"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah."
This weekend in our readings we will hear much about leadership. The first reading, from the Prophet Isaiah, tells the story of God casting down one leader and putting another in his place. And as a symbol of this, God says, "I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open."
In the Gospel, we hear the famous story of Peter hearing similar words from Jesus. Upon Peter's exclamation of "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus tells him that this has been revealed to him by God, and then proceeds to change his name from Simon, which it had been all his life, to Peter. Jesus then says, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
The similarity in verbiage between these two stories is clear, and so the church has always seen the connection between them. But why Peter? Outside of his proclamation of Jesus as Christ and Son of God, why did Jesus pick him to be the leader and to receive the keys? There are all kinds of reasons we can speak of, whether it is boldness, or charisma, or maybe even because of his willingness to always ask for the Lord's mercy and admit his unworthiness. But ultimately, as St. Paul says in the second reading, "How inscrutable are [God's] judgments and how unsearchable his ways!"
What we do know is this: it is because of the leadership of Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles that the resurrection of Christ and the message of the Gospel went forth from Israel to all the world, and continues to to this day. Let us pray, then, that the leaders of our Church today, most especially Pope Leo, may always lead with both humility and boldness. Also, let us pray that we, as we lead in our own contexts of families, homes, careers, and personal spiritual lives, may take up the call to proclaim the Gospel to all the world!
Want to prepare your heart and mind for Mass this weekend? Click here to find the readings for this Sunday's Mass.
