The readings for this Sunday can be found here.
Good morning - how are you? It’s been a week. We reached 80,000 deaths from COVID in our country. And we witnessed devastation along the Louisiana and Texas border from Hurricane Laura. There was the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Over the last two weeks, politicians have explained how their political party will save us. Meanwhile, our lives continue. This week I met exhausted teachers, cancer fighters, and those mourning. It’s been more than a week; it’s been a year.
Enter scripture. What meaning or understanding will it bring to our lives?
I will admit my bias. I don’t think the lectionary, the calendar of our Sunday readings, helps our understanding. Scripture is often broken into smaller pieces or out of context. Sometimes, the parts are spread so far apart, they lose their meaning. For example, we began reading Romans June 14th; and we started with Chapter 8. How many of us remember the sermon from June 14th? And who starts a book in the middle? This is not the most helpful way to read (or study) Romans or any Scripture. Yes, the Sunday readings ensure that we are hearing and reading Scripture. To know, in our hearts and minds, how the Scriptures guide us, we must study them.
Consider today’s readings. All summer long we have bounced around in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Lectionary wants to link the Hebrew Scriptures with the Gospel. There could, though, be a great benefit to reading Jeremiah from beginning to end. Then, there’s the Gospel reading. Matthew, the Gospel writer, puts last week’s and this week’s text back to back on purpose.
He is telling a story about Peter and Jesus. He is also telling a story about discipleship. I cannot encourage you enough: take some time and read all of Matthew’s Gospel at once. Take some time and highlight all the moments Peter and Jesus share. What do these moments teach us about discipleship? How are they part of a larger story of Jesus’ ministry and our ministry?
Let’s put last week and this week back together.
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a man who did such wonderful things and said such amazing things that people followed him wherever he went. Peter was one of them; indeed, he was one of Jesus’ closest friends.
One time, while they were on their way, Jesus asked his friends, “Who do people say that I am?” They had many answers. Then Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” Peter replied. Indeed, this is exactly who Jesus is. And because Peter knew Jesus and claimed Jesus rightly, Jesus named him “The Rock.” Jesus set Peter free to minister in His name. And the disciples continued on their way.
As they traveled, Jesus began to teach them about the Messiah, about his life. He told them they would go to Jerusalem and there he would be arrested. His arrest would lead to his trial where he would be beaten and sentenced to death. Then, three days after his death, Jesus told them, there would be resurrection. As Peter listened, he wondered how any of this could be true. It felt like Jesus had already given up, like he had already decided to die. He cried out, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But Jesus said, “Your way is not my way. My way is God’s way. You follow your own desires and becoming a stumbling block. Put your mind on God. Be the rock God made you to be.”
Jesus said many other things to the disciples that day. Later, when Peter told the story, he remembered: the journey to Jerusalem, the cross, and the resurrection. He remembered how Jesus taught them God’s ways. He remembered how he, and all those who followed Jesus, were transformed.
I wonder.
I wonder how does Peter know who Jesus is?
I wonder why Peter cries out against Jesus?
I wonder what are Peter’s ways; what are human ways?
How do these ways, our ways, conflict with God’s ways?
This is when I urge us to put the whole Gospel back together. Sure, we can wonder about the Gospel in short vignettes. And, our wonderings are informed by all that we know about Jesus, God’s kin_dom, and Peter’s discipleship.
From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus reveals God’s ways. Frankly, Matthew sets the tone in the very beginning. For example, Matthew links the genealogy of Jesus with the visit from wise men. This is the first hint how Matthew will portray God’s ways Matthew links sacred genealogy and history with the tribes of the world. God’s kin_dom is more than what Matthew’s people expect; God’s ways reach beyond their tribes to all the nations. And when Jesus begins his ministry and to teach, the ways of God are made clear: the sick are healed, the poor are blessed, and the people are the light of God to the world.
Imagine a world shaped by the ways of God. Imagine a world where healing the sick was our way. Imagine a world where blessing the poor was our way. Imagine a world where each one of us shined the light of God through our lives into the world.
Last week, when Jesus set Peter free for ministry, this is exactly what He imagined: that Peter would depend on God’s ways more than his own. Faith had already revealed to Peter who Jesus is. Now, that faith will lead Peter as he follows Christ and shares Christ’s ministry with the world. Except, Peter gets in his own way. His faith brings him to the Living God. Now, his faith must grow and bring him closer to the ways of the Living God. For Peter to be truly free, he must continue to bind himself to Christ. This means every step to Jerusalem, the cross, and the empty tomb will transform him.
Every step will transform us. We have all we need to follow Christ’s way in the world. And we are our own stumbling blocks. Even those of us with deep, abiding faith, trip ourselves up. Maybe it’s my selfishness. Maybe I’m more committed to my own health and well-being than my neighbors. Maybe I’m bound to systems, institutions, or political parties, and I lose faith in Christ’s ways. Christ turns to us and says: your ways are not my ways; Put your mind on God; be the rock God made you to be. Again and again, we must commit ourselves to God, who is alive in all of creation. Again and again, we must die to our ways and live by the ways of Christ. We must be transformed by the ministry of Christ “to discern the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12; from last week’s readings).
May we commit ourselves to widening our view and caring for our neighbor. May we put our whole faith in God’s ways: liberating ourselves from institutions and systems that enslave us and trusting Christ to save us. May the Spirit empower us and bind us to Christ’s grace, mercy, and love in every step we take.
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