boulder on which my church will be built on the firm Foundations for the Apostles. Then he gives them the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Eliakim was only given the keys to Hezekiah's Palace. Peter The keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and earth. Elijah Kim was told that whatever he opens, no one can close.

Whatever he closes. No one can open. Peter was told whatever you declare, bound on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you declare, loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. And there is the link. 800 700 years before the coming of the Christ, God was already preparing us for the discussion that Peter and Jesus would have that gave rise to the church and gave the church its mission, its the mission of mercy.

And the church is still fulfilling that mission today, 21 centuries after Jesus had that conversation with Peter, their accessory to Philip II. Why? Because when Jesus gave Peter the keys, when he told him that he could lose things on Earth would be loosed in heaven. That meant to relieve people of their burdens. The Jews have been trying for centuries in vain to be forgiven by God for their sins.

But they couldn't. No amount of sacrifice was ever going to win them. Forgiveness of anything. They could atone. They could repent. But the sin was still on them until God sent his son and through him the church to actually remove from people the penalty for their offenses. And yet this was very controversial. So many times when Jesus performed a miracle, he didn't just tell the leper, you know, leprosy is gone.

He didn't just tell the blind person you can see again to the deaf, you can hear again. Instead, he told them, All too often your sins are forgiven. Well, that was blasphemy in the ears of his critics, the Pharisees. Jesus was only speaking the truth. He was healing their body and their spirit, both which were weighty afflictions. They held them down.

Now the same Jesus, who is exercising God's authority over sin, is giving that same power to Peter and through Him to the Church to reconcile sinners with God and with each other, to restore right relationship with God and with each other. That's the church's mission. And we continue to carry it out in countless ways each and every day.

It happens at the beginning of mass. We call to mind our sins and recite the penitential. Right. It happens over there in the penalty box and confession. Every time sinners repent and do penance for their sins. It happens in the anointing of the sick, where people send some forgiven, preparing their soul even for death and for eternity. It even happens in the annulment process where we bring healing and closure to broken relationships from our past.

The Church's Mission of Mercy. It's not just my job. It's been given to all of us to be reconciled. The church is a depository then, where we can bring and leave all of our sin, all of our faults, some of our failings, some of our grudges, all of our resentments, all of those things that are keeping us from truly living out God's will, according to God's Word, in doing His work in Jesus name, and for His glory.

And so then it's fired. And Eliakim is given a new job as Peter receives the keys and is given a new responsibility, let us take responsibility for what the Lord has entrusted to us that we who have been forgiven might become forgiving.