Weakest Link

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." (Matthew 16:13-23) 

According to G.K. Chesterton, quoted by Bishop Robert Barron, “When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing his great society, he chose for his cornerstone neither the brilliant Paul not the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob, a coward – in a word, a man.  And upon this rock he has built his Church, and the gates of hell have not prevailed against it.  All the empires and kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men.  But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible.  For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.”   

Jesus acknowledged the weakness of others, such as Peter who he called in a moment of anger, “Get behind me Satan…You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  We humans are like Peter, and we who often behave like Satan (Father of Lies), must get behind Jesus thereby stop being an obstacle Jesus must get around or jump over. 

As Chesterton said, “No chain is stronger than its weakest link.”   We must remember that we “weak links” are strong enough to keep the chain from breaking provided we think as God does and keep the gates of hell closed by being closely allied with Christ helping us bolt the door.

Deacon David Pierce