Fr. Albert
St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia
Maybe this sounds familiar: Three men died and went to heaven. When they got there, St. Peter met them at the gate. He said “tell me why you deserve to go to Heaven…” Those lines are the opening to hundreds of different jokes about dying and going to heaven. Some of them are clever, some are pretty funny, and some are just lame. Still, it’s interesting that people picked up on the idea of St. Peter being the one to open the gates. Of course, that’s not what actually happens when we die, but it shows us that there is something significant about what Jesus says to Peter and what he gives to him.
You can look up right now and see the keys of Peter emblazoned on the ceiling. Before the keys, however, he gives the name Peter. He was Simon, son of Jonah. Now, Peter sounds like a normal name to us, but at that time, it was literally the word for rock. You are Cephas and on this cephas I will build my Church. Yes, this statement, this whole scene is scriptural evidence for what we Catholics believe about the Pope. But, I don’t want to spend 30 minutes arguing for the Papacy. The meaning of this passage is pretty clear and you can easily find excellent explanations online. I recommend anything written or recorded by Dr. Brant Pitre or Dr. Scott Hahn on the subject.
Instead, ask yourself what Jesus means by the words “I will build my church.” What comes to mind when you hear “church?” A large building like this one? An organization that makes you feel guilty or tries to get your money? That thing you do on Sunday morning? For us, “Church” is a pretty common word and it could mean any of those things, but, in Scripture, it’s much richer than that.
The Greek word used is ek-klesia, which means an “assembly.” More literally, it could mean “to call out.” The idea is that the assembly, the gathering of God’s people happens when they are “called out” of their homes, “called out” to gather together and worship God. Abraham was “called out” of his native country. Israel was “called out” of Egypt. The Jews were “called out” from among the pagan nations. Called out and called to worship the True God.
Eventually, this literally required a special building, a place they were called to. That was the Jerusalem Temple. When Jesus says he will build his Church on a rock, the Apostles would immediately think of the rock in the Temple. That rock is still there in the “Dome of the Rock” in Jerusalem. It was the stone foundation, the base for the Ark of the Covenant and the single most important location in the entire Old Testament. God’s presence rested upon that rock and it was the focal point for the assembly of God’s people.
So, what? Does Jesus simply mean that Peter’s bones will one day be the foundation of some huge temple-like building? Not exactly, although his bones are underneath St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. Jesus came to free us sin, yes, but the goal was always so that we human beings could worship God “in spirit and in Truth.” In order to do that, however, we need to know the Truth about the God we worship. But to know that Truth, someone has to tell us the Truth.
At this very moment, you can watch television or go online and find completely opposite claims about just about anything. Conspiracy theories exist to question everything we think we know. News sources seem to be wholly committed to their own version and almost nothing adds up. It’s just as difficult to sort out the different religions and even Christians can’t keep their story straight. It’s hard to blame a person who just gives up and says, “we can’t really know the truth about anything.” In a world full of information, we have a very hard time knowing the Truth. Jesus Christ knew that. The Old Covenant had a literal place as the center of their assembly, their Church. In the New Covenant, Jesus wants truth to be the center. We are “called out” of error and darkness into the light of Truth. But which truth?
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus only names Simon “Peter” after he correctly recognizes who he is. Even more importantly, “flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” The ek-klesia, the assembly, the Church of the New Covenant is centered around the ability to correctly recognize and hold on to this Truth as it is revealed by God. If the Church cannot reliably tell us who Jesus Christ is, then it’s all a waste of time. Jesus is either God or he is not. He either gave us the Eucharist or he didn’t. He either forbid divorce and remarriage or he didn’t. And what’s at stake in these questions is literally our eternal fate, the truth leads to heaven, and falsehood leads to… well…
But that is the whole question. How can we, 2000 years removed from the historical events of Jesus’ live, possibly know for sure who he was and what he taught? “Upon this rock, I will build my Church – my assembly – and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail.” The Gates of the netherworld belong to Satan, the father of lies. The promise that he won’t prevail means that he won’t succeed in stealing away the Truth that was entrusted to the Church.
“I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” That is why there is some truth to Peter being at the gates of heaven, seeing who gets in. Getting into heaven ultimately boils down to this: do I accept the Truth about Jesus Christ – and live it – or not? And there is only one place to find that Truth: in the Catholic Church. If Jesus really wanted human beings to worship in Spirit and Truth, if he really wanted to give us a reliable way to find truth in a confused world, then it was necessary to give us some kind of guarantee, some kind of final verification.
And that is what we have in the Church and in the Pope. And it’s worked, despite the human failures along the way. Peter himself will get it wrong next week and he’ll even deny Christ before it’s all over. History has seen Popes who were liars, thieves, murderers, or just plain selfish. And yet, we’ve never lost our central teachings of who Jesus is and what he taught. After 2000 years, we can still tell you the name of every Pope that has come after Peter. We can still say with confidence “I believe in Jesus Christ” and know what that means. You are about to repeat the ancient formula of faith and teaching, the Nicene Creed.
I need… you need the Church to have a relationship with Jesus Christ because you need the Church to help you know who Jesus really is. Peter speaks for all the Apostles… he speaks for all of us when he says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”