Let me ask you something. Actually several somethings.
What do you think salvation means? What is the point of salvation? Are we “saved” simply to go to heaven when we die? What does the “kingdom of heaven” refer to? These are all questions that are brought to my mind when I look at this week’s readings. I must admit that I had not really thought a lot about all this until just a few years ago. I began to read Holy Scriptures and the Church Fathers together and some things immediately became clear to me. It became clear to me that I had no idea what Jesus meant by a lot of what He said. It also became clear than my hermeneutic (the way I interpret Holy Scripture) was very different than the way the Fathers did. I had been trained to use historical critical methodology whereas the Fathers seemed to be much more “spiritual” and typological in their interpretation of Holy Scripture. So I began to look at Holy Scripture a little differently. Specifically, I began to read Holy Scripture in a Christological way. Right about now you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about so let me get into these texts a bit. I was told as a boy growing up in the home of a pastor that the point of being “saved” was to go to heaven. While that sounds really good, I have to say that does not square at all with what Holy Scriptures seem to give us. Rather than messages of “we’re going to heaven when we die,” the Bible seems to indicate that something even more radical will happen. God will come here. Look at our OT text for today: Isaiah 25:6-10. I’m going to be working from the KJV and Douay-Rheims today. Read that text slowly and look for the images it conjures in your mind. First, there is an image of a great feast; “a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lee, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” This is a great feast of great abundance. This is the good stuff, as the saying goes. We see this image somewhere else, don’t we? We see it in the Gospel reading today but we see it again in the Apostle John’s Apocalypse (Revelation) chapters 19-21. But we’ll come back to that. Keep reading the Isaiah text. The prophet tells us that the Lord of hosts will destroy the “veil” that covers all people, indicating that there is something that is covering us, blinding us to reality. He will swallow up death, He will wipe away tears, He will take away the “rebuke” of the people. Verse 9 tells us that He will “save us” and that, on this “mountain” we will “be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” In verse 10 he tells us that “the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain (Douay-Rheims).” Look at these images. These are images of wholeness, abundance and peace that are all linked with salvation. Looks a little different than “we’re gonna get outta here and go to heaven.” Looks and sounds way better to me! Now let’s consider our Gospel reading: Matthew 22:1-14. Here we have Jesus doing what He does and giving us a parable to explain things. Look at this text and the imagery we see. What jumps out? The word marriage or wedding is used eight times in both the KJV and Douay-Rheims. What imagery does this convey to us? It’s kind of echoing our Isaiah text in imagery. When we attend a wedding, the food is usually abundant and good, right? The wine (or other drinks) are typically flowing, people are dancing, laughing. It is a place and time of great joy! Jesus is telling us that this is what the Kingdom is like. This is what salvation is like! The King Himself has set the banquet…and for what reason? The Son is getting married! Once again, this hearkens us to Revelation 19-21 and the marriage supper of the Lamb. And this wedding feast, these nuptials are open to all. Look at the text. Some were invited but they chose not to go. Some who chose not to go also chose to murder the servants that invited them (the prophets). So what does the King say? “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid them to the marriage.” (KJV) All are invited to the marriage feast of the Son! But just because you are invited doesn’t mean you can just “come as you are.” We see the stern warning in verses 11-14. Dress appropriately. What does that mean? St. Augustine, and other Fathers, took this wedding garment to be charity. What does that mean? It means that our wedding garment is how we have lived our lives according to the virtues given to us by grace as we have obeyed the commands of God. Yes, you are welcome to the feast out of a free gift of grace, but you must be clothed in the garments given to us by living a virtuous life. When the King comes, you better be dressed appropriately. St. John Chrysostom puts it this way, “To enter with unclean garments, is to depart out of this life in the guilt of sin. For those are no less guilty of manifesting a contempt for the Deity, who presume to sit down in the filth of an unclean conscience, than those who neglected to answer the invitations of the Almighty. He is said to be silent, because having nothing to advance in his own defence, he remains self-condemned, and is hurried away to torments; the horrors of which words can never express.” Let’s go back to our questions we started with. What do we think salvation means? What is the point of salvation? King David tells us what salvation means. He tells us what the point of salvation is in our Psalm reading/chant today. Psalm 23 tells us, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Brothers and sisters, what a gift we’ve been given! Look at our readings today and see what God has given us. He has given us all we need in the Son; we have no other wants. He gives us the peace of green pastures and still waters in His love. He restores our soul and leads us in the paths of righteousness. He calms our fears by granting us the presence of His Spirit. He prepares for us a feast of good things that we will partake of both now and finally at His great marriage supper when our cup will overflow and His love will dwell with us forever. He will dwell with us, in His world, His house, forever and we shall have the goodness and mercy of God the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit forever and ever, world without end! Thanks be to God!
