Peter, the Rock?

ISN’T IT STRANGE that the Catholic Church has decided that Peter (Kefa) is the Rock or Cornerstone of the Catholic Church - never mind that Peter denied Yeshua three times in the hours before Yeshua was nailed to the stake?

Take a look:

Matthew 26:⁶⁹ Kefa was sitting outside in the courtyard when a servant girl came up to him. “You too were with Yeshua from the Galil,” she said. ⁷⁰ But he denied it in front of everyone — “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” ⁷¹ He went out onto the porch, and another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Yeshua of Natzeret.”

⁷² Again he denied it, swearing, “I don’t know the man!” ⁷³ After a little while, the bystanders approached Kefa and said, “You must be one of them — your accent gives you away.” ⁷⁴ This time he began to invoke a curse on himself as he swore, “I do not know the man!” — and immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Kefa remembered what Yeshua had said, “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times”; and he went outside and cried bitterly. (CJB)

But WE know who the TRUE “Rock” is!

Matthew 16:13. And when Y’shua came to the region of Caesarea of Philippi, he was asking his disciples and said, Concerning me, who do men say that I am, merely a son of a man? 14. And they said, “Some say Yochanan the Immerser, but others Eliyahu (Elijah). And others Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah), or one of the prophets. 15. He said to them, But who do you say that I am?

16. Shimon Keefa (Simon Peter) said, “You are the Mashiyach, the Son of the Living Elohim.” 17. Y’shua answered him and said, Blessed are you Shimon, the son of Yona, because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18. I say also to you that you are Keefa, and on this Keefa[*] I will build my assembly, and the gates of Sheol will not subdue it…. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE:

This is a wordplay between Keefa the man and what his nickname means. Y’shua uses Keefa’s name to reveal the significance of Keefa’s conclusion. Neither flesh nor blood (an individual) can reveal the “nature” of Mashiyach, except YHWH Himself by the Ruach haKodesh!

Using the literal meaning of Keefa’s name (rock), Y’shua brings together the understanding of the Tsur (Rock) of D’varim/Deut 32:18, 30, 31; Psalm 18:46; 61; 62; Isaiah 8:14; 17:10; 51:1-8. When Shimon Keefa says, “You are the Mashiyach, the Son of the Living Elohim” he confesses faith in Mashiyach, not the person only, but the Spirit of Mashiyach in Y’shua.

Y’shua’s reply provides Keefa the same reference that David and the Prophets had regarding YHWH’s Salvation, the Rock. However, this verse was twisted by Catholicism to first give Peter “authority,” then usurp Peter’s “authority” for its leader.