The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church by Hans Urs von Balthasar

Author:Hans Urs von Balthasar [von Balthasar, Hans Urs]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781586172282
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2007-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

c. Uniting and Vanishing

Before we turn to the practical questions connected with Peter’s duty, as a sinner, to represent the Church of the saints by his unifying office, we should at least take a brief look at another of the Twelve, whose express task is to link the two Realsymbols of the one Church of Christ. From the end of the second century, the tradition of the Church has held that the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, mentioned in the fourth Gospel, is the author of that Gospel and identical with the John “Son of Thunder” found in the Synoptics.96 He who, with his brother, was assertive and tempestuous, wanting to call fire from heaven on the Samaritans and aspiring to sit on the right and left of the Lord in the kingdom of God, has now retired into complete anonymity. The “thunder” transferred itself to the majesty of the Master’s voice, to his incisive and resounding pronouncements in disputation, but also to the utterly unsentimental sublimity of his words of love; and the voice of the Father, as it speaks to him, seems like thunder to the uncomprehending crowd. Thus he gave back to the Lord the name he had given him, and he gave his own name (as we have already seen) to Simon Peter, with whom he appears in close relationship in the Acts of the Apostles and whom he calls “Son of John”. Not only does he give Peter his name; he also gives him his prerogative of the “greater love”. So he allows what is personal to him to be taken up into the Church, which is why one cannot ask why Jesus, who loves John more, wants to be loved more by Peter.97 The fact that, deprived of his prerogative in favor of Peter, John nevertheless “remains” (and as such becomes a vexing puzzle for Peter) is not due to himself but to the Lord’s good pleasure. He “remains” and becomes anonymous and is even pushed into a corner by an ambitious Church leader, but he is not inactive; he will confront “Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first” and who drove the brethren “out of the Church” (3 Jn 9-10).

From the first chapter of the Gospel to the twentieth, and thence to the postscript of chapter 21, one can follow the unbroken symbolism that links the Beloved Disciple with Peter, the man in office. John’s presentation does not reflect merely sympathy and respect but deep down also something like maternal care not only toward the person (Peter had been dead for some time) but also toward the principle he represents. He outlines and brings into relief Peter’s office but also accompanies him in a human and loving way. Far from treating the limitations of Peter’s office (“What is that to you?”, Jn 21:21-23) with irony, he affirms it and elevates it (“Follow me. . .”, Jn 21:19-22). In his Gospel of love, John is a paradigm of “being in touch with the (Petrine) Church”.

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