Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Matthew 17:4
“And I tell you that you are Peter. On this rock I will build My church. The powers of hell will not be able to have power over My church. Matthew 16:18
I noted with interest the response Peter had to Jesus when Jesus was shown in glory to the apostles along with Moses and Elijah. The Hebrew tradition was often to memorialize great events when God had provided a great victory or miracle to the Israelites. They would stack stones or build an altar to keep the miracle in mind and in sight.
I am not blaming Peter- he was responding out of his cultural roots. He also was acting out of his human nature. It is part of us to want to put “movements” into a system to sustain them. We see this in the evolution of the Church. The early movement of Christianity gradually yielded to a system of theology, worship, governance and liturgical practices. It became a sustaining system.
I don’t blame the practice of trying to sustain a movement with governing and practice standards. Some guardrails are needed in any human movement. The problem becomes when we start to worship the system and lose sight of the movement. We work hard to protect a system, and loyalty goes to the system, not the reason the system was established.
Church denominations sprang up as a way to have some uniformity of theology, and as an attempt to guard orthodox beliefs. Good intentions to be sure. Yet, historically those denominations have sparred with one another, and at times, literally killed one another.
So, I try to be kind to impetuous Peter. He just did what we failed Jesus followers do in different ways. We turned a movement into a system that, while well-intentioned, is flawed.
Prayer: Lord, you know our frailty, and we trust that your Church will prevail and that the “gates of hell” will not overcome it, Amen
Reflections of a Counselor 