On This Rock
This idea doesn’t hold water or align with other scripture. It doesn’t even make sense when you read this particular passage.
Here is the passage 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[c] the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter,[d] and on this rock[e] I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:13-19
Notice Peter is the only one to proclaim that Jesus as the Messiah, and then God gives him a new name Peter which means rock. And then he says on this rock I will build my church. (Fun fact-Peter was the First Catholic Pope- and the Catholic Church built a church on top of St. Peter’s bones. On this Rock, I will build my Church) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven (the symbol of the pope is keys). Whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This means that God gave the Pope the authority to create ‘laws’ for the people of God to follow, and the authority to remove laws that were a hindrance to the gospel.
Because Peter had this authority, God gave HIM (the man with the authority to give instructions) a vision in Acts 10. That vision removed the obligation to keep away from “unclean” foods. If God gave this vision to Joe Schmo, we wouldn’t have believed him because we would have thought it was just some random per person and their own beliefs. But when God gave the authority to Peter, he gave us permission to believe what Peter said and to do what he told us.
Without a single point of authority, the church would dissolve into a collection of individual interpretations with varying degrees of accuracy. That is how we came to have so many denominations today with totally opposite beliefs: abortion is ok vs abortion is wrong. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. There is objective truth, and Jesus desires for us to know it. He gave us a Church that with the responsibility and authority to deliver the truth- the Catholic Church.
‘Well, I don’t believe in the Catholic Church. I think they’re wrong.’ Consider this, after Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to the disciples. One of the things he told them was, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. John 20:23. Many people feel that if they simply confess their sins to God or to their friend that they will be forgiven. But I have a question for you: does your friend have the power, the authority, to not forgive your sins? Of course not. Could you imagine the disaster if your friends had the power to retain your sin? What if your friends disagreed on the status of your forgiveness, which friend would you listen to? You know who has the authority to forgive- the Catholic Church, in the Sacrament of Confession. If you show up and confess you are forgiven. If you don’t show up and confess you are not forgiven. It is an organized system that ensures everyone has uniform access to God’s forgiveness and equal accountability to verbally take responsibility for their sins. God is not a God of disorder but of peace. The same God who created the detailed instructions for Old Testament worship, has not left us to the chaos of what each denomination thinks is cool, and the arbitrary whims of a pastor or friends who might decide to make your forgiveness contingent on any number of ‘requirements.’ God left us the orderly worship and uniform access to forgiveness offered by the Catholic Church. How many churches claim that they can forgive your sins- not many, because even they know that they don’t have the authority. Yet the Catholic church proclaims this loud and proud, a bold move, because they know they got the authority. They got it from Jesus himself.
Ok, but the sex scandals and the corruption? Yes it’s horrible. It cannot be excused, and no one should try to excuse it. But the presence of bad men does not invalidate the truth at the core. Judas was a disciple, a bad man, in the ranks of Jesus. His presence didn’t invalidate the good of Jesus or his disciples. We live in a fallen world. The Church is a powerful player in human history. Some people are attracted to power for the wrong reasons, look at every government to ever exist. Yet we don’t stop believing in the necessity of government even though we know corruption is part of it. In spite of 2000 years of corruption and the best human efforts to destroy the Catholic Church, it still stands today. The gates of hell have not prevailed against it. It still stand as a light on a hill offering forgiveness and communion to the world. (Fun fact, the church built on Saint Peter’s bones, it sits on a hill, and is the seat of Catholicism. Crazy coincidence?!)
But communion? Don’t Catholics believe that it is actually blood, like not a symbol, but actual blood? Yes. Yes they do, and here is why. In John 6: 51-52 Jesus says “ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Ok, so if Jesus is speaking symbolically, this is the PERFECT time clarify. Jesus replies by doubling down : “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Again, the crowd struggles with this. Surely he must be speaking symbolically. 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Notice it’s the DISCIPLES saying that this is hard to accept. Surely, Jesus must be speaking symbolically. Now is the time to clarify. 61 “Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 …The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life.” Jesus doubled down AGAIN. 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Receiving Jesus’ body and blood in communion, is not a symbol. Jesus had repeated opportunities to clarify understanding, but there was nothing to clarify. There were some people who could not accept it, and they left. Jesus let them leave. Notice when Jesus asked the discipled if they wanted to leave too, it was Peter, the first pope, the rock on who Jesus built his Church, who replied. “ Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Jesus teaching was clear. Communion is designed to be his body and blood. Most churches do not teach or believe that their communion is Jesus’ body and blood. Don’t you think that’s odd especially because Jesus specifically says in verse 53: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” These churches, when they broke away from Catholicism in the 1500’s, lost the authority to change the bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood. When they lost the power, all they had left was a symbol. You know who never lost the power-Peter and the Church Christ established on him. Catholic priests still have the authority to change the bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood, and they do it every single day around the world in Mass, offering the real body and blood of Jesus to those who love him. We have often heard the phrase you are what you eat. If you consume lots of junk food, your body and health will reflect that. What if you consume Jesus, the real Jesus- His body and blood? The more you consume Jesus the more like him you will become, the more He can transform your heart to be like His own.
‘This can’t be real. The ancient Church met in houses and prayed and worshiped together. It was very informal and Spirit led.’ Yes, the ancient Church did meet together to pray and worship. They often met in houses or any place that offered them protection from persecution, persecution that they faced because the Romans believed that they were CANNIBALS. Surely, if the early church believed that communion was symbolic, they would have softened their language to avoid DYING. Nope. It was the real body and blood, and they died for it.
Surely, these were just a few fringe believers who deviated from the teachings of the apostles. Nope. John the Apostle, taught a man named Ignatius of Antioch. In a letter, Ignatius warns the believers in Smyrna to avoid those who hold incorrect views on the grace of Jesus Christ and to steer clear of individual who deny the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood in communion.” Again, Ignatius was taught by John the APOSTLE, the same John who was at the Last Supper with Jesus. You can’t get more ‘early Church’ than that. Those early Church meetings were organized Catholic Masses, where believers prayed together, worshiped together, and received communion.
Our God is a God of order, from the most microscopic levels of creation, to the book of Leviticus describing the proper way for the Israelites of worship. That same God who died for our salvation, made sure that we had an orderly way to know the truth and receive the life he wants to give us- the life he gives in baptism, and communion and restores in confession. That orderly method is the Catholic Church. Are you receiving the real body and blood or just a symbol? If it’s just a symbol do you think that’s what Jesus planned for you? Think about how much he grieves not being able to be close with you in communion?
‘But I’ve been saved so I’m good.’ Paul tells us in Phillipians 2:12, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Why would that be necessary if you were ‘saved’? It’s because we are on a journey of transformation towards heaven not a onetime declaration. Yes, the declaration is important, it starts the journey, but it doesn’t finish it. Each time we encounter the Lord in Confession and Communion we are transformed into a better image of his likeness.
This was a long post, but in no way comprehensive. If you have questions feel free to DM me. I used to be PROFOUNDLY anti-Catholic and kind of hateful about it. Any questions that you have, I probably had them myself, and if I didn’t I can find the answer for you.