Matthew16 v 21 -28; Jeremiah 15 v 15-21; Psalms 26 v 1-8; Romans 12 v 19-end
Things can change – or appear to change – very rapidly sometimes. We have seen that throughout the World in the last few months.
Last week we were hearing in the previous few verses of Matthew 16 about Peter the Rock. The man who recognised Jesus for who he was and who Jesus had such confidence in that he declared him to be the rock on which he would build his church. Jesus had asked Peter the question, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter had answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”. He had said the right thing then.
This week the same Gospel passage continues with Jesus telling his disciples about what will happen to him when they get to Jerusalem. How he will undergo great suffering, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
In these few very important verses Jesus explained to them the reason for his earthly ministry, God’s plan for the salvation of humankind and that He had come to suffer, to die and be raised again for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of the whole world!
Peter was having none of this. He simply could not understand what Jesus was saying. He loved Jesus and had given up everything for Jesus and now Hewas saying that it was all coming to an end and that he would die and – come on – be raised from the dead. Really? Perhaps Peter had expected something rather different from Jesus in his earthly role and did not understand that what Jesus was saying was the essence and most vital reason for him coming to earth.
But Jesus knew Who He was and why He had come! Jesus saw Peter, the rock, seemingly standing in his way. Jesus was human as well as being divine and he must have been frustrated that Peter had not understood what he was saying. More than that,perhaps he thought that the devil really was trying to eat into the heart of Peter, to try to erode the rock. So, he seems to have lashed out at Peter. Not what we expect of Jesus really.
But I think we can assume that Jesus was perhaps foreseeing the problems the church would have and the hand of the devil, who it is terribly unfashionable to talk about, trying to mount an early attack on that very rock that Jesus would build his church on. Looking “through” Peter, Jesus said to the devil, “Out of My sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of humans”. Peter must have been shocked, but it must have made him think and perhaps to start to really understand why Jesus was here on earth. We know he ended up being just what Jesus had predicted – the rock. And Peter would giveup his life for Jesus in the end as he sowed the seeds of Christianity in Rome.
Earlier on in Matthew 12 Jesus says, whoever is not with me is against me. When Peter the rock was being obstructive, he needed pulling up sharply! It worked.
Jesus knew that his destiny was go to Jerusalem; suffer unjustly at the hands of wicked, hateful people; die a cruel death on the cross and three days later be raised again to life by the power of God. By doing so, He took on our sins and restored our relationship with God.
But this relationship is a two-way deal. If we want to be a part of it, we too must take up our cross and follow him. It will not be easy. However, it seems that sometimes we can misunderstand what a cross is. Our “cross” is specifically things we suffer, endure or, take on even when we do not want to, because of our love for him. Problems at work, illness, disease, struggles in relationships are not necessarily “crosses” because they are common to all human beings, not just Christians. Rather, our cross is something we deal with because we believe in him and love him and are His disciples, following his commandments – standing up for him, facing being mocked or thought a little strange and reaching out to those who need our help, however difficult that might be and at whatever cost to ourselves. Giving, caring, loving and asking nothing in return. That is bearing our cross.
Finally, Jesus said, “the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what each has done.” We know that He doesn’t promise eternal life because of what we do, because we can never earn that ourselves. But what we do in this life should demonstrate our faith and love for him because of all that He has done for us. It is this faith, this love, not our works by themselves, though they are very important, which will be rewarded with the gift of eternal life with him. Whoever believes in me, said Jesus, shall not perish, but will have eternal life.
Let us pray that we will have hearts filled with faith and love and compassion, so that we may do in this life what he would have us do, so that in the end we may be worthy of him. Amen
What I have here is a bag of stones. I rather like stones – or rocks – and I often pick up them up on my travels. I am no geologist; I just like rocks. There are many different types of rock from all round the World. I have just a small number of my rather unremarkable and ordinary collection with me now, but here I have examples from Canada, the USA, Mongolia, Iceland and the back garden of my block of flats in Kew. I could have brought more.
Jesus said to Peter that he was the rock upon which he would build his church and Peter of course went on to bring the Good News to Rome and there to suffer a dreadful death for his faith.
