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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 17, 2006
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:21-27
“If any want to become my followers let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
Not the kind of words we want to wrestle with after the long summer break as we look forward to the last few days of vacation before the beginning of school. I suspect Peter might have felt the same thing after the wonderful conversation he had had with Jesus when Jesus had asked the disciples what people were saying about who he was. “We think you’re the Messiah, the chosen one” Peter had said, in his usual impetuous way. And of course, if you remember last week’s scriptures you’ll know that he had been rewarded for his insight with the marvelous affirmation of who he was to become – the rock upon whom God’s church would be built. I suspect that at the time of the conversation among the disciples in our gospel passage today, Peter was still basking in the knowledge the Jesus was the Messiah. It is no wonder that he so vehemently refused to accept Jesus’ words about the suffering he would be asked to endure.
In our passage today, Jesus is beginning to teach his disciples what it would mean to follow him. They are warned that it will not be enough simply to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. A true disciple of Christ must also follow him in practice - in particular the practice of self-giving love. In Jesus’ strange and awful words we are given a pattern for our lives to which we must carefully adhere, a pattern that will allow us to experience life in all its fullness. Paul tells us that everything Jesus has taught will stand in the face of the things we will learn from the world and will require of us a commitment to spend our lives in such close proximity to God and to one another that our minds are slowly transformed until we are able to discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.
When I read in the news that Pat Robertson had called for the assassination of the President of Venezuela “because it would be cheaper than going to war,” I wondered how a preacher of God’s word could have strayed so far from the Messiah who told his disciples to put away their swords when the soldiers came to arrest him, and offered forgiveness to the thief on the cross beside him. Yet it is all too easy for any of us to find ourselves in Peter’s shoes, becoming a stumbling block to God’s work in this world. It is much harder and requires a much greater commitment on our part to live our lives in such a way that we will be able to discern the way of peace to which we are called, even if it means being willing to face suffering and death.
St Paul begs his followers, “I appeal to you brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The call to discipleship is far more than a call to be at church for an hour on Sunday morning. We are called to worship one whose adherence to love and mercy for the least among us is absolute. We are called to put aside violence and hatred and to stop grabbing for the world’s power. We are called to lay aside the desire to build a fortune of the world’s goods, or fame or successes and give everything we have and everything we are to the pursuit of justice and freedom for all who are oppressed. And the only way we can possibly develop a heart that is as open and vulnerable as Gods is by committing our lives to walk closely with God, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment.
I will always remember a wonderful woman called Susan who was a mentor to me when I most needed it. She taught me to pray. “You know the conversations you have in your head with yourself or with other people” she said. “Simply insert God or Jesus, or Father or however you want to address God at the time, and instead of talking to yourself remember you are in the presence of God and talk to him.” I began to spend my days talking in my mind to God, and before long I realized that God responded to me in my thoughts, in things I noticed, or to which I began to pay attention. And I soon learnt that I could struggle with God about the scriptures I read until they began to make sense. And my struggles and my prayers drew me closer to others who were seeking a deeper walk with God, which in turn led me more deeply into relationship with God, Godself.
I have no doubt that the conversation in the Trinity of God includes every person who is suffering in our world, but most of us are too busy to hear the cry of the babies in Africa who through no fault of their own are born into a society ravaged by the terrible disease of AIDS where whole adult populations are no longer able to work because they are sickened by their disease and where starvation is the norm. I am sure the conversation of love between the Father the Son and the Spirit includes a great concern about the destruction of our world while we in the United States already have the technology we need to develop cars that will use fuels that are much kinder to the environment and are much more sustainable than the gas we’ve used for years. But that concern for the most part goes unheard by the policy makers in our world. We need to be open to the transforming of our hearts if we are to practice the love of God for those who are the least in our world.
Peter grew into the rock upon which God’s church could be built because he chose to stick close to Jesus most of the time! He loved Jesus. Sometimes he seemed almost like a little puppy tripping over himself in his eagerness to please. Course he was always making mistakes – like the time he was so afraid he denied Jesus three times. But his heart was in the right place. He wanted to be like Jesus. We need to pray for the same kind of faithfulness and obedience to God. We need to be willing, like Peter to give everything we have to the pursuit of God’s love, for what good is it for us to be successful in the world’s eyes if our hearts are closed to God? I suspect that God is asking each one of us to give up a little of the world’s successes in order to follow more closely to Christ. I also suspect that we will remain oblivious to God’s word in our lives unless we are willing to create space in our lives that is dedicated to God, to both listen and to actively enter into conversation with God in prayer.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
In the name of Christ AMEN
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