Where Peter is

Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

In a popular caricature of first encounters with an alien race, the spokesperson of the extraterrestrials would usually make this request to the first contingent of humans they meet, a request that simply wishes to cut through all the bureaucratic red-tape: “Take me to your leader.” It’s ludicrous and even comedic because any human being can tell you that there is no single individual or body which can claim to be the sole leader of the entire human race. For us Catholics, however, the Pope comes close to being this.

“Ubi Petrus Ibi Ecclesia,” “Where Peter is, there is the Church”, is the famous quote from St Ambrose of Milan. This statement makes an important claim; in fact, an undeniably outrageous claim. It is saying “without the papacy, there is no Church.” Though many would contest and reject the veracity of this claim from without and even within the Church, popular culture has accorded him a special role, a caricature at best. One such popular image is that St Peter stands as a sort of gatekeeper (“or perhaps, even a goal keeper), guarding the Pearly Gates, the entrance to the heavenly realm – a seemingly ignoble job. Though hardly accurate, the image is derived from the gospel passage we just heard today, where our Lord bestows special prerogatives on Peter.

First, St Peter is given a new name, which in Scripture denotes a change in status or position. Our Lord spoke Aramaic and would have given Simon the Aramaic name Kepha (Rock) which is “Petra” in Greek and “Peter” in English. The Greek “petra” is feminine so the masculine “Petros” was adopted. If “Petra” refers to a rock, “petros” can refer to a little pebble. This has often been the contention of Protestants who see this title not as something honourable but a subtle insult, a diminuent of his status. Protestants argue that Christ is the only foundation (1 Cor 3:11) and to claim otherwise would be blasphemy. There is, however, no distinction in Aramaic, between Kepha the “Rock” and Kepha, the Apostle Peter, upon which Jesus would build his Church. Peter is Kepha, He is the rock. In fact, Syriac Christians, who continue to use Aramaic in their scriptures and liturgy, also claim that Jesus, the Rock of Salvation, conferred his own name and title on Peter. This must simply be the greatest honour accorded to any man.

Having been conferred a new title and name, St Peter is also given the metaphorical keys by Christ. We see the tradition of conferral of keys as symbolising the conferral of authority in the first reading. The significance of this passage in Isaiah is made clear in the gospel. As Jesus, the new King of Israel, re-establishes the Davidic throne He appoints Peter to the office of royal steward to rule “over the house” of His kingdom. As the steward of Christ’s kingdom, Peter is given the authority to bind and loose. These are keys not of any earthly palace but of heaven itself, which is another way of saying that the issue is linked to salvation. Of course, this entails more than the simpleton’s job of opening heaven’s door to the faithful. The keys were understood to represent legislative and judicial powers. These powers, Christ now transfers here to Peter. To say that St Peter has the key means he can declare certain things to be lawful and others unlawful; to prohibit or to permit, to excommunicate and lift the excommunication (as we had seen recently), to teach and to govern with the authority of Christ. In all this, he acts with the authority and power of Christ!

But the authority of the King, officially conferred here on his steward, does not end with the death of the steward. Our Lord would not have missed filling up this gaping loophole. The office of a royal steward was a hereditary position. Familiar with their history, the Jews certainly understood that the office of Peter would be filled by successors as was the royal steward’s office in Judah. The steward may die, but the office continues. In the case of the popes, they have received the keys through apostolic succession, one of the four defining marks of the Church. That is why the keys remain a prominent symbol in the coat of arms of every Pope.

The authority and the power of the Petrine Office, that is the office of St Peter in Christ’s kingdom, which is now handed down to his successors, the popes, is not just a point of contention with the Protestants who clearly reject it but has also become a scandal of sorts for Catholics. Irony has it that the rock, the foundation of our Church, has in fact become a stumbling block to critics, dissenters and persons who often treat their personal opinions as dogmas. In a world that prizes democracy, individualism, and personal autonomy, the Catholic teaching on the papacy often strikes many as outdated and dictatorial. Why should one man in Rome hold such authority over the universal Church? A belief popularly held by many is that no one individual should have unfettered powers of decision.

To the objectors who argue that this reading of scripture and tradition makes the Pope a dictator, we only have to look at the Second Reading from St Paul’s letter to the Romans: “How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods!” It would be pure hubris on our part to believe that we are wiser than God in such matters. Ultimately, in rejecting the authority of Peter and that of the Popes, one inadvertently but necessarily rejects the testimony of Scripture and in doing so we reject the authority of Christ; because Peter is his choice. Throughout Scriptures, we see God’s choices of leadership often been called into question because these do not conform to our own criteria of suitability for a candidate. In fact, God often chooses the least likely to succeed – the youngest or the oldest, the frailest, the most insignificant, the candidate most likely to fail. The papacy, similarly, is part of God’s mysterious plan, not human politics. Throughout history, popes have been sinners like us—some great saints, others (mostly) flawed. The choice of God often highlights his absolute sovereignty and gratuitousness, rather than a decision based on the extraordinary qualities of the candidate.

Let us not forget that it is Christ who builds the Church and not Peter. And therefore, the primacy of Peter is a primacy willed by God and not created by men, even though we are quite capable of choosing the wrong candidate.

If you have any confusion in your mind where that Church is, when faced with all those conflicting voices that inevitably always sound sincere and credible when claiming to speak the Truth, our Lord assures us, “I give you a marker, a beacon – look for Peter.” Peter will be a point of stability, a guarantee and an assurance that the Church will not be fazed even when everything shifts. In a market place filled with various ideological options and a countless multitude of opinions, where the search for certainty and stability is often frustrated, the Papacy provides us with clear direction. Where do I find the fullness of the Lord? Where do I find His Mystical Body, and not just a body that I have constructed? Then we only need go back his words, “On this rock, I will build my church.” “Where Peter is there is the Church.” Of course, the Holy Father remains utterly human, he sins as you and I sin. He may have opinions as we do. But when he teaches in his office as Pope, we can have confidence that Christ speaks definitively through him. He is indeed a gift from God, a sign of hope. In a fragmented world, this points to the one Lord, one faith, one baptism. May the Church, founded on this rock, shine as a beacon of truth and charity.