Which is the 'rock' that Jesus wanted to build his church on?
June 29, 2025 Today we celebrate the feast of Peter and Paul, the two pillars of the early Church. T he Gospel passage tells us of Peter’s well-known confession that Jesus is truly the Messiah. T he general understanding of most Christians is that, because Peter acknowledged him as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus rewards (?) him by saying that he will build his community of disciples (i.e. the ecclesia or church) around him as the central rock and, moreover, that Peter will have the power to ‘loose and bind’ everything on earth. In this interpretation, doesn’t it look like Jesus is happy with Peter only because it helps him feel recognised - a recognition that he clearly was not getting from the Jewish establishment? And if this were true, why then does one find just a few verses later, in a continuation of the same story in Mathew’s Gospel, Jesus angrily telling Peter: “ Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, f...
