I find it remarkable that Jesus founded his Church on a person, Peter. He did not say, ‘I will build my church on this faith.’ What he said was, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.” Since Peter means ‘rock’, “this rock” means Peter. Was it not too risky to entrust all authority to a person? And this person, Simon Peter, was not even properly educated. Why did not Jesus write his revelation in a book and hand it to his disciples, saying, ‘I will build my Church on this manual of faith. This book will guarantee the authenticity of my church’? Would not it have resolved so many future troubles? It could have prevented heresies and schisms. It could have protected the Church from skepticism and atheism. It could have provided many practical answers to moral issues. But Jesus did not choose to write a revelation or a constitution. Why did he take so much risk?
I believe that Jesus established his Church on a person, Peter, because his gospel, his faith, and his Church must be alive in a person’s heart. This is the fulfillment of what the prophet Jeremiah had already foretold, “this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
The Christian calling is radically different from all other invitations. We can join many institutions but can also leave them. On the other hand, once you are baptized, you bear the indelible mark of baptism forever. We become a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. And we carry Christ’s New Covenant in our heart.
When Jesus told Peter to be the foundation of his Church, Jesus was not saying an impressive metaphor. Jesus was commanding Peter to give his whole being as the foundation of his Church. And his command became true – Peter is lying now under the bottom of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Truly, St Peter became the bedrock of the whole Church.
