An opinion

The Gospel reading from last Sunday (Mt 16:13-20) has always been a point of contention for many people.  It is a hard hitting statement of faith.  The story centers on the time when  Jesus asks the disciples "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 

The answers given are various and full of different opinions.  Much like the approach that people have today, Jesus is viewed as an opinion.  Some people believe he was a nice guy.  Others think He is a Prophet.  Some believe He was a fable. Some people believe He was a heretic.  To some He is The Truth the living Son of God.  In many ways Jesus is still looked upon as someone to have an opinion about.  But there are those who hold a very different belief, a belief which often the world has a hard time grasping.  Catholics believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  They also believe that the Catholic Church which this reading further touches upon was founded by Jesus Christ and was entrusted to Saint Peter in the Papal Office.  There are many people who have difficulty with this and it mainly boils down to misunderstanding what these scripture passages mean.  It is also one of the many reasons why there is so much division between Christians and even Catholics.  Today you still will hear all kinds of arguing on why the Catholic Church should ordain woman, change its teachings on sexuality, and allow divorce amongst other things.  What people often do not understand is that the Church proclaims that Jesus is Truth.  What this means to Catholics is that all the teachings that come from Jesus are true for all time periods.  As Catholics we believe that Jesus is the Eternal Truth unchanging and unchangeable.  This essentially means that because a particular opinion or world view is popular today that doesn't change what is fundamentally true.  In the eyes of the Catholic Faith Jesus' teachings are not opinions and I think that is where the most confusion about what the Catholic Faith is comes in.  This is why the Church cannot change its teachings because according to the premise of whose message they are proclaiming it is unchangeable.  So are the laws and traditions that Jesus established in His Church unchangeable.  It is no different than trying to change the name of a monkey.  The name or way of understanding what to call the monkey may evolve but the fundamental element of what the monkey is does not change.  And it can't be changed.  It is the same with the Church.