Outline

I. Background of Isaiah 22: Shebna and Eliakim

• A. The Prime Minister’s Pride: Shebna, the master of the palace, constructs an extravagant tomb to secure his own legacy apart from hope in the resurrection.
• B. The Prophecy of Removal: Through Isaiah, the Lord removes Shebna from office due to his self-exaltation.
• C. The Appointment of Eliakim: Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, is invested with authority, clothed with the robe and sash, and appointed as a father to Jerusalem and Judah.
• D. The Keys of the Kingdom: The key of the house of David placed on Eliakim’s shoulder prefigures Christ bestowing the keys of the kingdom upon Peter.

II. Psalm 138: A Response of Praise and Thanksgiving

• A. The Meaning of Praise (Yadah): Prayer as heartfelt acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and public proclamation of God’s works.
• B. The Psalms as a School of Prayer: Inspired prayer that elevates the heart to God, reflecting divine initiative and covenant loyalty.
• C. God’s Covenant Fidelity (Hesed and Emet): God’s active love, steadfast faithfulness, and unchanging truth ('emet) ground our trust in His promises.
• D. The Glory of God’s Name and Word: Universal recognition of the Lord’s ways (derekh) and glory (kavod) by the kings of the earth.

Cleaned Transcript

Background of Isaiah 22: Shebna and Eliakim

First, I have to tell you a little bit about the background of this Isaiah 22 text. It is addressed to a fellow by the name of Shebna. Shebna was master of the palace, as this translation goes. He had a high position; he ran everything. Then he went and built himself a tomb. You see, when you do not know about the resurrection from the dead, you are only going to exist in the memory of other people. So then you want a big monument, which means to admonish the mind. You can look at Hadrian's tomb at the end of the Via; it is an enormous thing and it is still called Hadrian's tomb. So we still do remember Hadrian, but that is all the eternity he could think of.

Shebna is building this great big thing, and the word of the Lord comes from Isaiah, who was also part of the court, it seems, to Shebna. It is tough. Why do we have this? Because in here there is this word we are going to see: "I will place the key of the house of David on Eliakim's shoulder." When we get to the Gospel, it is all about Peter being made the rock—the very place where the temple was built, as I will try to explain. That is why this first reading is meant to prepare us for some of the terminology that our Lord will use when establishing Peter as the rock.

The Lord says to Shebna, master of the palace: "I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe, gird him with your sash, and give to him your authority." He is going to be the master of the whole palace; the only one higher than him is the king. Because Shebna was full of himself, he is going to be removed from office.

Pastoral Authority and Covenant Knowledge

That is not the part that is going to shed so much light on the Gospel, but it is chosen to illuminate the Gospel. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; he has got to care for them. There was a text addressed to one of the kings, the son of Josiah, from Jeremiah. Now, this king had a big building program, a lot of wives, and a lot of money. So Jeremiah had a word from the Lord for him, the same kind of thing: "Thus says the Lord: Your father lived modestly, he cared for the poor, and he was loyal to me. Is this not to know the Lord?" That is knowing the Lord: to recognize, to experience, to obey, and to honor Him. Both of those mean to know the Lord, you see. So equivalently, He is saying, "You never knew me."

Eliakim will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Now, it is because of this kind of terminology, which we will be returning to: "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. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family." In other words, he is going to be from now on second to the king, and he is going to have this key, which represents authority. We just have to remember that because it will come up again: "I will give to you the keys of the kingdom." It is this authority given to Peter. There is so much Old Testament allusion in that text when we get there. I am whetting your appetite for when we get there.

Psalm 138: Thanksgiving and the School of Prayer

The psalm is thanksgiving for all of that. I want to be able to read the whole psalm to you. The editors, as I pointed out before, leave out verses, I think because they are worried about time. Sometimes when you are preaching, people are looking at their watches. I think that is one of the reasons that we have this shortened text.

This psalm is from David. The first line is: "I will give thanks to you with all my heart." The word for "give thanks" in this text comes from the verb yadah, and it means to acknowledge. It is an expression of gratitude, but it is more than that. It means: "I want the whole world to come; I want to tell you what God did for me." So with my whole heart I give you thanks, I acknowledge you, I praise you, I thank you. It means all of those things. The same word expresses praise, acknowledgment, and giving thanks because He is good, or because it is good.

