Posted on 06/13/2026 6:55:33 PM PDT by fidelis
By Dr. John Bergsma
One of the more memorable events of my childhood was the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, when I was 10 years old. My family watched it on TV. Even though we were Americans, political heirs of a bloody revolution that kicked the hated British and their Redcoats off the American continent roughly 200 years previously, nonetheless we, along with millions of our compatriots, were still absolutely fascinated with the pomp and trappings of the British royalty. A total of 750 million people tuned in worldwide. Even American girls grow up wanting to be princesses.
I think the fascination with royalty is a deep archetype in the human psyche because for all our talk about democracy and equality, I think most human beings subconsciously long to live in a kingdom well-ruled by a loving king and queen. The popularity of Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia testify to this deep-seated longing.
God knows the desires of our heart, and the Gospel actually satisfies them. We are reminded in the Readings for this Lord’s Day that, because of the work of Christ, we actually are royalty who share in Christ’s kingship, as well as his priesthood. Furthermore, this is no fantasy, but a reality more real and lasting than the sadly fleeting marriage of Charles and Diana.
First Reading | Exodus 19:2-6a
In those days, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai and pitched camp. While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain, Moses went up the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”
This is an extremely important moment in the history of salvation. At the foot of Sinai, God promises the Tribes of Israel that, if they keep the covenant, they shall be a “kingdom of priests.” Actually, this phrase in Hebrew is mamlekheth kohanim, “a kingship of priests.” What is a “kingship”? it could be a collection of kings. Then “kingships of priests” would mean “a group of kings who are also priests,” or more succinctly, “a royal priesthood.” “Kingship,” though could also just be a synonym for “kingdom,” thus our translation, “kingdom of priests.” We see that this phrase was interpreted both ways in the New Testament: thus Peter uses “royal priesthood” in 1 Peter 2:9, and John uses “kingdom of priests” in Revelation1:6.
I think “royal priesthood” is theologically richer and more pertinent to the context of Exodus 19:5-6 because it is here that God is offering to the people of Israel a restoration to the privileges of Adam, who was booth king and priest. We see Adam’s kingship in that he was “dominion” (a royal term) over the earth in Genesis 1:26, and his priesthood inasmuch as he is commissioned to “work and guard” (Hebrew ‘abad and shamar) in the garden-sanctuary of Eden, which are priestly verbs (cf. Numbers 3:7 in Hebrew).
Of course, Adam lost his royalty and priesthood by rebelling against God in Genesis 3, but Israel gathered at Sinai is now offered a chance to regain the Adamic privileges. If they keep God’s covenant, they will be a new “humanity” (one of the meanings of the word “Adam”) and be restored to humanity’s original vocation as a corporate king and priest.
But if the Israelites all became kings and priests, who would be the subjects and the lay people? A little thought provides the answer: the Gentiles! And so the original “Plan A” of salvation history dawns on us: God intended the Israelites to spread out over the earth to rule and sanctify the Gentiles, bringing them back to God. Sadly, though, the Israelites preferred the sensuality of Egyptian paganism to the demanding call of the covenant, and the plan of salvation was derailed and re-routed some chapters later after the Golden Calf incident (Exodus 32).
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5
R. (3c) We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
The LORD is good:
his kindness [Hebrew hesed] endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
R. We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
This short and simple psalm has been a favorite hymn of praise of the people of God, both in the Old and New Covenants. Because the psalm was sung so much, the tune to which it was set in the widely-influential Genevan Psalter (an early Calvinist song book) is one of the most widely and ecumenically recognized hymn tunes in Christianity, known as “Old Hundredth,” or the tune to “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.”
In the context of today’s liturgy, this psalm picks up and celebrates a statement from the First Reading: “You shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people.” When this psalm was composed in Old Testament times, it was an expression of praise and thanks to God that Israel had been chosen as this ‘special possession,” using the metaphor of a “flock” to express the tender and close relationship between God-as-Shepherd and his special people. But Jesus is the True Israel in his very person, and all baptized into him become part of the “flock of God,” “God’s special possession.” And so we baptized can take this psalm on our lips at today’s Mass.
Second Reading | Romans 5:6-11
Brothers and sisters:
Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The Second Reading during Ordinary Time “marches to the beat of its own drum.” We are simply reading semi-continuously through the letters of Paul—in this case, Romans. Nonetheless, we see here in common with the First Reading and Responsorial Psalm the theme of God’s special love for his people. If God proved his love to ancient Israel by bringing them out of Egypt to the foot of Sinai as in our first reading, there to make them his covenantal “flock,” as the psalm describes, then God proves his love for us now “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus’s work on the Cross makes it possible for any human being to become part of his flock. If we have received baptism in Christ’s name, we know we are justified, saved from wrath, and reconciled to God.
Gospel | Matthew 9:36—10:8
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Jesus observes that the people of Israel in his own day were “like sheep without a shepherd.” They were still God’s sheep, as we saw in Psalm 100, but the “shepherds” they had were unfaithful; the Herodian kings were imposters, and the chief priests were political appointees without the proper pedigree. So Jesus responds by providing “shepherds” for a reconstituted people of Israel. These “shepherds” (Latin pastores) are the Apostles.
There are twelve of them, representative of the Twelve Tribes gathered at Sinai. Furthermore, the Apostles are granted the status of priests and kings. As Pope Benedict XVI pointed out, the priestly status is clearer in Mark’s account of this event, which say that Jesus “made twelve,” taking up the terminology of the Old Testament for the appointment of priests, who were “made”1 (1 Kings 12:31; 13:33).
But the royal status is also present, as we can see by comparing this account with 1 Kings 4:17-18: “Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel…Their names were ‘the son of Hur…’” then follows the list of princes or viceroys (i.e., deputy kings) that Solomon appointed over all Israel. Likewise, Jesus appoints twelve new “officers” and sends them out to the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” to declare “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” which could be translated, “the kingdom has arrived.” The Apostles are the royal officers proclaiming the restoration of the kingdom of David, which is the kingdom of God (see 1 Chronicles 28:5; 2 Chronicles 13:8).
Jesus gives them “authority” over “unclean spirits” and to “cure every disease.” In other words, he authorizes them to heal both soul and body, and the Church has been doing this ever since, through the Sacraments and her corporal works of mercy, expressed now in hospitals and the Catholic healthcare system.
The Apostles are both priests and kings: this royal priesthood extends also to their successors the bishops, who obviously perform a priestly role by celebrating the holy sacrifice, which is the Eucharist, but also have the trappings of royalty in their mitres and their cathedras. The bishops, as successors of the Apostles, both rule and sanctify the royal-priestly people of God, but we too, who have been baptized with Christ, share in his royal priesthood, and to us are restored the privileges of Adam, since Christ is the New Adam. Thus the Catechism describes our priestly and royal status (CCC §900-909).
In Christ, what Israel failed to receive at the foot of Sinai because they broke the covenant with the Golden Calf—and dozens of times afterward as well—has now been granted to the Church, which Peter calls a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). Our royalty is expressed in governing our circumstances according to the Law of God and extending the rule of Christ to the extent of our circle of personal influence. Our priesthood is expressed in offering to God our “bodies” as Paul describes it (Romans 12:1), that is the substance of our lives, all the “prayers, works, joys, and sufferings” of each day, according to a traditional prayer. As St Josemaria Escriva said:
“You cannot forget that any worthy, noble and honest work at the human level can—and should—be raised to the supernatural level, becoming a divine task.”
Live and work for God, with a spirit of love and service, with a priestly soul…Then all your actions will take on a genuine spiritual meaning.
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