In 2023 the Texas Rangers were awarded a key to the city of Fort Worth for winning the World Series. Not to be outdone, the city of Arlington awarded Taylor Swift a key to the city in honor of her Eras Tour the same year. Houston awarded native Houstonian Meghan Thee Stallion a key to the city because of her successes in the rap industry. What does it mean to be awarded a key to the city?

It has certainly just become some sort of honor that mayors or city councils bestow upon citizens of certain communities who have succeeded in various ways. They want to bring honor to the work and dedication their citizens have shown. But awarding keys to a city, state or kingdom has its route in the biblical idea that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 16:19,

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

On Easter evening Jesus appeared to the disciples after doing something any town, city or even nation would be proud of. Jesus raising himself from the dead accomplished something no mere human could accomplish. Jesus’ being raised from the dead shows that His father approves of his atoning life, suffering and death on the cross for the sins of the world. In John 20 Jesus said,

“As the father has sent me so I am sending you… “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Jesus had the keys to the kingdom, and he handed them over to his church. The keys of the kingdom open the kingdom of God to people. What does it mean when Jesus gives his keys over to the disciples?

It is more than just a symbolic honor or recognition of the apostles’ work, like giving the keys to a city today. They had actually failed miserably at this point. They had all abandoned him in his death. They were running scared, literally. But Jesus appeared to them and gave them the keys of the kingdom because he wanted them to know that they were forgiven all their failures. All their death deserving sins were not held against them. Jesus forgave them and opened the kingdom of God to them.

So, what does it mean now that they have the keys to the kingdom?

St. Paul says the relationship of Jesus to his church is like that of husband and wife. Ephesians 5:29

“For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.“

When Christ gives the keys of the kingdom to the disciples, he is giving the authority to forgive sins to every Christian but also to not forgive the sins of those outside the kingdom. He is giving his authority to his church, his bride.

A helpful picture is when a husband and wife become married. The husband who owns a home brings his wife in and provides for her a safe place to raise children and build a home life. The husband goes to work and when he leaves, he gives the keys of the home to the wife for her to be a stewardess.

She is to protect the house by locking doors and windows and making sure the home is well taken care of. She does not have the authority to work against the good of the home and the will of her husband. She cannot just open the home to any person who is not working together with the husband and wife. The wife doesn’t show off the savings account or open the safe to show anyone the most expensive treasures of the home (and I’m of course first speaking to possessions and money, but really the greatest treasure is the children). The wife has the keys to the kingdom to use the gifts of the husband for the building of a home and protected children.

So also, now when Jesus gives the disciples, meaning the church, the keys to the kingdom He is giving us stewardship over the goods of his kingdom that he won on the cross. We aren’t to just give forgiveness to anyone, but only those who believe. Those who are part of the kingdom by faith.

This is why St. Paul tells the congregation in Corinth that pastors are “stewards of the mysteries of God” 1 Corinthians 4:1. The church does not have the authority to just open the treasures of Christ to anyone. Jesus also warns not to “cast pearls before swine.” Matthew 7:6. This is also why the Christian church has faithfully guarded the body and blood of our Lord in closed communion. We cannot just open the most holy sacrament to anyone who comes. For it is here at his altar where we are united in body and soul to our Savior in a most intimate way.

Just as a wife doesn’t open the bank account or financial records to any passerby. The pearls before swine verse ends like this,

“…lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

Think of how people guard their financial privacy, what about the treasures of Christ? These treasures have eternal consequences. Should the church not be concerned about these matters of faith?

This is also why we don’t just spray water on people and call it a baptism. Baptism as a treasure of the kingdom of God has also been guarded. In the early church adult instruction lasted 3 years before a new member was brought into church membership! This was recorded by Hippolytus’s “Apostolic Tradition”, a third-century document that described church liturgies, traditions and church leadership.

The church as the bride of Christ has the joy of possessing the keys to the kingdom of God. Not because we have done anything worthy of possessing such a gift, but because our Lord Jesus Christ has bought us with a price. He has redeemed us from the kingdom of the devil and sanctified us through baptism. He has washed us and dressed us in the finest wedding garments. He has brought us into his kingdom, given us the keys.

His kingdom is not some abstract address but it is where the Word and Sacrament are given out according to His institution. The husband has instructed His bride in his will and desire for the good of the family. You are God’s children, citizens of his kingdom. Use the keys of forgiveness or not forgiving, not according to our whims or desire to impress the world. Our Lord has told us his will and his desire for a kingdom that even if we falter, the gates of hell will never prevail.

Happy Easter!

See you on Sunday…

Pastor Ottmers