This psalm starts off as a school of prayer. These psalms are a school of prayer. If you are stuck on how to pray, pick up the psalms. St. Augustine has this beautiful insight on prayer in the psalms: "I am praying in you, and you are praying in me." As I pray in you, I move toward the Father, because these are inspired words. They are like no other words anywhere. There are beautiful poems in honor of God and beautiful songs, and they are quite lovely, but they do not have the power to change our hearts or to carry us to God the way the psalms do.

God’s Steadfast Love (Hesed) and Truth (Emet)

So I will worship in Your presence and again make known Your name. Do you recognize how many times when we read these Old Testament texts these same words come up? Isn't it amazing that God is enthusiastically faithful to the covenant? What would you do if He were not? Would you call a cop? What could you do? Do you see His total spontaneity and generosity? In case we get nervous, He promised. He said it, and He promises, so we have His word. He is faithful to that, just as justice is honoring the truth of every relationship. What is this relationship? It is God to Himself; He has promised us. Now we can be sure because He owes it to Himself to be faithful to His promise.

"I will praise your name because of your hesed and your 'emet." Nine times out of ten when we stop to look at the psalm, we see His steadfast love—His enthusiastic faithfulness to His covenant—His justice, His right relationship, and then His 'emet: that He is solid and does not change. That is truth.

In the Semitic mind, truth is not merely a correspondence between point A and point B; it is solidity. That is why falsehood and evil are evanescent. Blessed is the man who does not walk according to the counsel of the wicked, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers. Why? What is the result of that? He is like a tree planted by rivers of water, always bearing fruit. To be like that is to bear the fruit of justice.

So he is saying that because of Your hesed and Your 'emet, "I will worship at Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name because of Your kindness and Your truth"—which are the two words I just told you, hesed and 'emet. Why don't they write down "enthusiastic fidelity to the covenant" and "stability"? People would say, "What does that mean?" So we translate them simply, but it is nice to know what lies behind them, because otherwise they can become mere slogans: "your kindness and your truth." For You have made great above all things Your name and Your promise.

The most powerful, most stable thing in the world is the name of God, His reputation, and the expression of who He is, along with His promise. Now, why does this psalm explain the reading? Because the promise is: "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." That is a word of God that is going to happen, and so this psalm is a response to that.

Universal Acclaim and the Glory of the Lord

Then it says: "All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to You, O Lord." And you can imagine what "give thanks" means here—what is the root of it? It comes from yadah: "I acknowledge what You have done; I give thanks."

When they hear the words of Your mouth, they shall sing about the ways of the Lord. We have that expression in English: "I like his ways; I like the way he does things." The Hebrew word derekh means "way." A madrich on a tourist trip is a guide—the one who takes everybody around—derived from derekh, the way. They shall sing of the ways of God and speak of the kavod of God. Another beautiful word is kavod: the glory of Yahweh, of Adonai. The text goes on to say: "The Lord is exalted."

Outline

I. Historical Context and Paul’s Heartbreak (Romans 9–11)

• A. Structure of Romans: Continuous narrative flow in the first eight chapters leading into Paul’s reflection on God’s salvation plan.
• B. Personal Reflections on Jewish Identity: Shared experiences of recognizing Jesus as "one of us" among Jewish people.
• C. Paul’s Agony: Deep grief for his fellow Israelites, who possess the covenants, the patriarchs, and the heritage from which Christ came.

II. The Mystery of Israel’s Restoration and Salvation Plan

• A. The Remnant and Covenant: Reaffirmation that God has not rejected His people, referencing the 7,000 faithful during Elijah’s time.
• B. The Unrevoked Covenant: Grafting of Gentiles into the cultivated Olive Tree without nullifying the original branches or revoking God’s promise.
• C. Regathering the Twelve Tribes: Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones and Revelation’s symbolic regathering fulfilled through Christ’s Cross and Resurrection.

III. Doxology and the Depth of Divine Wisdom

• A. Paul’s Mystical Enlightenment: Overwhelming awe at God’s infinite love, mercy, and unsearchable ways (Romans 11:33).
• B. Quotation of Old Testament Wisdom: Citing Isaiah on the unfathomable mind of God and the impossibility of counseling the Almighty.
• C. The Trinitarian Doxology: Exalting God from whom, through whom, and for whom all things exist.

