Mark (8:27-30) and Luke (9:18-21) also refer to this episode of Jesus' journey to Caesarea Philippi, to the sources of the Jordan River, at the foot of Mount Hermon, where the Rift Valley begins, the longest and deepest on the planet where Homo sapiens first appeared.
The three synoptic evangelists agree in the matter of Peter's confession. We do not know whether his confession of faith in Jesus as more than a prophet, as the Messiah, was an individual conviction or whether he acted as a spokesman for the group. In both cases, he shows his leadership in the group.
The statement about the keys, however, along with the word Church, appears only in the Gospel of Matthew, and only once as shown above. This being a fact, the power of the keys is therefore questionable, and yet throughout history in the Catholic Church, it has been given an exaggerated importance.
Whoever has the keys to a temple has the power to open and close it, to open for those who want to enter and close for those who do not. It is the power to excommunicate, and to understa
nd that this excommunication, this condemnation, has equal value in heaven as it does on earth. It was the power of the keys that justified so many unjust excommunications and all the crimes of the Inquisition.
We can therefore agree with the Protestants and the Orthodox, as the other gospels do not mention it. However, the fact that Simon, son of John, the leader chosen by Jesus, who already exercises this leadership during Jesus’ lifetime and later in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, is undeniable: only the blind, the Protestants and the Orthodox who blinded by their ideology, do not see it.
Proof of this leadership during the time of Jesus is the fact that the sons of Zebedee, the other two members along with Peter of Jesus’ inner circle of apostles, wanted to provoke a coup d'état and usurp the power that Peter had when they shamelessly asked the Lord to sit one on his right and one on his left in the kingdom. If Peter did not have or exercise leadership, there would have been no need for this blatant coup d'état on the part of James and John (Mark 10:35-45).
In the listing of the apostles, the three synoptic gospels, (Mark 3:13-19, Matthew 10:1-4; Luke 6:12-16), agree in placing the name of Simon, whom the master nicknamed Peter, first. In this case even the Gospel of John joins the chorus of the Synoptics when in John (1:42), Andrew takes his brother Simon to Jesus, and Jesus gives Simon the new name Peter.
According to the Acts of the Apostles, after Jesus’ earthly departure, the one who kickstarts the Church with a great public speech is Peter, but later it is Peter who speaks for the group in the Sanhedrin, it is Peter who is first thrown into jail for proclaiming the good news, and it is Peter who miraculously escapes the tightly guarded prison. It is Peter who points out the need to choose someone to take the place of Judas Iscariot to complete the important number 12, and he also qualifies the choice, and finally it is Peter who at the Council of Jerusalem reconciles the two factions of Christianity, that of Paul to that of James, the brother of the Lord.
Scripture often speaks of the apostles in general. Of the twelve, some are named no more than when the list of the apostles is enumerated; others are named a couple of times. Without a doubt, the most emblematic figure of the twelve is Peter. In addition to being part of the twelve, he was also part of Jesus' inner circle, along with the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. He was the spokesman for the group and the leader consecrated by Christ Himself.
Public opinion poll
Jesus did not need to know what others thought of him for reasons of self-esteem or to see if he had to take his ministry in a different direction. The question was more rhetorical and preparatory to the more important one, which was: "But who do you say that I am?"
Faced with this personal question that Jesus addresses to each one of us, we cannot answer like Pilate, by hearsay; we must look for the answer within ourselves, this answer must be our own; we cannot live our entire life with the faith that our parents lent us at baptism.
Experience – Preaching – Faith – Experience: this is the process of faith that allows us to give a personal answer to the above question. Like the tonic that our neighbor took and was cured, everything begins with experience; the experience is not a secret that can be taken to the grave, because it produces such joy that we can only feel-good preaching it, spreading it, as if we had just won the lottery.
The experience in itself must lead to preaching, to proclamation, and this is nothing other than bearing witness to what God has done in us. In fact, the content of Christian preaching is nothing other than saying, "The Almighty has done great things for me," that is, telling how the Lord has saved us, just as the neighbor testifies about the tonic that healed her. Such a convincing proclamation generates faith in those who hear and witness it, and this faith leads us to take the tonic, that is, it leads us to taste, to experience Christ.
The question was not so much "Who do you say that I am" but rather "what experience do you have of Me, what do you conclude after seeing and hearing, eating and drinking, and living with me". Nobody gets drunk by saying the word “wine”, even if they say it thousands of times, but by drinking it.
Petrus simul justus et peccator
"Homo simul justus et peccator," as St. Augustine said, which also applies to Peter; Jesus did not choose Peter because he was a saint. We can see that he was not, and the apostles did not wash their dirty laundry at home, but chose to expose it, thus showing us the personality of the apostles, especially Peter’s, with his lights and shadows. Peter himself reminds Jesus that he is a sinner when he says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinner”.
Jesus chooses him not for what he was, but for what he could become with the help of God's grace. In fact, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah was not a deduction resulting from systematic thought, reflection or study, but rather from an intuition of the Holy Spirit, for it was not the flesh that revealed it to him, as Jesus himself later told Peter.
Peter was an impulsive and enthusiastic man, but also fearful and even cowardly. At one moment, he grabs the sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant to protect Jesus, and at another, out of cowardice denies knowing the Lord. At one moment, he says he would never leave Jesus and advises him not to go to Jerusalem, and at another, he is one of those who flees, and even later from Rome to escape persecution, as the "Quo vadis" tradition says. At one moment, he shows himself fearless in the storm – “tell me to come to you" – and then he gets scared and sinks, not because of the storm, but because of fear.
Rock & Roll, Peter & Paul
The Gospels – All four gospels mention Peter's prominent place among the group. Peter's town, Capernaum, and more specifically his own home, is the base from which Jesus comes and goes in his ministry. He was so close to Peter and his family that he even cured Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, the only miracle that was barely justified.
Group Spokesman: we have left everything, what reward will we get?... Let us make three tents here.... You are the Messiah.... To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life... Jesus often preaches from Peter’s boat; the miraculous catch of fish takes place in Peter's boat; the storm at sea happens in Peter's boat.
Paul’s Letters – the gospels were written after Peter's death and, for this reason, could be said to represent the ideology of the Church, not the will of Christ. Paul's letters were written during Peter's lifetime and therefore, relate the same. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul recounts his conversion saying that he went to Jerusalem and spent 15 days with Peter, and that he did not see any other apostles.
Paul corrects Peter in front of everyone for ceasing to enter the houses of the Gentiles and eating with them once he was among the Jews in Jerusalem. He openly criticizes Peter for this incongruous behavior, this hypocrisy, but he does not deny or stop respecting his authority. In fact, he tries to win Peter over to his group against those of James, the Lesser. If Luther had done as St. Paul did, who, despite their differences, respected Peter’s authority, the Church would not be divided today.
Like the wheel of a bicycle
Without a central figure to carry out the Petrine ministry (or Peter's ministry), there is no unity. The Church is like a bicycle wheel. All the spokes point and are connected to the center, and it is from there that they contribute so that the wheel stays strong. If one of the spokes breaks, the wheel starts to warp and zigzags.
In fact, outside the Catholic Church, both the Protestant and Orthodox churches are many, small and divided, because there is no unifying figure like Peter was for the twelve in the first Church and like Peter’s successor is for the Church throughout time and space.
Conclusion – One, large, universal, and free is the Catholic Church founded by Christ on the rock of Peter. Many, small, divided, and national are the Orthodox and Protestant churches founded by humans.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
No comments:
Post a Comment