17 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.
18 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.
19 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."
For Catholics, the above verses from Mathew 16. are used to justify the authority of the Papacy and the legitimacy of Apostolic succession. On the surface this seems to be a logical conclusion. This is especially true if one is raised in the consensus tradition of Catholicism. A person so raised would not be predisposed to question the authoritative understanding of these verses. My problem is that even though I was certainly raised in the consensus Catholic tradition, I was prompted to question the unquestionable assumptions very early in my Catholic formation. These verses and the unquestioning assumptions they have generated are no exception.
I now think that Jesus is explaining to Peter and the other Apostles how reality works. Jesus is very matter of fact when giving them the keys to creating their own reality. What is conceived of in the earth plane shall be manifested from the heavenly plane--or the quantum reality. And those thoughts can be of a creating or destroying nature, binding or loosening, and they will manifest without judgement. We create our own personal and consensus reality.
Chapter sixteen opens up with the Apostles having misunderstood something Jesus said which is really important about this concept of creating reality and Jesus goes to some lengths to correct their thinking:
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came and, to test him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He said to them in reply, "(In the evening you say, 'Tomorrow will be fair, for the sky is red';
3 and, in the morning, 'Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to judge the appearance of the sky, but you cannot judge the signs of the times.)
4 An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away. (What Jesus is saying is that the consensus reality taught and reinforced by the Pharisees does not contain any other conceptional reality except the Old Testament with it's stories like that of Jonah. Individuals can find enlightenment, after great trials, but the reality manifested by the consensus culture keeps on keepin' on.)
5 In coming to the other side of the sea, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. (This is important to note, because the Apostles have left the consensus reality of the Pharisees and have come to the other side of reality--Jesus's reality. However, they have also brought their Pharisaical thinking with them.
6 Jesus said to them, "Look out, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Leaven is a catalyst in the creation of bread, just as authoritative teaching is a catalyst in the creation of consensus reality.)
7 They concluded among themselves, saying, "It is because we have brought no bread."
8 When Jesus became aware of this he said, "You of little faith, why do you conclude among yourselves that it is because you have no bread?
9 Do you not yet understand, and do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many wicker baskets you took up? (Jesus is reminding them that His reality transcends Pharisaical reality.)
10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
11 How do you not comprehend that I was not speaking to you about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Bingo!)
13 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
17 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.
This last statement of Peter's is really important because it indicates that Peter understands Jesus is teaching and manifesting something new about reality and how it should be thought of and that the old ideas are old ideas. In my scheme of things he sees that Jesus has come to save them from their old consensus reality and to form a new one. Jesus then goes on the give Peter the 'keys' to reality by essentially explaining how reality works. We get what we think and believe and that will manifest without judgment from heaven--the quantum reality.
No wonder in Jesus's conceiving of forming a new consensus reality (church) he placed such an emphasis on love and service to others and the sacrificing (transcending) of the need driven self aware ego. Jesus's consensus reality would be known by it's manifestations from love, by it's egalitarian acceptance of everyone, and by it's signs and wonders--it's ability to transcend the known rules of material reality. Authority was not predicated on genetic family line or intellectual accomplishment, both of which tend to maintain the status quo. In Jesus's new consensus reality authority is based first on selfless service to others and secondly on the mystical connections one had developed. This is why Jesus commented on Peter's understanding of His messiaship as having come not from flesh and blood--the material reality, but from the Heavenly Father--the creative quantum reality.
What's happening now in Catholicism is not a tug of war between competing political wings or theological ideologies. It is a tussle over the description of the consensus reality manifested by adherents of Catholicism. If it seems at times that we are engaged in the same conceptual battle Jesus was as to who is the 'leaven' of this consensus reality, it's because we are engaged in that same conceptual battle.
It would be novel if we actually tried to create the love based consensus reality Jesus taught and manifested. We might find it not only makes life fairer and more just, but it's also hugely efficient in meeting basic human needs---like feeding five thousand people by replicating loaves and fish from the quantum universe. The thing is, in Jesus's reality you don't get to play on that level in the Kingdom if your personal reality is that of a self centered jerk--and that too is a lesson brought to us by Peter.
I'll be writing more on this notion of the creative power of consensual reality tomorrow. Emotion is a big part of this idea, and fear, as a dominant emotion, creates a very polluted consensus reality. It creates a reality in which authority figures, usually self selected, are given (or just take) all the power of conceiving the consensus reality. It's very spiritually disempowering for the vast majority, something which is used and abused by too many authority figures. Just some food for thought, until tomorrow.
