Sunday, August 31, 2014

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

MATTHEW 16:21-28
WHENEVER YOU SEE A PICTURE OF SAINT PETER, HE'S USUALLY BALD.  SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT IS THE CASE BECAUSE PETER SEEMS TO BE OLD, RELATIVE TO THE OTHER APOSTLES.  AFTER ALL, HE'S MARRIED, HAS A MOTHER IN LAW, OWNS A BUSINESS, AND HAS A YOUNGER BROTHER WORKING WITH HIM.  BUT ANOTHER THEORY IS THAT HE'S BALD BECAUSE JESUS IS ALWAYS SAYING THINGS THAT MAKE HIM PULL HIS HAIR OUT.  LIKE “UNLESS YOU EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD YOU SHALL NOT HAVE LIFE IN YOU.”  OR “THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST, AND THE LAST FIRST”.  OR “BEFORE THE COCK CROWS YOU WILL DENY ME THREE TIMES.”  AND TODAY IS NO EXCEPTION.  REMEMBER LAST WEEK?  JESUS WAS COMMENDING PETER BECAUSE HE HAD RECOGNIZED THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH.  NOW HE SEEMS TO BE CONDEMNING HIM, BECAUSE PETER IS SAYING “GOD FORBID THAT THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!”.
FROM 2000 YEARS DISTANCE, WE CAN SMILE AT THIS SCENE – OF COURSE JESUS HAD TO SUFFER AND DIE, THAT'S THE CENTRAL THEME OF CHRISTIANITY. SILLY OLD PETER FOR NOT GETTING IT!  BUT IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO PUT OURSELVES IN PETER'S SHOES, AND MAYBE THEN WE'LL LEARN HOW THE SCRIPTURE APPLIES TO US.
IF YOU READ THE OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES THAT PREDICT THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, YOU WOULD BE LIKE PETER AND THE OTHER JEWS OF JESUS' TIME.  YOU MIGHT ARGUE THAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE A GREAT KING IN DAVID'S IMAGE, OR A GREAT HIGH PRIEST LIKE AARON, MOSES' BROTHER; OR MAYBE A PROPHET LIKE ELIJAH.  OR ALL THREE.  AND WHATEVER YOU BELIEVED ABOUT WHAT THE MESSIAH WOULD BE, HE WOULD USHER IN A NEW AGE, WHEN PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WOULD COME TO LEARN GOD'S LAW FROM THE JEWISH PEOPLE; WHERE THERE WOULD BE A NEW JERUSALEM, GLORIOUS, THE GREATEST CITY ON EARTH – JUST READ THE DESCRIPTION GIVEN BY THE PROPHET EZECHIEL.  PETER HAS BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MESSIAH ALL HIS LIFE, AND NOW HE STANDS IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MESSIAH, REVEALED TO HIM BY GOD, AND JESUS IS TALKING CRAZY TALK.  THE MESSIAH HAS TO UNDERGO PERSECUTION, SUFFER, AND BE KILLED?  BY THE HOLIEST JEWS OF ALL, THE ELDERS, THE SCRIBES AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS?  PETER MAY HAVE GLOSSED OVER THE PART ABOUT RISING AGAIN, JUST LIKE MARTHA DID – MOST JEWS BELIEVED THAT THE DEAD WOULD RISE AGAIN – SOME DAY, BUT IT DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH TODAY AND NOW.  PETER IS SAYING, IN EFFECT, “BUT IF YOU ARE THE MESSIAH, THEN WHAT YOU ARE SAYING DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!”
THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY MOMENTS IN THE LIFE OF SAINT PETER WHERE HE IS BEING “DISCIPLED”.  WE DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT TOO MUCH, BUT THAT'S WHAT THE CHURCH IS FOR, TO DISCIPLE US.  DISCIPLING IS NOT THE SAME AS DISCIPLINE.  DISCIPLING MEANS THAT WE ARE HELPED TO STEP OUT OF THE WAY WE LOOK AT THE WORLD AND LOOK AT IT IN A NEW WAY – AND ONLY IF WE SET OUT ON THIS PATH WITH HUMILITY WILL WE EVER BECOME DISCIPLES.  BECAUSE THE ENEMY OF DISCIPLESHIP IS BELIEVING WE HAVE NOTHING TO LEARN, OR WORSE, BELIEVING THAT THE CHURCH HAS NOTHING TO TEACH US.  OVER AND OVER PETER HAS TO RE-ADJUST HIS THINKING IN RESPONSE TO WHAT JESUS SAYS.  AND TO HIS CREDIT, HE ALWAYS DOES, EVEN IF HE'S A LITTLE LATE SOMETIMES, EVEN IF HE STRAYS OFF THE RESERVATION NOW AND THEN.  WHY? BECAUSE WHEN HE RECOGNIZED THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH, HE COMMITTED HIMSELF TO BE A DISCIPLE.  AFTER ALL, AS HE SAYS IN ANOTHER PLACE, “TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?  YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.”  THE STORY OF PETER IS THE STORY OF ANY SAINT.
