Down the Rabbit Hole

I really struggled at writing the sermon this week.  The Gospel reading was about Jesus asking "who do they say that I am?"  His disciples respond with several names and then Peter says, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God."  Jesus goes on to say, "upon this rock I will build my church" and then he says,  "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  It has always troubled me that Jesus gave so much authority to disciples whom he was still very clearly worried about.  These were men Jesus repeatedly said were lacking in the faith department. 

When I got home I mentioned my difficulty to Sherry and she said, "Why don't you talk about what Jesus means to you."  So I am.

The rabbit hole I am referring to is the whole apostolic succession thing and Peter as the first pope and the heated conversations on these topics that have erupted over the centuries.  I wish Jesus would just come back and tell us what he meant.  He could say, "No, I never said that!" Or, "This is what I was trying to get across and you guys have blown it all out of proportion."

I decided not to go down those two rabbit holes.  At least not today.

Peace,
Fr. Fred