What a place! At one time, the center of the Universe………
Around 100 AD, almost 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of the world’s population……..
Covering 5 million square kilometers
My wife and I visited for the second time last week
The highlight of the trip was free……..St Peter’s Basilica…Bernini’s masterpiece….the pride of Roman Catholicism!
2 Football Fields in Length, Home of Michelangelo’s famous “The Pieta”
The center bronze altar inside the Dome where only the Pope gives mass is 7 stories tall…
and underneath, the bones of Peter, a rough, big mouthed, cocky fishermen, practically worshipped as a god.
A Beautiful Bronze Statue of Peter sitting to the right of the altar with a Shiny Toe……..
rubbed by millions of the Faithful for blessings and good luck
(I actually saw a little old lady rub it before she went to Mass)
Sorta like I rub the dice at the Craps Table in Vegas!!
And then, there is the rusty iron chains of Peter in a glass and gold case on a altar in a church near the Coliseum
and the massive statute of Peter in the Square and the huge structure where he was crucifed upside down……
Although some Bible scholars claim Peter never made it to Rome…… let alone died there!
So………what does all this mean????????????
And are the Romans the only folks that play this game?
A friend of mine calls these tactics……”pulling the little “g” out of your pocket!!
So what is this little “g”?
Its a substitute for the Big G!!!
Its Works Religion!
and……..the Protestants do it just as much as the Catholics…..they might be a little more subtle!
I am reminded of Galations 6: 3
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
I will never forget the night I asked the Greek Scholar, Spiros Zodiates, what this meant….
In his broken English……he said, “Keth, Paul is using past, present and future.
He is saying……..You have always been Nothing, you are in the current process of being Nothing,
And you will continue to be Nothing…..
Outside of Jesus Christ!”
Isn’t that great news???
And it appears…..that the rough, big mouthed, cocky fishermen, practically worshipped as a god”, got it!
When he wrote in 1 Peter 5:5
“Clothe yourselves, all of you,
with humility toward one another,
for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”
He learned that one the hard way!
So stuff that little “g” back in your pocket
And the Big G might just give you that same Grace he gave his Servant and Apostle.