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I don’t like being told what to do. I’ve always had a problem with authority.
I used to think that my problem with authority was just me being “independent.” Truth is, I’m not independent; I’m rebellious. I can look back on my life now and admit that. I honestly believe this is one of the things that kept me from accepting papal authority for a while. Here’s what I’d like to do with this one. I don’t want to argue about, for or against authority on this. I want us to take a look at what Holy Scripture has to say and define some things and leave it at that. Ok, let’s start with this. Matthew 16 is the primary text for papal authority. That does not mean that it is the only text that supports papal authority. And, Matthew 16 (like almost all Holy Scripture) really needs to be read through the lens and understanding of a 1st century Jew. If we don’t know some things about Judaism and rabbinic tradition, then some things seem quite obscure and their deeper meaning and significance is lost to us. We read Scripture through our 21st century Western lens. But Scripture was, first and foremost, written for an early Christian context that was almost exclusively Jewish in context, understanding and conversion. Yes, the Gentiles became converts but the vast majority of the earliest converts to Christianity were Jewish in ethnicity and faith practice. This is super important for us to understand. Ok, back to Matthew 16. This is the famous passage where Peter proclaims Jesus as the Christ. And Jesus says something back to Peter, something that has deep ties to the Jewish Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) and rabbinic tradition and is prophetic in nature. Jesus says to Peter, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” If you are Protestant reading this, I know that your view of this passage is different than the Catholic one. However, let’s look at this text closely. First off, we need to read this in light of Isaiah 22. So be prepared to flip back and forth. Isaiah 22:15-25 is the primary text that we’ll read together with Matthew 16:13-20. The Isaiah text seems kind of obscure unless we know some things. The steward that is talked about here serves in a certain capacity. Think of this person like a prime minister if you will. This is someone who is in charge of the king’s house and, in the absence of the king, will act in the interests of the king with the king’s authority. That last part is important. While this “steward” is not the king, he acts with the same authority as the king. I mean, look at the language used, “clothe him with your robe...bind your sash on him…commit your authority to his hand…he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of Judah…” These are all symbols of authority (and fatherhood). But look closely at verse 22-24, “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 secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.” The key to the house of David. I think we can all agree that Jesus was and is the holder of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. But what if He went away for awhile? Like, in this case, He was on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified, buried, resurrected and eventually would ascend into heaven. So, knowing He’s going to be gone (in a physical sense), He has to put someone in charge. All kings did this. All “kings” still do this. Somebody has to be in charge. But this is more than just someone being in charge. Look again at the Isaiah text. Look at verse 24. What in the world does it mean when it talks about small vessels and flagons and such? Well, I’m glad you asked. Those are priestly things, used in the temple for the offerings and worship. So, we can see pretty plainly that this steward, Eliakim, in Isaiah 22 is more than just a guy in charge but there is a priestly function to his role also. Interesting… This is the text and image that Jesus is invoking when delivering this to Peter in the presence of the other apostles. This also has overt spiritual implications in the image of opening and shutting. In other words, what that’s saying is that the same earthly and spiritual authority that the king enjoys, the steward will now participate in. Let’s talk about the binding and loosing thing. