|
|
|
|
It can be hard to get on the good side of Jesus as Simon Peter found out. In Mathew 16 Jesus has informed the disciples that he is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. He gives no explanation for his dramatic statement. But he said it, and I can imagine with a tone of voice and a look in his eyes conveying that he meant it. Simon Peter, who just before today's text, has been claimed by Jesus as the human rock upon whom he will rely in building his church, brushes aside Jesus' prediction and tries to reassure Jesus that he is wrong in his dire forecast. In effect, Peter is saying, "No, Lord, your suffering and death aren't in our scenario. You must be mistaken. You're too nice a guy for that to happen to." Jesus calls him "Satan." GET BEHIND ME, YOU SATAN. And here I would like to acknowledge and thank Garret Ketzer who in his published sermon called "Simon the Supportive" gave me the theme I now want to develop. Mr. Ketzer suggests that Simon Peter was doing nothing more than obeying one of the Ten Commandments, if not the Golden Rule: THOU SHALT ALWAYS BE SUPPORTIVE? Few words are more venerated these days than SUPPORTIVE. Everyone wants to be supportive or must seem to be supportive: politicians, teachers, lovers, bosses, employees, and of course ministers, counsellors and therapists. To be judged as being non-supportive is to be damned as unloving, unlovable, and unchristian. The new vogue of supportiveness reflects our increased sensitivity about the power of affirmation in our human relationships. Affirmation, both self-affirmation and mutual affirmation, are helpful corrections to the emotionally stiff upper lip attitudes which prevented too many of our paternal ancestors, especially our bosses, and fathers, and ministers, from saying anything positive toward others, much less ever giving a hug. In the movement to make our conduct kinder and gentler to one another we have, however, moved off from some older values in human relationships: straight talk, honest criticism, accountability, discipline. "No fault insurance" is a helpful balance to our overly litigious inclinations; but can there be a "no fault" policy to correct human relationships.
Mr. Ketzer suggests that "when we listen carefully to what often passes for our "support" of one another, we hear a distinct echo of Simon Peter trying to cheer up Jesus." If so, perhaps we need to take to heart Jesus' rebuke of Peter as applying to ourselves. In Peter's support of Jesus, we may hear someone offering another person one of two bogus assurances: that nothing bad can befall him, or that he is incapable of doing anything bad. "Friend, you're our leader so nothing bad can happen to you." Or "You're too good a person for anything really bad to happen to you." We may also detect in our embrace of the other, regardless of the costs to truth, our own desire to receive unconditional support in return from those we support unconditionally. We're on thin ice, however, by assuming we are capable of giving unconditional support and then by confusing support with unconditional love. When Little Red Riding Hood visited her grandmother and grandma excused her rather deep, wolfish sounding voice as merely being a little sick, Little Red's instinctive response was "Oh, Grandma, don't talk that way! You can't really be sick. You'll outlive us all." Or, "don't be so hard on yourself, Grandma. You really have good intentions." (The better to eat you with, my dear!) "In rejecting Peter's 'support,' going so far as to imply that it is satanic, Jesus tells us something about the nature of evil itself. From what does most evil arise if not from a false notion of one's own innocence or a false notion of one's own invulnerability." The endurance of evil is not primarily through the efforts of the truly evil, who are few, but through the illusions of the good, who are many. Our morning newspaper, the SCMP, reported on the front page today a survey of Hong Kong shoppers who were asked if they witnessed a palpable case of thievery at their market, what would they do. The finding was that only one out of every five persons would do anything. It may be a long evolution, but a logical one, that many most citizens stand by mute when they witness shoplifting, they may similarly stand by mute when they witness political thuggery as with the Nazis smashing Jewish shop windows in the l930s and Serbian provocateurs destroying Bosnian properties in our decade. While there is much positive to our new commitment to be supportive of others, the downside is that finally no one becomes responsible for conduct and its' consequences. GET YOU BEHIND ME, YOU SATANIC POLITICIANS AND DIPLOMATS! AND YOU LUKEWARM LAW ABIDING CITIZENS! We are fast destroying our planet, but we deny it; we're not destroying the planet, we're converting it into a more efficient economy. The decline in quality of air, water, soil and other living species are merely the unavoidable casualties of our laudable human striving for a better and better life and progress. And anyway we can always blast off to another one. GET YOU BEHIND ME YOU SATANIC DEVELOPERS AND EXPLOITERS OF MY EARTH! A recent survey of American households found that 90 percent of households keep at least three copies of the Bible. Yet, two-thirds of Americans could not name one of the four gospels and 50% could not name at least five of the l0 commandments. GET YOU BEHIND ME YOU LUKEWARM KEEPERS OF MY WORD! Jesus was not a leader in the support one another at any costs movement. Jesus knew his Old Testament tradition and that the serpent in the Garden was the most supportive of all creatures: YOU SHALL NOT DIE, BUT BE AS GODS, KNOWING GOOD FROM EVIL. (Hisssssssss!)