IV. Personal Application: Prayer, Purification, and Hope

• A. Seeking God’s Direction in Crisis: Bringing world troubles, division, and economic distress into prayer to understand divine providence.
• B. The Church’s Call to Unity: The necessity of internal purification and ecumenical unity to fulfill Christ’s mission to the world.
• C. Surrender to the Holy Spirit: Approaching Scripture and prayer with open hearts to share in Paul’s joyful worship.

Cleaned Transcript

Introduction: Paul’s Heartbreak and the Context of Romans

Now we are going to reflect on a most beautiful text. It is the conclusion of chapter 11 in the Letter to the Romans. Just by way of recall, remember that through the first eight chapters we have been going right through Romans in a continuous reading. Matthew is continuous, Romans is continuous, and the first reading is always chosen to develop an aspect of what the Gospel addresses from the Old Testament.

Paul has just described God's plan, including his own personal pain. I lived in Jerusalem for five years. I did not have Paul's spiritual depth, but I saw that these people are made to know Jesus; He is one of them. That reminds me of two moments in my life. Once I was on the bus right behind the driver, and we were talking. I mentioned something, and he said, "I know you're a Christian, so are you over here to preach to everybody?" I said, "No, I am teaching, but I am happy to preach!" He said, "Who, Yeshua? This Jesus? He is one of us!" And later he became a Christian. I asked him, "Are you heavy into theology?" He said, "No, I don't pay much attention to that stuff. Jesus became a Christian!"

The other time, I was in the Church of the Nativity. On the floor there is a big golden star with the Latin inscription Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est ("Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary"), marking the spot where the Savior of the world was born. I was in a side chapel praying away, and it was Shabbat. Young Israelis come in to look at it and see what it is all about. Usually a young man serving in the IDF comes in uniform with his girlfriend. They stand there holding hands, looking at the spot where the Son of God was born. I heard this more than once: the young man turned to the girl and said, "He's one of us!" I felt like jumping up and saying, "Then why don't you find out who He really is?"

God's Unbroken Covenant with Israel

This text in Romans begins with Paul’s broken heart: "I tell you, I have such agony in my heart. I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Theirs is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen."

You can tell that Paul has been mystically enlightened about God's plan. That enlightenment was born out of his pain: God, what are You going to do about my people? So he explains that the Gentiles must come in, but then there will be a time when the Jewish people come in, and that will be life from the dead. That is an allusion to Ezekiel 37, where Ezekiel had the vision of the dry bones representing Israel.

Paul asks, "Has God rejected His people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin." When Elijah complained that he was the only faithful one left, God answered that He had reserved 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Paul picks up on this: it is by grace, no longer on the basis of works. What Israel sought, it did not obtain, but the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Of course not! Remember that famous expression of Pope John Paul II when he visited the Synagogue of Rome: "The covenant has never been revoked." So Paul addresses the Gentiles: "Branches were broken off so that you could be grafted in. But if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree!"

Doxology: Praise for God's Infinite Wisdom

Paul reaches the point where he praises God from the depths of his spirit as he grasps this divine plan, which he sees is full of love and mercy. When I lived over there and we had our prayer groups going, I told the Palestinians: "As Paul says, if you are joyful, generous, and loving toward them, you will make them jealous. They have an eye for goodness, and when they see it, they will say, 'They have something we don't have. How do I get it?' By believing in Jesus."

Then Paul breaks into praise: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!" He quotes Isaiah: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?" Then comes the grand doxology: "For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen."

Try to pray with that text and gain a sense of the deep experience Paul had when God revealed this plan to him, bringing relief from his agony. His people were rejecting the Messiah, but God showed him: I have a plan. When the full number of the Gentiles comes in, all Israel will be saved.

The ancient Jewish hope was the regathering of all twelve tribes, ten of which were lost. Jesus came, taught, died, and rose to gather the scattered children of God. If someone asks, "Where are those lost tribes today?", look at Revelation chapter 7. There are 144,000 sealed from every tribe—Reuben, Judah, Benjamin, Gad—all gathered together by the Cross, the Resurrection, and the mercy of the Father.

Entering into God's Plan Through Prayer

The Jerusalem Bible translates the Isaiah passage this way: "Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has instructed Him? Whom did He consult for His enlightenment, and who taught Him the path of justice?" Nobody! That truth needs to become real to us. Who is God's advisor? Who is God's spiritual director? He is God! Paul did not just experience God's abstract wisdom and power; he experienced all of it as animated by divine love, and he was overwhelmed by it.