There are many different types of rock. And there are many different people who make up the church. We are all the rocks on which the church is built. The church, as we have said many times before and really found out during lockdown, is not the building, it is the people. The wise person does not build their house upon the sand, but upon rock or on firm foundations. All modern houses will be built with concrete foundations and concrete is usually made up of cement holding together a vast number of little stones. The church is like that. The cement is the love of God and our faith in him, which holds us together, but we are the little stones, the little rocks, that help give the cement strength and permanence and purpose and a presence in the World. God depends on us to build his church, to support his church and to be his presence in an increasingly secular World. This commission is even more important than ever for us now as we continue on our way through the interregnum.
So why was Peter so important and why did Jesus rely so much on someone who could be flaky and unreliable? Because Peter recognised Jesus for who he was and who he still is. Peter did not think of Jesus as a good man or just a prophet. Peter recognised Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. It was the right answer.
We are the successors of Peter and have to answer that question too. Who do we really think Jesus is? If we think, as many people seem to do, that he was just a good man or just one of the prophets, then we miss out the essence of not only him, but of the Christian faith. But if we really believe him to be the Son of God, who has come into the World for us, someone who is the Way the Truth and the Life, then this should have a life changing impact on us. Everything we think, hope, do, should have that wonderful message at its centre – here he is, here is the Son of God, here is what gives us meaning, purpose, salvation, eternal life. We should be shouting it from the roof tops and telling everyone we know. The modern World may not think that having faith in God is a rational thing to do. Poor them, our view is the opposite. When you are aware of a God who loves you, who cares about everyone and everything and has given you so many blessings, then it surely seems irrational to not believe in him.
My Father was a ship’s Captain. My sister and I sailed with him round the Mediterranean probably nearly fifty years ago. When we were far from land sailing towards Malta and thence Beirut, we used to stand sometimes on the bridge in the evenings and look at the stars, which were more than magnificent. My dad said one night – “When you look up at all this, how could anyone ever think that there is no God?” And he quoted the first line of Psalm 19 – the Heavens tell out the glory of God. Evidence of God is everywhere, so while it is irrational not to believe in him, it is also irrational to keep quiet about it too
Churches close, congregations wither, though we usually hear about this from people who never step foot inside a church. Congregations face challenges, as we will do over the next few months. But if we are firm, if we pray that we may be the rocks that support the church and God in Kew, we will triumph, we will excel, we will present whoever comes in due course to be our new Priest with a firm foundation for his or her Ministry here.
To finish, a short quote from the wonderful nineteenth century hymn.
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.
Christ is our rock, we are Christ’s rocks, we will be strong for him and he will support us through anything and everything.
Before coming here to Kew, over 3 years ago now, we lived in a small village with a church that was part of a Benefice with 6 other rural churches. I have, I am sure, mentioned this before. Although we were one Benefice there was very strong local feeling in each of the 7 villages towards their own churches. So I suppose that I should not have been surprised when I became part of Father Peter’s team, to find that there was not always great cohesion between the Barn Church and St. Luke’s, divided as they are by a railway line. I believe Peter told me when I once asked that it was ‘historical’.
It is both interesting and perhaps reassuring, that in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, that even Jesus at the outset of his ministry was selective with whom he wished to deal.
For when the Canaanite woman called on Our Lord for help to cure her daughter who was ‘tormented by a demon’, Jesus did not even answer her.
When she persisted he said to her, “ I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In other words, I am here to save the Jews, my own people, and as you are not Jewish then you do not qualify. Gasp, shock, faint in disbelief, this cannot be our Lord Jesus Christ speaking? … Matthew must have got it wrong. Well actually if he did get it wrong, then so did Mark who tells much the same story in his Gospel, Mark 7 verses 24 to 30.
The truth is, that in fact it even took Jesus a little time, and encounters, like the one we have just heard with the Canaanite woman, to come to understand that his Father’s purpose for Jesus’ time here on earth was to be the saviour of all peoples, to be as his Father, a loving and inclusive God of all who called upon His name.
It is a lesson that is so very important for all of us here today and for the world we live in at this present time. Not always being able to see ‘eye to eye’ with our fellow church, or churches, is something of importance to guard against during a vacancy. However, this actually falls in to insignificance when we are unable to see ‘eye to eye’ with our neighbour, be they Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Seiki, Buddhist or even Roman Catholic, or any other creed or race.
But then it has been a well-known fact for years that God is white, British and after the Queen the head of the Christian Church, or was that before Her Majesty? I only jest in part, for it is a failing of us all that we too often envisage our God to fit our own specifications, and even Jesus had to understand that God is not like that. Jesus very quickly turned from a mission of saving just “the lost sheep of the house of Israel“, to saving all who turned to him and followed his path.
