Good Morning! Thank you, Lord. for another beautiful day, but we would certainly welcome a few clouds and a little steady rain.
Peter is the apostle who is most fully described in the scriptures. He was brash. He was aggressive. He was filled with a kind of self-confidence that sometimes proved to be only hollow bravado. He was very human. Some traditions honor him as “the rock” upon which the Church of Christ has been built. That’s a matter of interpretation. There is a pronoun in Matthew 16:18 translated “that” and the controversy revolves around it. Does “that” refer to Peter (whose name can be translated “rock”) or does it refer to Peter’s confessional statement in verse 16?
In our Gospel reading for today we witness Peter’s most dramatic failure: his denial of Jesus. The 26th chapter of Matthew has an incredible historical sweep. It starts with Jesus making it clear that he will be crucified. That’s followed by the confrontation with Judas about the expensive oil that a woman anointed Jesus with, after which Judas goes out and agrees to betray Jesus. Then there comes the identification of the house with the upper room in which Jesus and the disciples share the last supper. Again Jesus tells his disciples that he is about to be killed and that they will scatter. Peter loudly proclaims that he will never betray Jesus even in the face of certain death, and it is then that Jesus tells Peter that he will indeed deny him three times before the next dawn. Then Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray, is eventually confronted by the soldiers of the Chief Priests and arrested. He is taken to the house of the Chief Priest and interrogated, and Peter follows along in the shadows. It is then that we come to the scene in today’s reading in which Peter denies that he is a disciple of Jesus. And that’s a very brief synopsis. Matthew 26 is quite a chapter! It’s enough to leave you breathless.
Many people choose Peter as their favorite disciple or even the disciple that they would most like to be like. There are a great many things about Peter’s life and witness that we would do well to imitate. The Book of Acts tells us even more about his impact on the development of the early church in Jerusalem. He displayed many talents and great courage in the face of deadly threats. Perhaps some people would prefer not to remember the incident in Matthew 26 when they remember Peter.
Sometimes we are drawn to Christ without ever considering the cost to our own lives. After all, we live in a modern, secular democracy which allows freedom of religious expression. Even if “Christianity” no longer is THE dominant force in American society, it is still A force. On the face of it, it doesn’t cost us very much to be Christians. At the end of today’s Gospel reading it says: “And he went out and wept bitterly.” Peter was finally convicted of his own sinful nature, and he recognized what he had done and he wept bitterly. Peter realized – perhaps for the first time – that he wasn’t only part of Jesus’ in-crowd. He was a sinner, a human being like every other human being, who had been given the gracious gift from God that allowed him to change his life and live in God’s kingdom.
Have you ever thought about the ways in which you genuinely NEED the gift that God has given you through Jesus Christ? Have you ever actually allowed the grace of God to convict you, to show you your need by letting you see your failings? Do you understand the full meaning of the words to Amazing Grace: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.... I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see”? Have you actually thought about our wretchedness? Do you understand that the blindness referred to is our inability to see who we are? Just as Peter didn’t see who he was until finally he had done something that even he couldn’t avoid: he denied Christ in Christ’s hour of need.
That’s what it means when it says that grace taught our hearts to fear. It’s not God’s judgment that we need to fear. It’s who we are and our potential to really screw things up that God’s grace teaches us to fear. But here’s the best part. That same grace reveals to us the love and forgiveness of God, relieves our innermost fear and says stand up now and move on. Live as a loved, forgiven and redeemed creature. Return to the Lord and realize who you are and all that God has given to you.
Peter did. His life was different from that time on. It may have been the moment when he finally felt and accepted the call to be Christ’s disciple and understood that the cost would be great, but that the rewards far exceeded any price that people or governments would extract from him. He was convicted, and he wept, and he looked up and found a new life.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we cannot possibly deserve what you have given to us. Yet you have given so much to us. You love us; you forgive us; and through the Holy Spirit you give us the power to find new life, the old life for which we were created. For our sakes, O God, convict us of our sin. For your sake, O God, redeem us that we might live our lives to your glory. In the name of Jesus we call out your name. Amen.
Today’s readings are Joshua 9:3-21; Romans 15:1-13; Matthew 26:69-75; Psalm 50, 66 & 67.
Accept Paul’s blessings from Romans 15: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Pastor Jim
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