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Matthew 16: 21–28
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your name. Amen.
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Seasoned consumers that we are, you and I have learned that we
can’t believe every ad we encounter. Maybe some weight
loss program promises you can eat everything you want – but will
still see the pounds melt away – if only you enroll in such and
such a program. Or an ad for freshly minted gold coins promises
they will be a hedge against inflation – at only a small cost to
you. Or maybe it’s some product that promises the
elimination of all your wrinkles – in ten minutes flat – if
only you buy this particular product. But most of us know
better. At least, we have learned better. Our experience
tells us we get out of an effort what we put into it. Our
experience tells us that we won’t get something for
nothing. Always, we have learned, there is a cost.
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But when it comes to Messiah and the Kingdom of God, Peter at least,
thinks these rules shouldn’t apply – not to Messiah, at
least. And hopefully, not to his followers. Messiah, he
thinks, will be all about strength and triumph – not weakness
and vulnerability. Messiah, he believes, is coming to conquer
and rule from the throne of David – not suffer and die on some
ignominious cross. In fact, Messiah, Peter believes, will usher
in a whole new era of peace and prosperity for the Children of
Israel – at no cost to those children themselves. So,
when Jesus begins to explain to his disciples all he will face in
Jerusalem – Peter can’t believe his ears.
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“Suffering and death, Lord? Death on a cross – for
you? No way, Lord! Say it isn’t
so!” Peter, you see, thinks Messiah should be all
about winning. And he, Peter, plans to win right alongside
him. So, he takes Jesus aside and begins to try to talk sense
into his friend’s head – sense as he sees things.
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Only Jesus fails to see Pete’s words as a friendly attempt at
all. He sees Peter’s words as a Satanic effort to pull him
off course. And he calls it as he sees it — “Get
behind me, Satan!” he barks at Peter. “For you
are setting your mind not on divine things but on human
things.” In an instant, you see, Peter, the solid rock on
which Jesus plans to build his Church, has just crumbled into a lesser
kind of stone – a stumbling block.
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What Peter can’t seem to fathom is that Jesus, the Son of God,
shares God’s essential nature. And God’s essential
nature is to give himself away for the sake of others. Not to
triumph in the ways of the world, but to give himself away for the sake
of others, especially for the least, the lowliest, and the
lost. And what Jesus is reminding his disciples of this morning
is that we, made in the very image of God, will have to learn his ways,
his lessons – rather than the world’s ways – if we want
to follow him as disciples.
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Of course, it’s not just Peter who has trouble understanding
this. For we too are more steeped in the ways of the world than
we know. In fact, our most basic impulse is to save
ourselves — at any cost. Never mind saving others;
it’s ourselves that we tend to think of first. In fact, left
to the devices and desires of our own hearts, we are
self–serving rather than giving ourselves to others.
We are self–centered rather than other–centered.
We are self–conscious instead of being concerned for others.
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So, Jesus, understanding how difficult this will be for us, puts the
question to us plainly this morning. What, he asks, will it profit
us to gain the whole world if we forfeit our lives, our true
lives? What an impossible question! Unanswerable –
until, I think, we’ve tried it both ways.
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That, anyway, was the way I was finally able to answer that question,
years ago. I’ve shared that story with many of you
before – how I was raised in the Episcopal Church and learned to
love its ways. But in college I fell away from church. And
then I married into a family that really questioned my faith. They
simply had been raised without it. But what I found –
eventually, at least – was that my life didn’t make sense
without it.
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What I learned was that the Kingdom of God was where I belonged – and
I was homesick for it. So, I began to listen to the voice deep
within that whispered — “This is the Way. This is the
Way you were always meant to follow, the Way back to your truest
self.” Then, finally, I was able to make that leap of
faith – and take that first single step towards home. Then,
finally, it didn’t matter that I seemed to be out of step with the
ways of the world around me. I was on the path back home – and
learning, every step of the way. So then, finally, I could give my
life away for others – without worrying that this made no sense to
people around me.
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In fact, in the end, the difficulties we encounter caring for others,
the compassion we learn – look to a self–centered world
like crosses we are carrying. But in the storehouse of heaven, we
know them to be our greatest treasure.
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Amen.
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