Getting Behind Jesus
Year
A, Pentecost 12
I confess that there are few things
I enjoy more than getting the right answer.
For that reason and more, I empathize with Peter. He was kind of the star pupil, or apostle. At least he thought he was. In the Gospel reading from last week Jesus
asked the big question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” There
were a couple of theories that the disciples tossed around. “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah
or one of the prophets.” Jesus knew what
people were thinking. What he really
wanted to know was who they thought he was.
“But who do you say
that I am?” This time it was
not all the disciples who answered, it was one.
Simon, Peter, the first disciple to be chosen by Jesus said: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living
God.”
I imagine that Peter was a little
worried when he answered this question.
It seemed like an obvious answer.
But Peter was a simple fisherman.
He was not a rabbi or an academic.
He did not know what Jesus wanted to hear. So he went for the truth. He answered not on what he had seen, maybe not
even what he knew for sure. His answer
was based on hope and faith. He
anticipated that Jesus would be the Messiah, the strong and powerful king who
would save them all from the tyrannical Roman rule.
Thus far, Jesus had done almost nothing to indicate that he
would be that kind of leader. But he had
given them hope, hope that he would be greater than the prophets who had come
before. They knew that he was special
and unique because they has seen his miracles and witnessed the influence he
had on the crowds. So they put this special and unique person in the only
category they could imagine, that of the Messiah.
Had this been a simple written test,
maybe a short answer, Peter would have done quite well. Jesus commended him on his correct answer. He responded: “Blessed are you,… I tell you, you are Peter, and
on this rock I
will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” That is quite a commendation. Who needs grades when you are told that your
answer is so good--so very insightful, that even the gates of Hades could not
stand up to you and your correct answer?
I bet Peter was feeling pretty good about himself. He had finally gotten the right answer. And not only did he have the right answer but
he was the star student and the teacher was the Messiah. It could not get much better than that. And it didn’t. It got much worse…at least it seemed like it
did.
Soon
after that moment of clarity, that moment where everything made sense and all
was right in the world, things took a dramatic turn. Has that ever happened to you? Perhaps things had been difficult and then
something happened that made you think that God was looking after you and you
were on the right track. All the bad
things that had happened were finally making sense. God had closed the door,
but you found that window of opportunity that provided the explanation for all
those closed doors. Then suddenly with
no warning nor any good reason the window was slammed as well. You could see
what was on the other side, but you could not get there. It has happened to me. Just at that moment when all the pieces
finally fell into place, then it all fell apart.
As soon as Peter had
figured out who Jesus was, Jesus started telling his disciples, his friends,
that he would soon have to suffer and be killed. This would happen at the hands of the elders,
the chief priests and the scribes…the religious authorities, the people who
were supposed to know better. Wait a
minute…didn’t Jesus just admit to Peter that he was the all powerful Messiah?!?
Those scribes and chief priests should be bowing to him, paying him
homage. Why would the Messiah, the son
of the living God, suffer at the hands of mere humans? Did that mean that Peter, the star pupil had
been wrong?
Since he was the star pupil, the
very special disciple of Jesus, it clearly fell on him to clarify this. Surely there was a misunderstanding. Jesus
loved teaching moments. This must have
been one of those. Jesus could not
desert his disciples so soon after he had called them, so soon after they had
put their faith and hope in him. That
would be a cruel joke. Why bother even
calling these disciples if he was just going to die? If they wanted a dead messiah, they could
have found that person anywhere. This
was the man they had tied their hopes and dreams to. This was the man who had showed them love,
grace and forgiveness. He could not die.
So Peter did what any
good student would do. He challenged his
learned teacher. “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” Perhaps when we hear
that now, it sounds a little disrespectful.
I imagine it made perfect sense at the time. It would be like when your best friend or
spouse says something negative about themselves. Of course you would tell them they were crazy
and to stop talking such foolishness.
And then they would look at you sheepishly and admit that was what they
wanted to hear, what they needed to hear.
Because let’s face it, no one wants to hear the person they love telling
you that they are going to suffer.
Yet Jesus did not reply with a sheepish
grin. He did not say to Peter, “Right
again my friend. You get another gold
star!” Instead he replied: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block
to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” That seems harsh and so contrary to what he
had just told Peter. He had told him he
would stand up to the gates of Hades, and now he is calling him Satan, the
landlord of Hades.
There are many theories about why Jesus called Peter Satan. He wanted to teach Peter that he was a
different kind of Messiah, not the victorious kind that was expected. Instead
he was the Messiah who would choose to suffer and die instead of conquer an
army. He called Peter Satan because
Satan had already tempted Jesus to forgo the suffering and rule through earthly
power. That would have been easier for
Jesus, but he knew it would not work.
Jesus knew that was not the kind of Messiah who was needed. The Messiah that was needed would not free
them from the Romans. He would free them
from sins, an entirely different kind of bondage.
It must have crushed Peter to hear those words because he
thought he had figured it out. He finally had the right answer and now the
answer that was before him was more suffering, more unanswered questions. Jesus said that he would rise after three
days, but I don’t think Peter heard that.
He tuned out after he heard that part about suffering and death. Isn’t that so often the case in our own
lives? We get stuck in the struggling
and the death and we forget that something comes after that.
It is natural to assume that life should get easier, maybe
even smoother when we have the answers. Pop psychology tells us that we will
find peace when we have accepted the truth.
But the reality is that there are no easy answers and no easy ways. There are merely struggles that require more
strength than we can possibly muster.
Sometimes faith does not lead us to peace, happiness, or the easy
answer. It leads us to a desperate cry. It leads us to the realization that we do not
have the answers, but we do have the guide.
So we follow. “Get behind me
Satan” sounds like an insult and perhaps it was. Yet it is intriguing that he tells Peter to
get behind him and then instructs his disciples to follow him. You have to get behind someone to follow
them. In a sense, he was telling Peter that even if he was the rock that he
would build his church on, he was still a follower of Jesus. Jesus demands that kind of humility from all
of us. It would be transformational (perhaps even revolutionary) if all of our
church leaders, our government leaders, our military and our law enforcement
could display that kind of humility. Even
when we are convinced that we are right, we are merely followers of Jesus. No more, no less. The only answer we need is
the suffering Messiah that we follow.
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