Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Matthew 16: 13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“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,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

On July 19, 1970 I was baptized by the Trinity Lutheran Church in Harvard, Illinois. I began Lutheran instruction at the age of three and was confirmed at fourteen. I was a member of this church for twenty-eight years. Then, like Saint Paul I underwent a conversion experience. I wasn’t knocked off a nonexistent horse by a blinding light and my conversion took a little longer than three days. Through time God revealed to me his Church, the Catholic Church, the Church instituted in this reading. Through studying and comparing theologies I came to believe for myself the claims the Catholic Church makes as being true.

This reading is rich and profound in the statements it asserts. First Jesus affirms that he is the messiah, the Son of God, come to save mankind. This is revealed not through human understanding but directly from the Father. Then Jesus appoints Simon as the head of the Church he had just instituted. He is called the Rock, the foundation the rest of the Church will be built upon. Peter’s faith at this point is still sand and he will go on to fail the Lord on several occasions but by the time Jesus ascends to heaven Peter’s faith will become the rock on which the early Church survives.

We receive Jesus’ assurance that the Church he just instituted will never fail. He never said that we will not face trial. He never said we will not have controversy, corruption, or abuses. He said that his Church will never fail. Through time, no matter how bad, corrupt, or power hungry any of the Church leadership, including popes, have been not one teaching of Christ has ever been changed by the Church. Many have made and continue to make claims that the Catholic Church makes up stuff for Catholics to follow, some going as far as to call us the devil’s church. They have closed themselves off to God’s revelation by only accepting what is written in the bible. This is similar to trying to understand the American Revolution and the ideologies of the founding fathers by limiting yourself to the reading of the Constitution of the United States. Jesus didn’t come to write a book, he came to start a Church. In fact the only time in the bible where it said Jesus wrote anything he was scrawling in the dirty and no one ever looked at what he wrote. If Jesus wanted us to get our faith solely from a book he would have handed one to the Twelve before his ascension into heaven. If the Twelve wanted us to get our faith from a book that would have been the first thing they did after Jesus left them. Instead they set about converting Jews by word of mouth, oral tradition.

Lastly we see Jesus handing his authority over to the Twelve. Everything the Father has given to me I now give to you. Jesus had thousands of disciples. He didn’t hand his authority over to all of them. He only gave authority to the twelve he selected to lead his Church. When the Twelve needed help they passed their authority on to other chosen men. This is the basis of Apostolic Succession. No one can claim this authority for them self, despite the many who have tried. Just as I cannot come to your house and demand that you open the door in the name of the FBI I can’t demand something of you in the name of Jesus if I have not been given that authority by the organization that holds that authority to begin with. The authority of Jesus resides with the Church he gave it to. Others cannot claim it out of thin air. This ultimately was the final nail in the coffin of my conversion once I understood it. Do I want to be a member of the Church Jesus started, the Church he promised would never fail, or did I want to be a member of a church some man started because he believed the Church of Christ had failed? The church of men teach the opinion of men and not the teaching Christ handed down to his Church, through his disciples, to us, through Apostolic Succession.

First accept the teachings of the Church Jesus started, then seek to understand.