Jesus' approach to reality and to relationships is far more bracing. He shares with his friends a prediction of the worst that can happen, and he invites them to embrace their destiny with courage, to carry their crosses as his companions. In the end Grandma is going to die. Maybe instead of trying to get on the good side of the dying, the sick, the confused, or the spiritually demented by supporting them in denials and romantic notions, we should just get out of their way so that they can come to terms with reality. That might also assist them to meet God. I attended the memorial service to John To last weekend. Some of his friends may have comforted John with shallow support: "John, you really aren't dying." But most supported John in the truth that in his dying John was carrying his cross for Christ. The result was spiritual power and also considerable fun for John and many around him. In the end grandma and everyone else dies. Jesus didn't want false friends and easy disciples getting in the way of his death. And his word is clear: if others wanted to be part of his life, they too would need to take up their cross and follow him. That means that his followers, each in her and his own way, would need to come to terms with precisely what we don't want to come to terms with - suffering and dying. Jesus uses three verbs to summarise his advice to his disciples, knowing that their first reaction would be like that of Peter. …DENY YOURSELF. Deny ourselves! Deny our hopes and ambitions and self interests? Yes. But is that denial really bad news? Does authentic good news lie in supporting the view that the meaning of our lives is going it alone. The trouble with superficial support is that it may prevent us from receiving the support which really matters most: the support of God. Deny yourself means open yourself to the greater and deeper alternative that God is as real as yourself; that the path of mature living is to try to walk with God. And the equation is that we can affirm God only by denying ourselves. For those who choose self-denial, Jesus promises they will not go it alone; he will be with them. It would be wise for some of you to deny yourselves long enough to sign up and take part in our coming ALPHA ministry. TAKE UP YOUR CROSS. The cross we take up is no longer a cross we have made but the cross which Jesus has carried. It is the cross of risking our lives in love; it is the cross of discovering that self-fulfilment comes through helping others; it is the bold adventure of gaining by giving away, of achieving by taking risks, by finding safety by the bungee jump into the arms of God instead of holding back on the edge of our self-contained security. Nothing weak about taking up the cross. It summons us to as bold and courageous and daring self-expression as we could ever imagine. FOLLOW ME. Ah, there is the supreme adventure. Shall one follow Jesus in discerning the shape of the landscape of our lives, or shall we rely upon our own compass? There is an inevitable mystery to following Jesus by taking up a personal cross. There is finally no logic or rational explanation to make it palatable and nice. The way of the cross is a scandal. What Jesus knew and taught is precisely what he experienced: his cross wasn't good logic nor easy going but Jesus knew that in doing it his way he constantly experienced feedback from God. His faith grew because his faithfulness was real and it is the experience which faith gives us that makes all the difference and converts carrying the cross with Jesus into sharing the crown of full life with him. SIMON Peter was eventually able to pick up his cross and follow Jesus because despite all his obtuseness and cowardice and natural desire for self-preservation he finally knew that he loved Jesus more than anything else in life. If nothing ever goes wrong with a friend, our support can remain untested, superficial, and conditional. But things went wrong with Jesus, and Simon Peter's support began to develop sinew and muscle and backbone. When he finally understood that Jesus was going to be crucified, Peter could then address the risks related to his own crucifixion. Getting behind Jesus, by which I mean being a real follower and supporter of the Christ, and not a fair weather friend, requires strong stuff. In today's text Peter was performing just the opposite kind of support. He was trying to jolly up Jesus so that he would forget who he was. And Jesus response is cutting: "In that case Simon Peter, to hell with you and your support." I believe Jesus was so brutally direct with Simon, because Jesus had hope in who Peter really was and looked to the possibility that Peter would become the real friend upon whom Jesus could rely. Jesus wasn't wrong with Peter. I pray he won't be wrong about me. How about you?
Pastor Gene Preston
|
|
|
|
The Rev. Gene R.Preston14th Floor, Blk 36, Lower Baguio Villa Tel : 25516161 Fax: 25512114E-mail : gpreston@netvigator.com |
This page has been visited
times.
This page hosted by
Get your own Free
Homepage