We are weak but He is Strong

It is hard to convince lifelong Protestants that Jesus might have established an actual Church, instead of a mystical body of believers.  One of the reasons that is cited against such a notion is the historical record of so many of the Church's leaders, and their tragic failings as leaders at all, let alone men worthy to be called "Pope." 

How can the Catholic Church be the True Church with an unbroken line of apostolic succession if throughout history, there were horrible men leading it?  How would God "bless" that type of institution that at best, seems to not be cultic, but at worst, was the author of murder, persecution, sexual immorality, greed, and whatever other sin one might wish to associate with those men.  Surely if it was, as they claim, the one true church, God would have protected the leaders from terrible sin so as to be a light unto the world that Jesus Christ indeed lives within this institution.

This is a valid argument, until one reads the Old Testament, and comes into contact with the nation of Israel.  We should not believe that the power of God is only as strong as it's weakest follower,  because the power and Truth of God exist apart from human weakness and sinfulness.  He is not confined to the weakness of the human race and he transcends time, space, death, and the power of Hell.

If I have read the Old Testament with even the slightest accurately, I find that God chose a sinful race of people to be his own.  He chose to work through their weakness to show his greatness.  Through their disobedience he remained faithful because he could not go against a promise that He swore to himself.  (Hebrews 7:13).

The cast of characters that make up the litany of chosen ones is long, and often, humiliating:

• Abraham disobeyed and fathered a child with his maid.  Yet he was still considered faithful
• Jacob stole his brothers birthright, knowingly, yet Israel's blessing was still bestowed on him
• Moses disobeyed in the Desert and was not allowed to enter into the Promise Land, yet he was still chosen to appear with Jesus at the Transfiguration.  And he still has the largest section of Praise for his Faith in the book of Hebrews. 
• The Israelites couldn't wait for Moses to come down from the Mountain with the Law, so they made a calf idol and began worshiping it, instead of the God that had been leading them by a cloud every single day since they left Egypt.
• They complained about the Manna; they complained about the land which was to become the Promise Land.  They longed for slavery again instead of this chosen journey with the Living God.
• The Lord used the prostitute, Rahab to protect his spies in the promised land, and used this sinful woman's line to actually bring about the line of Jesus. 
• David was a man after God's own heart.. yet he fell so deep into sin that he had a man killed in order to cover up an affair.
• Solomon was given the gift of Wisdom.  Yet though the benefactor of so much Godly wisdom, in the end this man's sexual desires for concubines ended up in the ultimate division of the Kingdom.
• Jesus surrounded himself with 12 men, why by all accounts were much better fishers of men than fishers of seafood.  Yet even those closest to him proved human.
• Peter denied him 3 times.  Thomas refused to believe that he had risen until he saw the nail marks on Jesus' hands.  The only ones referenced as being present at his very death were John, and his Mother, Mary.  Could the rest of the men have been there to watch their leader, friend, even proclaimed Messiah die?  Sure.  But they also could have been hiding in the upper room, terrified of their own demise.

I could go on.  I could find more.  I could find worse.  Yet the point that remains is this:  God's majesty, power, and above all, truth, does not lie with human behavior or sinfulness.  His Truth rests because he IS by very nature, complete Truth.  There is no darkness within him.

He chose a people to love, and to work through.  They failed him, they rejected him, they wanted to divorce him.  And yet they were still His people, and he was still their God.  He worked in spite of sin, in spite of unbelief, weakness, and the powers of Hell.

Whether or not one wants to submit to the idea that Jesus very clearly meant to establish One Church after his departure, 2,000 years of history support that claim.  Not to mention multiple new testament and supportive Old Testament verses.  It is only in the last 500 years that humanity decided that the Body of Christ was more mystical than physical, that Unity, as prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane, was only a narrowly based unity focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In today's modern world, many denominations are even questioning this Truth, so who is there to look to in times of doctrinal turmoil and disagreement? 

If we return to the original idea that despite sin, God can work through his people, and if we are at least open to the idea that Jesus may have, out of love for us, established a Church to lead his people into all Truth, the problem of human weakness within that Church becomes a non -issue.  He never claimed that the Church would be run perfectly, by perfect people (even the Pope goes to confession).  But he did promise that Hell would never overcome it. (Matt 16:18). 
The man first instituted as keeper of  the Keys denied him 3 times.  Yet he did not remove the Keys.  He instead forgave, and instructed him further in his leading.
"Feed my lambs,"
"Tend my sheep"
"Feed my sheep"
Someone had a specific job to do, even if he was a sinful man.

The Church has done wonderful things throughout history.  The first being their defense and protection of the actual faith.  They fought heresy, compiled the Bible, sent missionaries, protected the unborn, stood for justice, and protected Truth no matter how horrible the leader may have been.

I could list hundreds of men and women, who under the name of the Catholic Church spread the Gospel to the entire world.  They were faithful to the Church, and to Jesus.  Our world in a very large sense, knows about the man who was crucified, died, buried, and rose again, because of the faith and martyrdom of Catholic faithful. 

God has somehow chosen to work through our sinful bodies and reside his Temple, there.  (1 Cor 6:19).  He chose to descend his Spirit upon us through the saving power of Baptism (Titus 3:5,6),  He chose to sanctify us through the hearing of his Word (2 Tim. 3:16),  and the giving of his Body in the Eucharist (John 6).  And he has chosen to protect his Holy Bride, the Church, through the Magisterium (Matthew 16:18).

God is powerful enough to protect his Gospel from the wars of history and the evils of men.  He is powerful enough to keep his Bride free from stain, even when his members, are not.  He is merciful enough to lead us into the grace's of his Body, the Church, even when we didn't deserve it, or cannot understand it all.  And He is most importantly, powerful, loving, and strong enough to receive a united body, the Church, which he prayed for in John 17.  If we accept that Jesus was fully God, then we also must accept that his prayers were perfectly answered.  And if we accept this, we can no longer look at the divisions and multiple denominations of Christianity without sadness and feelings of loss.  We have divided it, not Him.  He meant for One Church, United, like He is to the Father.  And I have come to believe that this unity is only found, protected, and preached, in the Catholic Church.