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to us 21st century Western types but it made perfect sense to a 1st century Jew. This comes directly from rabbinic tradition. There were apparently several ways in which this was applicable but it’s especially important for our consideration here that it included both the giving of authoritative teaching and the lifting or imposing the ban of excommunication. In other words, what Jesus was saying (among other things) to Peter was that he was being given the authority to authoritatively teach, as well as lift or impose the ban of excommunication. It’s important to note that, later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says something similar to the other apostles (Matthew 18:18). But Jesus did not go into the whole keys of the kingdom thing with them. Jesus clearly singled out Peter, in the context of and in the company of the other apostles. That’s important and we’ll come back to that but Jesus clearly singled out Peter. So, I think it’s pretty clear from a plain reading of the Matthew 16 text (and other texts) in light of Isaiah 22 (and many other OT texts involving the High Priest and other authority figures) what Jesus was doing with Peter. It seems clear that Jesus was giving to Peter an authority over the Church and even a sort of “first place” among his fellow apostles. It is also clear that Peter was to exercise that authority within the context of the Church in communion with (in the presence of) his fellow apostles. This is important because it goes directly to the consideration of what is called papal infallibility. This needs to be defined because it is misunderstood by both Catholic and Protestant Christians. Papal infallibility does not mean that the Pope is without sin. I should think that’s pretty obvious. I mean, almost immediately after Jesus imbues Peter with this authority, Peter says something stupid and Jesus calls him Satan. So, to say that Peter was perfect would be a drastic stretch. And so it has been for Peter’s successors. No one, and I mean, no one, would say that any pope has been perfect. Infallible does not mean perfect. History has shown us that. So let’s just all agree on that one and move on. I used to think that papal infallibility meant that whatever the Pope said was infallible. Like, he could order his eggs sunny side up and that was considered infallible. As silly as that sounds, I bet some of you reading this thought that also. Papal infallibility is really not even about the Pope. Infallibility is really about the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. Go back and read that again. I used to think that infallibility meant that the Pope had to be perfect. No, the infallibility of the message is about the Messenger. In other words, we can trust the teaching of the Church delivered by the Pope because Jesus has promised that He would protect His Church…even from false teaching. It’s not that the Pope can’t be wrong; Jesus can’t be wrong. When the Pope (or any other bishop) teaches with the authority of the Church, their teaching can be trusted. However, there are things we must know, and their teaching must live up to. The authoritative teaching of the Bishop or Rome, or any other bishop, cannot teach what the Church has never taught. In other words, their teaching must align with the doctrine that the Church has always taught and as it is supported by/not contradicted by Holy Scripture. If the teaching of any bishop, Rome or otherwise, strays outside the bounds of either Holy Scripture or the Great Tradition, you may be sure that it is not authoritative. Let’s circle back to something that we talked about earlier. Peter’s authority (and that of his successors) is exercised within the bounds of the Church and in company with the other apostles and their successors, the bishops. In other words, outside the bounds of the Church and the communion of the other bishops, the Pope has no authority to deliver authoritative teaching. For example, he can’t offer an opinion on climate change outside those bounds and it be “authoritative.” The opinion of the Pope on things is just that…his opinion. He must be delivering official doctrinal teaching within the context of the Church and in communion with his fellow bishops or it is not authoritative and infallible. He can’t just make it up as he goes, despite some popes attempting to do just that. This has been long and I hope you’re still with me. If not, it’s okay. I want you to know that I’m not an official spokesperson for the Holy Father. I’m just a guy who loves Jesus and His Church who is Catholic and wants people to know, who don’t know, what the Catholic Church actually teaches. At the end of the day, I hope this brings you great comfort, as it has me. I hope that comfort comes when you consider that Jesus is still on the throne. Jesus has promised that His Church would go on and on. Jesus has promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. Jesus will have His spotless Bride and nothing will stop that. Jesus has given us leaders in His Church, earthly and spiritual fathers who, in His absence, will care for us and teach us. You are not alone in your journey to figure things out on your own. What grace He has shown us by giving us fathers to walk with us! |
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