In Genesis, when the Lord walked near Abraham, He said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" Why? Because of His love; He reveals His plan to His friends. Paul was a recipient of that same revelation.

How do we enter into that? We pray, we ponder, and we say, "Lord, show me. Help me understand Your plan. Right now, most of the world does not recognize You, and even many who claim to know You are at war with one another. Look at the mess we make of this world." If enough people dropped bombs, the economy would collapse and the poor would starve. What is the plan? We listen to many words from the Lord through the Scriptures, teaching, and prophetic insights. As Jesus told a friend of mine: "I am coming back not merely to end the world, but to dwell in the hearts and minds of everyone who knows Me and loves Me, so that together we may work to make this world safe again for all of God's children."

What lies between now and then? Probably a great deal of suffering first. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Church needs deep purification. We struggle to hold our own act together, yet the Lord has entrusted to us the care of the world. First, we must come back together—having thousands of Christian sects is a tragedy. If you want to understand the depth of worship and joy in Paul, ponder God's plan. Ask the Holy Spirit and Our Lady to open your heart so that you can understand what the Spirit instructs, and you will want to sing praise just as Paul did.

Outline

I. Historical Setting and the Identity of Jesus

• A. Journey to Caesarea Philippi: Setting the scene in a Gentile region to signify the universal scope of Jesus' mission.
• B. The "Son of Man" Title:
  • Understanding the Hebrew idiom as the quintessential human being.
  • Rooting the title in Daniel 7:13 (the apocalyptic figure receiving eternal dominion and embodying the saints of the Most High God).
  • Analogy of the solution and string: how the term crystallizes diverse threads of Jewish theology.
• C. Popular Opinions vs. Disciples' Belief: Popular views of Jesus as a resurrected prophet (John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah) versus the direct question to the disciples.

II. Peter’s Confession and Divine Revelation

• A. The Confession: Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christos (the Messiah, the anointed successor to King David) and the Son of the Living God.
• B. Old Testament Foundations of the Messiah: Citing 2 Samuel 7 and Chronicles regarding the enduring house of David and the promised ideal ruler.
• C. Divine Revelation: Jesus’ declaration that human reasoning ("flesh and blood") did not reveal this, but the Father in Heaven; the beatitude of receiving eschatological revelation.

III. The Primacy of Peter and the Foundation of the Church

• A. The Name Change: Simon becomes Kepha / Petros (Rock), marking a major salvation-historical turning point akin to Abram becoming Abraham or Jacob becoming Israel.
• B. The Rock and the Temple (Petra):
  • Linking the Rock to Jewish traditions regarding the foundation stone of the Jerusalem Temple (the cosmic center and the place of Isaac's binding).
  • The Church (Ekklesia) as the new temple built upon this foundation.
• C. Overcoming the Gates of Hades: The Church positioned over the forces of darkness, guarding against evil.

IV. The Keys, Binding and Loosing, and Pastoral Office

• A. Authority of the Keys: Fulfilling the prefiguration of Eliakim in Isaiah 22 through the bestowal of the keys of the kingdom.
• B. Human Weakness and Divine Guidance: Peter as both a flawed human being (e.g., Paul’s confrontation in Galatians) and the divinely appointed shepherd.
• C. The Petrine Ministry Today: Praying for the Pope and bishops, recognizing the enduring continuity of the oldest institution in human history.

Cleaned Transcript

Historical Setting: Caesarea Philippi

Now we come to that famous section of the Gospel of Matthew—chapter 16—where our Lord establishes Peter as the Rock. I think it is going to be very helpful to realize, through good historical context, how the text becomes so much more understandable. After making it understandable, of course, we still have to commit ourselves to it in faith.

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi. Up to this point, He had been around the Sea of Tiberias, but now He goes northeast into a region that is predominantly Gentile and pagan. Why does Matthew stop to tell us that? Because by setting this moment in a non-Jewish environment, Matthew implies the universal scope of what Jesus is about to establish.

Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" Now, isn't that interesting? "Son of Man" is His primary self-designation. What does it mean? In Semitic idiom, "son of..." expresses the quintessential quality of something. So the Son of Man is the ultimate human being. But it is also a direct allusion to Daniel 7:13, where Daniel has a vision of "one like a Son of Man" coming to the Ancient of Days and receiving an everlasting kingdom, power, and authority.

