Sermons for the Month
Carry the Cross and Find Inner Peace
DATE: September 1, 2002
SERVICE: 15th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Matthew 16:21-26“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN It just keeps coming back to me - a single phrase just keeps coming back to me. Here it is - Peter must have felt such a desolate, sinking feeling. That thought first came to me a few weeks ago when we read about Peter's choice to get out of the boat and walk on the water with Jesus. In that watershed moment he became overwhelmed by fear, sank and had to endure a firm but loving reprimand from Jesus concerning his lack of faith. That's when I first contemplated that Peter must have felt such a desolate, sinking feeling. I supposed he felt that way because he had disappointed the person who he most wanted to please - Jesus. We all know what that's like, I'm sure. We have experienced the guilt, the desperation and the utter need to hide that comes when we have said words that can't be retrieved, or hurt someone leaving a scar that can't be erased. We know those times when forgetting is a luxury. But, in that sermon on Peter's unforgettable step out of the boat onto the water, the Holy Spirit led me another direction and I did not address the desolation of Peter. And then I read today's Gospel lesson and it came back to me again. Peter must have felt such a desolate sinking feeling when he said what he thought was supportive and right, and Jesus called him Satan. Let's review the situation. Jesus had been asking his followers about public opinion concerning him, and Peter had boldly answered, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God," which is the same as saying that Jesus is the Messiah. Because Peter recognized who Jesus was, Jesus honored him by calling him the "rock" and noting that one day he will play a vital role in building the Christian church. However, Peter has a lot to learn before that day comes. That's why, after Peter's confession, Jesus admonishes his follower to tell no one that he is the Messiah. He does so because when Jesus says he is the Messiah he means something entirely different than what Peter and the other disciples mean when they refer to him as Messiah. For them, the Messiah is a warrior king. They believe the Messiah will lead them in a revolution that will sweep the Romans from their country. So, before Jesus will allow them to announce that he is the Messiah, they must learn what that means. And so, in today's Gospel lesson, Jesus begins to enlighten them. He tells them that he must go to Jerusalem where he will be arrested, tortured and killed. Peter, probably still reeling over the responsibilities that Jesus said would be his as a "rock" among Christians, cannot accept this prediction. The Greek in this portion of scripture is a bit difficult to translate, and I've read a number of scholarly descriptions of what was happening. The one I read this week really makes sense to me. It characterized the words of Peter as a rebuke. Perhaps Peter felt Jesus was having a bad day and needed to be reminded of who he was, the Messiah. While the rebuke was friendly, it was nevertheless a rebuke. (The same Greek word is used when Jesus rebuked the wind and sea (8:26) and a demon (27:28). Peter took charge and repudiates, in the strongest possible language, what Jesus had said. The response is quick and painful. Jesus turns to confront Peter face to face and says, "Get behind me Satan!" demanding that Peter move behind him spiritually as well as physically. You see, when Peter rebuked Jesus he was seeking to lead Jesus onto a different path. Just as, in the wilderness, Satan had tempted Jesus to take the easy way, Peter encourages Jesus to abandon the road to the cross. He is tempting Jesus to turn back from the path God has set before him. Can you imagine it? Robes and hair flying Jesus turns and says, "Get behind me, Satan!" Peter must have felt such a desolate, sinking feeling. He had once again disappointed Jesus, that's why he felt so terrible, isn't it? I ask that out loud as I wrote this sermon and was surprised to hear a "no." No? What then? And, why is this important, I wondered? It isn't even the main point of the Gospel, is it? And then it "occurred" to me that Peter felt such a desolate, sinking feeling because he had disappointed himself. He had once again fallen short in his attempts to follow Jesus and in a glimmer, in a moment, he knew it. He had misunderstood God's will. We know that desolate, sinking feeling of Peter, don't we? Oh, we may attempt to cover it up by being too busy with work or too overwhelmed by responsibility, or too preoccupied with people and play, or too foggy because of drink or food or whatever substance we use to camouflage our pain. Still, we have at times glimpsed the desolation of Peter. We too have fallen short of the thing we are called to do, which is to take up the cross, denying our own priorities to discover what God views as important. It is no wonder that we struggle because the way of the cross is the way of suffering and sacrifice. But, it is also the way of life. You see, the way of the cross is not punishment. As one commentator put it, "Jesus is not anti-our-life; he is anti-preoccupation-with-our-life." (Bruner) Jesus knows that if we live selfishly, life will backfire on us because we won't be able to get enough of anything to fill the empty place at the core of our being. And, the emptiness will continue until we find ourselves, to quote writer Richard Donovan, "forever in a place as Godless as the Godless place that we have forever lived." The promise of Jesus, though, is that if we live lives of devotion and service we will find purpose, satisfaction, joy - life that leads to more living. I believe there is, in all of us, an innate, Spirit-given sense of this truth. And we, like Peter, experience a desolate, sinking feeling when we have disappointed that God-given part of ourselves. Instead of ignoring that feeling, or covering it up, perhaps we need to pay attention to it as a reminder of what we are missing. None of us will carry the cross perfectly in this life, so we can be thankful that Jesus continues to lead, and to forgive, and to heal, and to offer unending second chances. And, we are blessed with a Christian community to support us as we walk the way of the cross. I like the story that Max Lucado tells about a monk and his apprentice who traveled from the abbey to a nearby village. The two parted at the city gates, agreeing to meet the next morning after completing their tasks. According to the plan, they met and began the long walk back to the abbey. The monk noticed that the younger man was unusually quiet. He asked him if anything was wrong. "What business is it of your?" came the terse response. Now the monk was sure that his brother was troubled, but he said nothing. The distance between to two began to increase. The apprentice walked slowly, as if to separate himself from his teacher. When the abbey came in sight, the monk stopped at the gate and waited for the student. "Tell me, my son, what troubles your soul?" The boy started to react again, but when he saw the warmth in his mater's eyes, he heart began to melt. "I have sinned greatly," he sobbed, "Last night I abandoned my vows. I am not worthy to enter the abbey at your side." The teacher put his arm around the student and said, "We will enter the abbey together. And we will enter the cathedral together. And together we will confess your sin. No one but God will know which of the two of us fell." It's easy to imagine, isn't it, the desolate sinking feeling that young man must have felt when he wandered off the path. He tried to cover it up with distance and anger, but the empty place in the core of his being had only gotten larger and his denial was to no avail. In the end it was the sacrificial support of his brother that made it possible to pick up the cross again. My friends, we know the desolate, sinking feeling of Peter that comes when we fail in our attempts to follow Jesus. Let's pay attention to that feeling, rather than covering it up. Let's support one another. Let's remember that living lives of service and devotion lead to more life, life that is worth living. AMEN