tyson:
I have heard many catholic apologists say that when Jesus was on the cross and gave His mother Mary to the beloved apostle John, Jesus was giving Mary to us as our mother. I have also seen televangelists say that when Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter that He was giving the keys to us and that it contrasts with Mary…so my question is this, whats the difference between Mary being our mother and the keys being given to Peter soley and not us…thanks
So they are saying that Peter represented all disciples when Christ
promised to give him the keys? (For Jesus said “I will give” them).
I never heard that before. Instead, I always heard Protestants say that when Christ says He would build His Church upon “this rock”, that it meant upon the “rock” of the faith of his followers in general. In fact, I even read that in a book by White, if I recall correctly.
Still, it doesn’t change the fact that He truly gave Peter the keys, just as He truly gave the care of His mother to John.
Protestants tend to think that everything Jesus or Paul says to someone is suposed to be applied to all Christians. Well, hopefully they will stop doing that, because Paul himself said that not all have the same gifts or calling (1 Cor 12). Not all are authoritative ministers, as Peter was, and as Paul was.
Jesus called only some of His disciples to be Apostles, and He only promised one of those Apostles the keys to the Kingdom. In another place, someone comes up to Him and asks to follow Him, but He says no. Further on, He calls another to follow Him. So it should be clear that what Jesus says to one does not automatically mean He says it to all. However, sometimes He does clarify this, and say that He means it for all (“And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch.” Mk 13:37)
Despite all this, there is indeed a sense in which we do receive at least one of the keys given to Peter.
The key is given to us in our baptism. When we become a member of the Church, the kingdom is opened to us. We remain in it by obedience of faith.
… for
no one at all can reach eternal life if he be not obedient, for the door was unlocked by the key of obedience, which had been fastened by the disobedience of Adam. I, then, being constrained by My infinite goodness, since I saw that man whom I so much loved, did not return to Me, his End, took
the keys of obedience and placed them in the hands of My sweet and amorous Word – the Truth – and He becoming the porter of that door, opened it, and no one can enter except by means of that door and that Porter. Wherefore He said in the Holy Gospel that ‘no one could come to Me, the Father, if not by Him.’ When He returned to Me, rising to Heaven from the conversation of men at the Ascension,
He left you this sweet key of obedience; for as you know He left His vicar, the Christ, on earth, whom you are all obliged to obey until death, and whoever is outside His obedience is in a state of damnation,
The Dialoge of St. Catherine of Siena, p. 116
catholicprimer.org/catherine/catherine_dialog.pdf
In other words, we receive the key when we receive Peter (the vicar of Christ) by becoming full members of the Church and practicing obedience in it.
Unfortunately, we can lose our key(s). We can sin and fall away. Thank God Christ gave Peter the keys and established His Church and commissioned it to minister to us! We can be restored to grace and be given the key of obedience again when we return to communion through the sacrament of reconciliation.
So we truly need the Church, which passes on the key of obedience to us - the key that opens heaven for us.
hurst