WHEN YOU READ THE GOSPELS, JESUS IS ALWAYS MAKING STATEMENTS THAT REQUIRE A CHANGE IN ONE'S LIFE, A NEW WORLD VIEW.  I THINK MOST OF US IGNORE THE PARADOXES AND MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW AS DISCIPLES.  JESUS EVEN SEEMED TO BE AWARE OF THIS.  HE EXPLAINED HIS PARABLES TO THE APOSTLES, BUT DIDN'T EXPLAIN THEM TO THE CROWDS TO WHOM HE PREACHED. IF SOMEONE IN THE CROWD WAS A POTENTIAL DISCIPLE, HE OR SHE WOULD WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS WAS SAYING EVEN IF IT WAS A STRUGGLE – THE POTENTIAL DISCIPLE WOULD HAVING ALREADY DECIDED THAT JESUS WAS THE ONE WHO WAS WORTH FOLLOWING.  THE REST WOULD LISTEN TO JESUS AND DRAW THE OBVIOUS CONCLUSIONS, WHICH WOULD NEVER APPLY TO THEM, AND THUS PUSH THEM TO CHANGE.  AND WE ARE IN THE SAME BOAT, EVEN WHEN JESUS EXPLAINS PARABLES.  IF HIS WORDS DON'T PUSH US TO CHANGE, WE ARE NOT DISCIPLES.
“UNLESS YOU BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN YOU WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,” HE TELLS US.  "IF ANYONE COMES TO ME, AND DOES NOT HATE HIS OWN FATHER AND MOTHER AND WIFE AND CHILDREN AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS, YES, AND EVEN HIS OWN LIFE, HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE” HE SAYS.  AND TODAY, “WHOEVER WISHES TO COME AFTER ME MUST DENY HIMSELF, TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME.”
IF WE RECOGNIZE THAT JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, THEN THESE KINDS OF STATEMENTS, AND THERE ARE MANY MORE, SHOULD MAKE US REFLECT THAT JESUS IS SPEAKING TO US, AND IN A WAY, GIVING US A CHALLENGE TO CHANGE HOW WE THINK, HOW WE SEE THE WORLD, HOW WE VALUE PEOPLE AND THINGS.  AND WHEN WE ASK, “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO ME?” AND WHEN WE PRAY, “LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF.” AND WHEN WE DECIDE THAT WE ARE NOT LIKE THE REST OF THE CROWD WHO HEAR BUT DO NOT UNDERSTAND,  THEN WE BEGIN TO BE DISCIPLES OF THE LORD.
IT'S TRUE THAT JESUS HAS DONE EVERYTHING NECESSARY FOR OUR SALVATION.  HE SUFFERED AND DIED IN OUR PLACE; THEN HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD TO OVERCOME OUR OWN DEATHS.  OUR ONLY PART IN THIS DRAMA IS TO TEAR DOWN BARRIERS BETWEEN US AND JESUS, BARRIERS WHICH IN FACT HE WILL TEAR DOWN IF WE ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN.  THAT'S WHAT BEING DISCIPLED MEANS, THAT'S WHAT WE LEARN FROM ST. PETER, AS WE FOLLOW HIM THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES.  EVEN AFTER JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD, PETER WAS STILL NOT FINISHED BEING DISCIPLED.  REMEMBER WHEN HE HAD THE VISION OF FORBIDDEN FOODS AND WAS TOLD TO EAT?  AND THAT WAS THE MOMENT THAT HE RECOGNIZED THE GOSPEL WAS FOR ALL PEOPLE.
THEY SAY THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE WHO GO TO CHURCH.  THERE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE CONSUMERS; THEY COME FOR THE MUSIC, OR THE SERMON, OR THE HOLY EUCHARIST, OR OUT OF HABIT; BUT YEARS GO BY AND NOTHING CHANGES; OR THERE ARE THE DISCIPLES, WHO WITH GOD'S HELP WORK TO LOSE THEIR LIFE SO THAT IT WILL BE SAVED.  THE DISCIPLES ARE THE ONES WHO RECOGNIZE THAT YOU CAN HAVE THE WHOLE WORLD BUT IF YOU LOSE YOUR SOUL, WHAT GOOD IS THAT?