That Son of Man in Daniel is a mysterious figure who also embodies all of faithful Israel—later referred to as "the saints of the Most High God." Jesus uses this title because it means: I am the most human of human beings, but I also embody all of Israel, and to Me will be given universal reign, power, and authority.

Back when I was in high school, we did a chemistry experiment with a beaker filled with a solution. You suspended a string into the solution, and over time all the minerals in the liquid crystallized around that single string. "Son of Man" is like that string: when dropped into the environment of Jewish theology, it gathers and crystallizes all the messianic hopes, human realities, and apocalyptic visions around itself.

The Confession at Caesarea Philippi

The disciples report what the crowds are saying: "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." People assumed one of the great figures of old had come back from the dead.

Then Jesus challenges them directly: "But what about you? Who do you say that I am?"

Simon Peter answers: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

In Romans 11, we saw the mystical enlightenment given to Paul that burst into a hymn of praise. Here in Matthew 16, we have the mystical enlightenment given to Peter that yields this profound profession of faith. Peter says, "You are the Christos, the Son of the living God."

Who is the Christos? He is the anointed successor to David. Christos comes from the Greek word chrisma, meaning "anointing"—the exact equivalent of the Hebrew Mashiach (Messiah). The prophets held out hope for an anointed successor to David who would bring peace, righteousness, and loyalty to God, leading the nations to live according to God's law.

We see the roots of this in 2 Samuel 7, in Nathan's prophecy to David: "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you... I will be his father, and he shall be my son." In 1 Chronicles, this promise is reaffirmed with even greater messianic focus: that this throne will endure forever. Peter looks at Jesus and says: You are that one. You are the Christos, the Son of the living God.

Divine Revelation and the New Name

Jesus answers him: "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven."

God the Father enlightened Peter above all the others so that he could speak with certitude and clarity: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Imagine the spiritual leap required to utter those words! That is why Jesus pronounces a beatitude over him: "Blessed are you." Human resources—flesh and blood—could never yield that insight. It was revealed directly by the Father.

This beatitude of receiving divine revelation is mirrored in Matthew 13, where Jesus tells the disciples: "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it." If we remain faithful in prayer, the Lord reveals Himself to us in that same intimate way.

Jesus continues: "And I tell you that you are Petros [Rock], and on this petra [rock] I will build my Church."

In Aramaic, Jesus used the word Kepha—"Rock." In Greek, it translates to Petros for the masculine name and petra for the rock foundation. This is a salvation-historical turning point. Whenever God gives someone a new name in Scripture—Abram becoming Abraham, Jacob becoming Israel—it signifies a new mission and a new identity.

Jesus adds: "And on this rock I will build my Church [Ekklesia], and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

In Jewish tradition, the foundation stone (Even Shetiyya) beneath the Jerusalem Temple on Mount Zion was viewed as the center of the cosmos, sealing the entrance to the watery abyss below, and marking the spot where Abraham offered Isaac. Jesus uses that familiar imagery: Peter is the new foundation stone, and upon this rock Jesus builds His new temple—the Church. Sitting atop the powers of evil, the Church is built so that the forces of darkness will never overwhelm it. Commentators like Dale Allison and W.D. Davies note that the informed reader sees the Church situated at the cosmic center, standing victorious over the underworld.

The Authority of the Keys and the Petrine Ministry

Jesus then promises: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." This directly echoes Isaiah 22, where the prime minister Eliakim receives the key of the house of David on his shoulder—what he opens no one shuts, and what he shuts no one opens.

Jesus bestows real authority upon Peter to shepherd, to govern, and to guide the worshipping community—to bind and to loose. Why establish a visible human head? Because you can dialogue and interact with a living shepherd, whereas people simply argue over a written document.

Peter was a real human being who could make personal mistakes. In Galatians, Paul describes confronting Peter face-to-face when Peter withdrew from eating with Gentile believers out of fear of the Judaizers. Peter was the Rock, but he remained a human shepherd subject to growth and correction. There is immense divine wisdom in this structure: despite the human frailties of individual popes throughout history, Christ's promise stands firm, making the Catholic Church the oldest continuous institution in the world.

This is why at every Mass we pray for the Pope and the bishops who share in his shepherd's care. Christ knew what He was doing; He knew He could guide His Church through human instruments. Peter receives the authority of the keys to care for the flock, to preserve the unity of faith, and to lead the household of God.