More than anything, we need to know who Jesus is. Popular opinion will yield a variety of results. We hear that Jesus is:
- good man who helps others to get along
- a lower class revolutionary fighting Roman oppression
- a spiritual leader teaching one among many paths to God
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so we need the Father to draw us to the Son. Whoever the Father gives to Jesus will come to him and he won't reject any of us (cf. Joh. 6:37). This is the revelation which goes beyond what our eyes can see and our ears can hear. "God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." He wants us all to come to this knowledge and be saved (cf. Tim 2:4). In fact, using our human reasoning to solve this problem may seem natural but it is looking further than we need to look. After all, the "word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart" (cf. Rom 10:8).
This word that is so close to us yet somehow still comes to us through the living voice of the Church. It isn't so much that she passes on doctrine to her children. She presents to the world the sacramental incarnation of Christ Jesus so that the world might choose to respond in faith. We understand here why many Protestants insist the the rock upon which the Church is built is Peter's confession of faith and not Peter himself. It seems that if it is Peter himself then it becomes less personal for everyone else. This is not so. It becomes more personal since someone still speaks with the same authority and anointing with which Jesus speaks. We do not usually receive direct revelation of Christianity. It comes to us through others. How blessed are we that the Good Shepherd does not abandon us but leaves Peter and his successors to feed his sheep (cf. Joh. 21:17). The reality of the chair of Peter puts us in the closest proximity to the voice of Jesus speaking that we can be so that the Father may reveal the truth of that voice to us as well.
We are well provided for in this Church. The sacraments remind us that Jesus is not more distant or impersonal in the Church. He is more present within the Eucharist than in any other place.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
We are blessed to have shepherds like Pope Francis, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope John Paul II who have such genuine shepherd's hearts.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Let us rely on the shepherds that God appoints to watch us. If we do we will have nothing to fear even in the valley of death.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
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