The Power of the Keys
The gospel passage of today discusses the confession of St.
Peter and the promise of Christ. Jesus wants the opinion of His disciples about
what people think of Him. When all other disciples must have aired the
ignorance of men concerning the person of Christ, St. Peter, by the prompting
of the Holy Spirit, declares that Jesus is the Christ—the Son of the living
God. Jesus in reply declares Peter “the Rock”. He promises to give Him the Keys
of kingdom of heaven. His promise of the power of the keys is followed by the
power to bind and loose.
This power of the keys has parallel in the Old Testament in
Isaiah 22:22 where the key of the house of David was given to Eliakim. His duty
was to open the door in the morning and to shut it in the evening and through
him visitors gain access to royal presence. In the case of Peter, his is the
stewardship of the kingdom of heaven. The power of the keys given to Peter was
first made manifest on the Pentecost day, when Peter unlocked the door of
heaven to about 3,000 souls (Acts 2:41) both for the Jews and Gentiles. And in fact,
all, irrespective of colour, race or culture have privilege of entering God’s
royal presence.
Jesus did not wish that this power ends with the first
generation of His followers since He desired that the Good News be preached to
the ends of the earth. He also promised to be with the Church till the end of
time. So, the power of the keys and the power to loose and bind are still operative
today through the priestly ministry of those ordained in the apostolic lineage—the
successor of St. Peter and the successors of the apostles.
In this Lenten season, If Christ is so merciful and loving to
the extent of giving the powers of absolution to His priests, we should also reciprocate
this love by approaching the sacrament of penance where we are loosed from the stranglehold
of sin and its consequences; where the wounds of sin are bandaged; where the gate
of heaven is solemnly opened to all those who wish to enter. “The minister to whom confession is made is
the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead.”--St. Thomas Aquinas.
