I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 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. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.
Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 138 (Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8):
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
when I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
Today's Epistle is from the Letter of Paul to the Romans, beginning at the 11th Chapter, and the 33rd Verse (Rom 11:33-36):
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, beginning at the 16th Chapter, and the 13th Verse (Mt 16:13-20):
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
Ah -- the Problem of
Peter. Just who is Peter's legitimate heir, and who can give orders
to everyone else? The entire church has been fighting that political
battle since at least 600, and maybe since 200 or so.
In today's Gospel (this really should be Pun Sunday, not "21st . . . Ordinary Time"), Jesus very clearly says "thou art Peter, and upon this rock" -- 2nd person singular (and puns in at least 4 languages -- Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic -- the Boss had a sense of humor!). He further says: "I (singular) will give you (singular) the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven"
Peter is the Man, anyway you cut it. The Church gets built on him, and he gets the keys (a clear reference to the Old Testmaent Reading, where the steward Shebna is thrown down, and Eliakim ben Hilkiah is raised up, and the key of the House of David is put on his shoulder. Must have been a rather large key, as the responsibility for the Church was on "Rocky"s shoulders.
Peter also gets to bind & loose, both in heaven and on earth. This is not quite the startling innovation it might seem, since we see Rabbis credited with the same authority in Jewish works a bit later. In First Century terms, both Roman and Middle Eastern, it means essentially judicial authority -- to order someone bound or loosed. Humanity has always had judges -- Jesus here appoints Peter His.
So here is the Man -- with the Keys and all. The Boss has clearly set him up on high, and clearly given him the whole ball of wax. So how does he use what's been given him?
Does he set himself up as the Boss-man in Jerusalem? Nope, that falls to James, the "brother" (likely cousin or foster-brother) of Jesus. James, not Peter, speaks for the church in Jerusalem.
Does he tell the others how to behave and what to teach? Nope -- he even accepts criticism from that noisy Pharisee upstart Paul.
What does he do?
He wanders around at the behest of the Holy Spirit (which "bloweth where He listeth"), and preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ, works wonders, and inspires all whom he comes in contact with.
On his travels, he goes to Antioch, one of the great cities of the East, starts the Church there, and appointes successors -- whose descendants are the Patriarchs of Antioch. (There are 5 or so of them now -- Syriac [Jacobite, Monophysite], Byzantine, Roman, Melkite, and one or two more that I can never remember rightly) They are clearly the successors of Peter.
He winds up in Rome, and by sheer force of personality and eminence, becomes the leader of the church there. He appoints successors -- Linus and (ana)Cletus -- and their successors are Patriarchs of the West..
His secretary and helper Mark (the Evangelist) goes on to become the first Bishop of Alexandria. So the Patriarchs of Alexandria are Peter's sucessors, too.
James is killed, traditionally, during the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., ending the line of succession there. The church in Jerusalem is re-founded from Antioch, and the Patriarchs there take their orders from Antioch -- and therefore Peter.
The Patriatrchate of Constantinople is carved out of the territory of Antioch, and thus they are also successors of Peter. The Byzantine Orthodox churches are all very frank about deriving their Orders from Constantinople, so they are, too.
All of the 5 Historic Patriarchates -- Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople -- are thus Peter's descendants. Other Apostles (Jude in Edessa -- modern Iraq -- and Thomas in India) have started churches, but all, at one time or another, fall under the jurisdiction of one or the other of the Patriarchates, and thus become Peter's sucessors, too.
So it comes down to the fact that we are all Peter's successors, and we are all tasked with carrying that key, and binding and loosing. Every Catholic and Orthodox bishop. Everywhere.
And what should we be doing with it?
Well, let's start out by NOT doing a few things -- like adopting long meaningless strings of titles, like the Melkite "patriarch" -- who claims Antioch, Jerusalem, AND Alexandria, Pastor of Pastors, Bishop of Bishops, etc. I mean -- c'mon -- there are about as many Melkites in the whole world as there are Old Catholics.
And we should NOT be meddling in other bishop's backyards -- the Council of Nicea forbade that, and the prohibition bears repeating. We need to act like ONE church -- and that means cooperating, not bickering.
So what should we be doing, to be real successors of Peter?
Basically, doing what he did -- wandering around, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and leading the people in worshiping and praising God . . .
In the Name of the Father +
And of the Son +
And of the Holy Spirit +
Amen.