August 24, 21st Sunday in OT, Cycle A

We had this Gospel where Jesus asks, “Who do people say I am?” not long ago. And we saw how it was a statement of Who the Christ is as compared with what other religions thought of as divinity. But, this weekend we are asked to look at it from a different perspective: that of what it says about the Church and the believers in the Christ. Just as the “Master of the Palace,” Eliakim, carried ceremonial keys in procession, symbols of the keys he held to “every part” of the palace of the King of Israel–all its secret cubby holes and nooks and passageways, so, too, the Church is entrusted with the “keys” to the mysteries of God, Whose ways are deep, inscrutable, and unsearchable. One other time this year, I believe (if I’m not mistaken,) we’ll have this reading again–closer to the end of October which Protestants celebrate as “Reformation Sunday,” and we’ll read this Gospel and meditate on the role of “Peter,” and order in the Church. Today, though, it’s all about wandering through the rooms of the palace of the King of Kings. Do you feel you have lots of keys to those passageways and cubbyholes of Grace? You do, you know; you truly do. That’s what it means to be Graced. God bless.