I Will Build My Church

Matthew 16:18-19

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

A church is an assembly of people.  Christ’s church is the assembly of people who believe in Him and choose to follow and serve Him.  The building of this Church is the assembling of the people – and just as any building needs a strong foundation in order to be structurally sound and secure, this assembling of people also needs a foundation, and the foundation is faith.  It is true faith in Christ that makes a person a member of Christ’s church – a willingness to surrender to God, a trust in God’s love, and a giving over of oneself to God’s Holy Will.  Love… if we love as Christ loves us, then we are gathered together by the Holy Spirit within His church.  Love and mercy are the keys to the Kingdom against which hate and destruction will never prevail.

 

Jesus’s disciple Simon, the fisherman, was an ordinary man who recognized Jesus as the Christ.  He knew his own unworthiness, but was eager to follow Jesus anywhere.  He knew that life everlasting was not to be found elsewhere, but only through Christ Jesus.  And he spoke up about it.  He was not reticent.  And when he realized that he did the one thing that he said he would never do, deny Christ, he was painfully and sorrowfully repentant – but he did not lose faith, he did not lose trust in Christ’s mercy, in divine love.  Jesus knew this man, Simon, loved him truly and He gave him a new name: Peter, which means rock.  For if you’re going to build something, what better foundation than one of rock – and knowing the true depth of who Simon was, Jesus saw in him this rock that was needed, He saw Peter.  In naming Simon Peter He promised that the forces of hell would not overtake His followers.  In naming Simon Peter He gave to him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven: merciful love – to speak up forthrightly about what is truly hurtful to humankind and to compassionately release human beings from those painful chains through the Sacred Mysteries of Christ.  Simon Peter is the model of how Christ’s church is to stand.  And through the centuries, the assembling of Christ’s people, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has found structural strength and integrity through the continuing role of Peter by those who faithfully sit in his chair.

Christ is the bedrock.  He took Simon and made him into rock, into Peter, to become the secure, earthly base from which all those who believe in Christ freely rise to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Let none of us lose faith in salvation; let none of us lose faith in divine love; let none of us lose trust in Christ; and may all of us who love Christ practice wisdom and compassion and build up the assembling of His people.

Christina Chase