Scripture Study for
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 22:19–23 / Psalm 138:8bc / Romans 11:33–36 / Matthew 16:13–20
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Understanding the Word
By Br. John R. Barker, OFM
The context of Isaiah’s oracle is the siege of Jerusalem by Assyria around 701 B.C. Shebna, a scribe, holds the office of “master of the palace” or “royal steward,” a position of high authority. Apparently at some point he brought scandal to the royal household and was replaced by Eliakim, a move here attributed to the judgment of God on Shebna. As royal steward, Eliakim will now hold “the key of the House of David,” a symbol of his high authority. Such is the honor of this post that his family’s glory will depend on him (“hang” from him), who is fixed like a peg in the wall, holding “descendants and offspring” like “little dishes” (22:24).
Paul knows that God’s word has not failed, so Israel’s refusal to accept Jesus as Messiah must be part of God’s intention from the beginning. It has allowed for the extension of salvation to the Gentiles. This plan for the salvation of the world reveals God’s wisdom, which remains inscrutable and unsearchable, even as the outlines come slowly into view. Ultimately, Paul cannot know exactly what God is up to in all the details, but believes that what God is doing is good and it ultimately means mercy for all, including the currently “disobedient” Israel. This is cause for wonder and reasons to give glory to God, whose ways may not be known, but can be trusted.
When Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is, they give the standard conjectures that he is a forerunner, but not the Messiah himself. Because Simon has received from God the insight that Jesus is in fact the Christ and Son of God, he receives the name by which he has been known to the reader, but never called by anyone in the Gospel until now: Petros, or “rock.” As elsewhere in the Bible, the new name reflects both a change of status and the meaning of that change. The notion that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against the church can mean that the dark powers thought to emerge from them will not be able to defeat the church, or that they will not be able to prevent the church from defeating them.