8/30/20

Sermon Notes:

Last week we read the first part of the story (Matthew 16:13-20): Simon declares Jesus the son of God and Jesus in turn gives him a new name: Peter, the Rock.

Peter must have been very brave and very passionate to step up and call Jesus the Messiah. To call someone Messiah could get you hurt, or even killed.

Remember the story of King Herod killing all the male children when he heard the promised one had been born somewhere in a manger far away? That is how dangerous it was to be the Messiah – powerful people would want the Messiah dead, and they would not mind slaughtering innocents to be sure of it. 

When Jesus begins to talk to Peter about this, about the dangers ahead, about his upcoming death, Peter rejects it. Not his Messiah! Not Jesus!

That is where we will pick up the story on Sunday with verses 21-28. Peter takes Jesus aside and tells him these terrible things cannot come to pass. In an instant, Peter goes from being called the cornerstone to the stumbling block, from Peter the Rock to Satan himself. 

Poor Peter. He must have been so shocked. Shocked to hear what Jesus had to say about his suffering, and shocked to be called Satan. On the other hand, we know Peter and Jesus remained close. Jesus even went to so far as to prepare Peter for other things he would do and say that would be wrong, like denying he even knew Jesus. 

It was as if Jesus was seeing the work of Satan in Peter, but still viewing Peter himself with eyes of mercy and grace. And he still had a plan for Peter to be part of the plan for salvation and goodness, as much as Peter messed up, missed the point, and ran from difficulty.

May God grant us, too, in these hard times, Jesus’ eyes of mercy, that we may see where we or others have done wrong but are still God’s beloved children. It is not an easy prayer, nor is it easy to believe that through the bad behaviors of ourselves and others God might yet work some victorious goodness over the evil powers of ignorance, greed, violence, and fear.

But this is our Christian faith, the faith to confess that God, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the love of the Holy Spirit, is already victorious.

See you Sunday, Friends. 

Peace of Christ to you, 

Jane