11/09/2023
Jesus Loves St Peter and all His Disciples
Saint Peter is the first Vicar of Christ according to Jesus:
John 1:41-42
Expanded Bible
41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and say to him, “We have found the Messiah.” (“Messiah” means “Christ.”) [C Both Hebrew Mashiach (Messiah) and Greek Christos (Christ) mean “Anointed One.”]
42 Then Andrew took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas.” (“Cephas” means “Peter.”) [C Both Aramaic Cephas and Greek Petros mean “rock.”]
Matthew 16:15-19
Expanded Bible
15 Then Jesus asked them, “·And [But] who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the ·Christ [Messiah], the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because ·no person taught you that [L flesh and blood did not reveal this to you]. [L But; Rather] My Father in heaven ·showed you who I am [revealed it]. 18 So I tell you, you are Peter [C the Greek petros, like the Aramaic cephas, means “rock” or “stone”]. On this rock I will build my church, and the ·power of death [L gates of Hades/the underworld] will not be able to ·defeat [overpower; conquer; prevail against] it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; ·the things [and whatever] you ·don’t allow [forbid; L bind] on earth will be ·the things that God does not allow [forbidden/L bound in heaven], and ·the things [whatever] you ·allow [permit; L loose] on earth will be ·the things that God allows [permitted/L loosed in heaven].”
John 21:15-17
Expanded Bible
Jesus Talks to Peter
15 When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “·Take care of [Tend; Shepherd] my sheep.”
17 A third time he said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter ·was hurt [grieved] because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” Peter said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”
He said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
THE TRIBE OF JUDAH AND THE PAPACY
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
Genesis 49:10
This is a prophecy believed by Christians to ultimately be fulfilled in Christ, the Messiah, who came from the Tribe of Judah.
But it also illustrates a powerful argument for Catholic claims about the papacy. Here’s why.
When Jesus chose twelve Apostles, He did so for an obvious reason: in imitation of the twelve tribes of Israel. In establishing His Church, Christ was establishing the New Israel in which Jew and Gentile were equal in the Messiah. This was by no means a “replacement” of the old Israel, but rather an expansion of it to incorporate all the nations of the earth alongside the Jews. These Apostles would themselves have successors who, as Christ said, would it on “twelve thrones” and judge the tribes of Israel. “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed.” (Apoc. 20:4)
In a similar fashion, the twelve tribes of Israel were themselves traceable to the twelve individual sons of Jacob. Genesis 49 is the chapter in which Jacob bestowed his blessing (or in the case of some of them, more like prophetic omens) on each of his sons, who then become the patriarchs of each of the twelve tribes.
Jacob’s prophecy about the Messiah is given as a blessing over his son Judah. Judah would go on to be the tribe that would occupy Jerusalem, and be the seat of the Davidic dynasty, which was likewise promised by God to be the seed of the Messiah. In becoming the seat of both Israel’s king and the Temple, Judah became the head tribe of Israel. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,” as Jacob had said. The legitimate kings of Israel could only be of David’s line, and thus of the tribe of Judah. When the ten northern tribes broke off, they broke their “communion” with Judah and Jerusalem. They had understandable reasons for doing so. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, was tyrannical. And yet, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,” and the kings of Judah remained the beneficiaries of God’s covenant with David, and before him (through Jacob) with Judah. The very first thing Jeroboam—the leader of this secession—did, was to establish a new “temple” with a new priesthood in his own territories, apart from Jerusalem and Judah. Union with Judah was the touchstone of remaining within the boundaries of Israel. The remnant of faithful Israelites among the ten northern tribes were defined in the same way—they remained loyal to Judah, the Temple in Jerusalem, and by extension the God who had established right worship of Himself there.
Why do I mention all of this? Because the entire history of Israel, right up to the birth of Jesus from the line of Jesse of the tribe of Judah was an outworking, a fulfillment of Jacob’s prophecy delivered to a SINGLE MAN, namely Judah. All those promises were ultimately encapsulated in a single prophecy and blessing given to a single man, Jacob’s oldest son.
Now go back to the Apostles. Jesus made promises to the Apostles as a whole. But He also made promises to one Apostle in particular: Peter. He gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He declared that whatever he [Peter] bound and loosed on earth would be bound and loosed in heaven. He put him in charge of His entire flock at the end of St. John’s Gospel. And He prayed that though Satan would uniquely target Peter, that Peter’s faith would not fail.
All of these prophetic blessings upon Peter, in accord with the biblical pattern—not just with Judah, but many other figures—have been fulfilled in history in the institution of the papacy, the “tribe of Judah” of the Catholic Church with which all other tribes of the New Israel must likewise be in communion if they desire to be part of the one and only Israel. The promises to one man became the promises to his successors, as occured with Judah. The covenant with one man became the covenant with his successors, as occured with Judah. As one son of Jacob, and thereby his tribe, was chosen to possess greater authority and prestige as the head of the people of Israel, so Christ, in establishing the new “twelve tribes of Israel,” chose one man, and thereby his successors, to posssess greater authority and prestige as the head of the new people of Israel.
These promises of Christ have been fulfilled in the Catholic Church. This is why we have the names of every single successor of Peter in Rome, from Francis in 2023, back to St. Peter himself in the AD 60’s—the longest existing office in the history of mankind—and why in every century, virtually all the greatest saints, fathers, and doctors of the Church have expressed their belief in this institution of God.
The words of Christ to Peter have not remained mere words. They have had their effect in history up to the present day. Through countless trials and tribulations; through worthy and unworthy successors; through various usurpations and even schisms; through endless tumults and attacks from without and within, Christ’s words have produced something never before witnessed in humanity’s history. The chair of Peter has remained, and has never been moved. It remains the center of the Catholic Church as it has been for 2,000 years. It remains the touchstone of Christian union. It remains the New Judah of the New Israel.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)