The Apostle Paul was for most of his life and in all of his letters, as with today’s letter to the young church in Rome, at great pains to hammer home the point that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God was available to all peoples without distinction, even those who once rejected Him.
“For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.”
God does not call people in order to dismiss them later, and he does not give gifts and then ask for them back. If people do not at once respond then He always lives in the belief that if they see the joy and love in others who have accepted His gifts then they to will want to share in that joy and love as well.
We as Christians too often try and tie God into our own small parameters, fit Him into our life styles and even our own faith. God is so, so much bigger, so, so much more inclusive and expansive. Yes, our faith is important, our church, be it the Barn or St. Luke’s, is important, but only as a very small part of a much, much larger and encompassing belief and faith that has room for all peoples and for all of God’s great and mighty creation.
So perhaps in the weeks and months ahead we all need to remember that we are working for an inclusive Maker, who never rejects but always accepts, even if at times that requires great patience and love, and dare I even say compromise.
I can remember back in those days when we as parents, used to take our children to Fun Fairs or Adventure Parks, how they used to love the rides, especially our daughter, Mary, the higher, more exciting, or downright scary, the better.
Neither Carolyn nor I were great enthusiasts, but as long as I could be safely strapped into the ‘said ride’ I was reasonably happy. It was those ‘white knuckle’ rides that I disliked, where the bar came down, as it does on the big dipper, and you held on for ‘dear life’ with your eyes tightly closed. I simply lacked faith in the fact I would survive the ride.
That is something that as Christians we are also very good at, ‘Lacking faith! It is nothing new as we have just heard from our Gospel reading, in which dear Peter, so certain to begin with, but then…
Another fault that I, and perhaps some of us have, in trying to be good Christians, is that we often try too hard. Perhaps, rather like the Pharisee, who followed the letter of the Law, even doing good deeds, giving away a tenth of his wealth, but showing no humility in the house of God. At times, possibly we try too hard to prove our Christian faith, both to ourselves and to others. God does not keep scores.
Paul, once more in today’s reading in his Letter to the Romans is saying that all who follow Christ will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him”.
Paul respects, and fully understands Jewish Law and the teachings of the Torah. He himself was trained in that Law as a Pharisee. But he is saying again and again that through Christ’s death and resurrection there is a now a new way, a new beginning. That the Laws relating to Sacrifice, Purification, and Circumcision have now been replaced by Christ’s teaching, his ‘New Commandments’ of Compassion, Gentleness, Understanding, Faithfulness, all under-written by Love.
There is often something very resistant in us about accepting the grace of God. We always seem to return to the idea that it is something to be earned, or achieved, that like the Pharisee in the synagogue, we have to continually prove ourselves worthy of receiving it. God is seen by some, like a schoolroom teacher, whose respect and understanding have to be won by their good works.
Christianity is not a ‘pick-and-mix counter’ from which to choose the parts that we may want, or those things we wish to do. It is a relationship offered by God, opened up to us by Jesus, and constantly available and present through the Holy Spirit.
Peter saw our Lord walking on the water and when called by Him, went towards Him. But then we heard how very hard it was for Peter, like myself on the big dipper, to hold on to that faith in what we know to be safe and true, when we actually come to the test.
Peter, as I am sure the rest of us would do, panics, and in so doing begins to sink. For none of us are perfect, and indeed, our Lord never expects us to be so. It is not by some magic power that we will become good Christians, but by having a simple straightforward faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and a love of God. We too have to stretch out our hand, like Peter, to our Lord, to open our hearts and minds to the ever present, ever-constant love of Jesus Christ.
As Jane Williams writes in her reflection on today’s readings, “Christianity is not a system, which some people can use easily and some can’t, and each person can only reap the rewards accordingly. Christianity is a relationship, offered by God, in which our place is opened up by Jesus, and in which we are constantly tutored and encouraged by the Holy Spirit.”
Faith is an acceptance of what God has done in sending Jesus Christ, His Son to be our salvation, not us gaining salvation by anything that we have done, purely on our own part, but by what God has done through His son Jesus Christ for all of us. Faith is the acceptance of that grace of God, shown to us all through the love of His son, who came to be our Savour.
We just need the belief to hold on to our faith, and like Peter, to reach out ‘our hand’ to Jesus each and everyday, in good times as well as in times of trouble and sorrow.
