The Chair of Saint Peter

Today is the feast of "The Chair of St. Peter", by which is meant Peter's authority to form a church. I have felt for some time that this was a questionable move on Jesus' part. Why entrust, indeed allow, these followers to form this unmanageable, and in many cases unchristian structure? To preserve his teachings? The Buddha, who lived 500 years before Jesus, forbade his followers to choose a leader.("You have my teachings to enlighten you...") Indeed, the Buddha's teachings were not even written down for a hundred years after the Buddha's death, and they seem to be always attracting new followers.

But the Judaic tradition from which Christianity grew is a legal-minded culture. It is a hierarchy with a law for everything and anything. Indeed the main image of God in the first five books of the bible is one of law-giver, covenant-maker, and contract-enforcer. It would seem that the preachings of Jesus were against exactly that kind of institution which lends itself so easily to corruption, usury, hippocracy and misconduct. Why start up a "sequel" to all that? After all, Jesus says, "I am the way, I am the truth..." not "my church is the way, the truth.."

Not pretending to know Jesus' mind at the time----- maybe he just got carried away with the moment, Or maybe it wasn't enough to show he could survive a horrible death by crucifixion. He could also survive the interpretation and manipulation of his words by those who say they adore him.

And what about Peter (a.k.a. "Rock")? How must he have felt when it dawned on him that he could no longer be just a follower, but now a leader? The "Acts of the Apostles" chronicles the troubles, trials and missteps these church-builders went through. With each step getting farther away from the all-inclusive, all-loving teaching of Christ, and back to legislating, defining, punishing, and excluding.

I have known several people who have gone from being a follower to assuming a leadership position, in the business world, in academia, and in churches. (We peons call it "going over to the dark side.") It is not easy. But how quickly Peter's sucessors forgot what he wrote, quoted at today's mass:

"Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to your flock."

As we can see in the painting by Ford Maddox Ford, the "chair" of Peter is not a throne but a seat at the table of sacrifice, learning how to wash the feet of the "lowly."

"They must find it difficult...Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority." ---(Gerald Massey)