Photo by Everyday basics on Unsplash
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
When I first arrived at St. Therese, I received one key, which supposedly opens every door in this building, and one key for the rectory. It’s nice having just one key, so efficient. Until I found out there were doors this one key didn’t open. It was no big deal really. There was a renovation and new construction 40 years ago. So I got a second key for those other doors. And if a door doesn’t open, I just know to go somewhere else.
The meaning of keys in religious imagery goes back to the invention of doors and locking mechanisms. The bearer of a key is the guardian of some treasure or the holder of some office, and that person possesses something of great value, or at least has access to it. When selling or buying a house, it’s a big deal to hand over or receive keys. When you change the lock on a door, you redefine or reestablish ownership of what lies beyond the door—property, the safety and well-being of family, a sense of dignity and wholeness, usually after the previous lock was broken or the keys gone missing. And when a special visitor or dignitary is given a symbolic key to a town or city with great ceremony and rejoicing, it means they are loved and honored by the people, who have given them access to their hearts.
Digital technology has expanded our definition of keys. Businesses now use programmable digital keys. They look like credit cards. Insert in slot, remove, and the green light signals the door is open. Significantly cheaper than standard issue keys, digital keys are not as inconvenient when they don’t come back. They are easily repurposed and reprogrammed with the touch of a button.
Cars might have a digital numerical keypad. Punch in the code, the door opens. A remote keyless system locks and unlocks doors, and starts engines remotely as the name suggests. Seats can also be warmed in advance via the same fob on cold winter mornings. I’m waiting for the day you can summon your car and it comes to you. I’d love if it can make dinner too and fold laundry. But that’s probably a long way off.
We are familiar with the use of key codes and passcodes and passwords to access programs, and databases, and online accounts. The principle is similar. To possess a key or code, standard or remote or digital, means to possess whatever that key or code opens, unlocks, or engages. But what does it mean to possess or be given a key?
The passage from Isaiah recounts an obscure detail in Israel’s history. Shebna, bearer and keeper of the key, was master of the palace in the reign of King Hezekiah. His authority was without equal. He once tried to convince the king to enter an alliance with Egypt against Assyria, which opposed the prophet’s advice, that the king put complete trust in God and remain faithful to the covenant. Shebna also had an irritating habit of riding around in a chariot and displaying his ambition and self-importance. So when the prophet announced Shebna’s demotion, the privilege was given to Eliakim to grant or refuse access to the king. (Celebration: A Comprehensive Worship Resource. August 2011. National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company, Inc. Kansas City MO: 2011.) The bearer and keeper of the key is also assigned a fatherly role to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of Judah. In many instances in scripture, the conferral of authority and responsibility on a person was God’s way of sharing authority and care for his people. Eliakim was honored with public office, but his role would reflect the heart and mind of God.
When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, many people were disappointed. We knew him till then only as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a high-profile role that immersed him in many explosive and controversial issues. Whether or not people liked him, he must have been awesome at his job because Pope John Paul II trusted him. So when he was chosen successor to Peter, the same Peter to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the cardinal’s role within the church changed as well. We call the successor of Peter the pope, il Papa, an endearment that translates as “Father.” The role of Peter is a share in the role of Jesus Christ. He was to be teacher, leader, father, and friend to God’s people and to all in his care. He was still the same flawed and imperfect human being he had been. He did not earn this distinction for himself. It was not something he deserved. Yet by this great honor, God was sending him to serve God’s holy people, even those who opposed him, even those who did not like him. When I first went to teach in school I was advised, “Be tough at first. It will be easier to loosen up when your students know you mean business. But if you start off indecisive and undisciplined, it will be much harder to regain control.” They were sixth and seventh graders. And when I became pastor, I was told to say little, smile all day, and change nothing in the first six months.
When Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, he needed no physical evidence nor reasoned arguments. Jesus revealed that the Father enabled him to say what he said. It was not his doing. So faith is first God’s gift. And when God designates to us a role in the service of the kingdom, which is the service of God’s people, (and we who are baptized into Christ Jesus are sent to serve others by virtue of our baptism,) God extends us a share of his own authority and responsibility for the care of his people. Binding and loosing come with grave responsibility and leadership as well. We are imperfect and flawed as before, yet we are now designated by God to serve, care for, and offer sacrifice for our sisters and brothers after the heart and mind of Jesus, the true shepherd, leader, brother, and friend of God’s people.
So I have two keys for all the doors at St. Therese. But effective leadership is more than just having the keys. It is also listening to, inspiring, guiding, encouraging, and being accountable to those with whom we share a common mission and vision. I love a quote about leadership from the French author and philosopher Antoine de Saint-Exupery. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Having keys is convenient. But someone else unlocking doors for you … priceless.
Rolo B Castillo © 2023