Commentary

21st Sunday of Year A

Brant Pitre

Mass Readings Explained

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Dicastery for
the Clergy

YEAR A

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A

THEME OF READINGS

Peter as the Rock and Servant of His Church

DOCTRINAL MESSAGE

“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16: 18)

“Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16: 19)

PASTORAL SUGGESTIONS

Love and obedience to the Pope

Fr. George Corrigan, OFM

RECENT

YEAR A – 2017

MATTHEW

Gospel–Commentary

21st Sunday of Year A

Crossing Over: A new theme emerges
Matthew’s Portrait of Jesus
Jesus’ Response: an emerging church
The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven
What kind of person…what kind of community

Kieran J.
O’Mahony, OSA

Hearers of the Word

INDEX

Catholic Climate Covenant

INTEGRAL FAITH

INDEX

21st Sunday – Cycle A

SCRIPTURE PASSAGES TO NOTE:

Isaiah 22: “He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah…. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.”

Romans 11: Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things.

Matthew 16: Simon Peter said…, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”

I would like to offer Christians a few suggestions for an ecological spirituality grounded in the convictions of our faith, since the teachings of the Gospel have direct consequences for our way of thinking, feeling and living. More than in ideas or concepts as such, I am interested in how such a spirituality can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world…. the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us. (216).

St. Charles Borromeo Bible Study Commentary

INDEX

21st Sunday – Cycle A

Sources Include in PDF:

The Jerome Biblical Commentary
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, and
The Navarre Bible,
Church History by Laux (TAN Books),
AND MORE

Fr. Francis Martin

The Word Proclaimed Institute

DAILY REFLECTIONS

VIDEO ARCHIVE (CYCLE A)

21st Sunday of Year A

Wiki Connections

21st Sunday of Year A

Gospel Connections

Mt 16:13-20

Matthew 16 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

21st Sunday of Year A

1st Reading Connections

Is 22:19-23

Isaiah 22 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

21st Sunday of Year A

2nd Reading Connections

Rom 11:33-36

Romans 11 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

21st Sunday of Year A

Responsorial Connections

Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8

Psalms - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bible Study

21st Sunday of Year A

St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

HOME PAGE

SUNDAY BIBLE REFLECTIONS

‘Oh, the Depths!’: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” Paul exclaims in today’s Epistle. Today’s Psalm, too, takes up the triumphant note of joy and thanksgiving. Why? Because in theGospel, the heavenly Father reveals the mystery of His kingdom to Peter.With Peter, we rejoice t

St. Paul Center

Matt
Zemanek

St. Timothy Catholic Church, Laguna Niguel, CA

Catholic Sunday Scriptures in Context

Fr. Paul Galetto, O.S.A. briefly unpacks the history and context of the Sunday readings.

21st Sunday
Year A

Fr. Larry
Young

MATTHEW
JOHN
OT INTRO
NT INTRO

Gospel of Matthew (chp 16)

Kairos Moment!, Sign of Jonah, Leaven, Peter's Confession, Petros/Petra, Keys and Gate, The Cross, The Rebuke, World/Soul

YouTube

Agape Bible Study

21st Sunday of Year A

AGAPE BIBLE STUDY

Michal
Hunt

CALENDAR

BIBLE STUDIES

DOCUMENTS

CHARTS

KNOWLEDGE

Divinely Instituted Authority

The First Reading and the Gospel Reading address the entrusting of royal authority in the symbolic “keys” of the Kingdom. God entrusted the key to the palace of the Davidic king to His servant Eliakim, and Jesus, God the Son, entrusted the keys of His Kingdom to Saint Peter. Both symbolic acts are part of the mystery of God’s Divine Plan.

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1st Reading

Welcoming Foreigners into the Covenant

In the First Reading, God instructs the prophet Isaiah to appoint Eliakim to become the chief steward or vicar of the palace, the center of government for the Davidic kingdom. God tells the prophet Isaiah that Eliakim must receive all the signs of the office of vicar/chief steward. His signs of authority included a special garment identifying his high office, the title of “father” to the people of the kingdom, and the “key of the house of David.” The key is his sign of authority and gives him the power to “open and shut,” meaning to make binding decisions for the good of the Davidic kingdom. The oracle of Isaiah finds significant resonance in the New Testament when Jesus divinely appoints Peter to become the Vicar of His Kingdom of the Church. Jesus gave Peter the same powers as Eliakim, including the keys of His kingdom and the authority to “open and shut” or “bind and loose” in governing the Kingdom of the Church.

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2nd Reading

God’s Irrevocable Gifts and Call

In the Second Reading, St. Paul gives a hymn extolling God’s mercy and wisdom. Paul declares that divine wisdom and knowledge are beyond the grasp of human understanding, and no one can anticipate the Lord’s acts of mercy and grace. Paul writes that God does not depend on humanity to dispense His gifts, but He does invite humankind to partake of the richness of His favor through their response to faith in acts of mercy and love. Concerning God’s divine plan for humanity in establishing the Kingdom of the Church as His vehicle of salvation, St. Paul writes: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.”

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Gospel

Reward for the Persistence of Faith

In the Gospel Reading, Jesus gives St. Peter the keys of His earthly Kingdom of the Church. Jesus, the root and offspring of David (Mt 1:1; Rev 4:5), holds by divine right the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven with authority to forgive or bind sins, thereby opening or closing a person’s entrance into the heavenly Kingdom (Rev 1:18; 5:5; 22:16). The keys to the heavenly Kingdom have an earthly counterpart in the key of the Davidic Kingdom that every descendant of King David entrusted to his chief steward/vicar. An example is Eliakim, the chief steward of King Hezekiah, who Scripture calls a spiritual “father” to the covenant people (First Reading).

After Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, Jesus commissioned Peter as the chief steward/vicar of His Kingdom of Heaven on earth that is the universal Church. Peter and all who succeed him in the office of Vicar of Jesus’ Kingdom of the Church are the spiritual “fathers” to the New Covenant people, and they have the power and authority entrusted to them by Jesus, the true Davidic King, to govern the Church until He returns in glory. Jesus also gives His ministerial priesthood the authority to bind or loose (forgive or retain) sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation when He breathed the Holy Spirit upon His Apostles and told them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:22-23).

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