'Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “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.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “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. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”'
--Matthew 16: 21-28
Where I come from everyone has a nickname, especially if you’re a ballplayer. There’s Ox, Nut, Sturg, Spooner, Doodle, Doc, and the King. Yes, I had a nickname, but you'll have to do some detective work to figure it out!
Often times nicknames become our real name. Most of those folks I mentioned go by their nicknames so often that, in some cases, I don’t even know their real names! Last week we heard the story of Simon bar Jonah getting a nickname. Jesus christened him Kephas in Aramaic, or as we better know him, Peter, which is Greek. Both mean “rock.” It is on the rock of Peter’s profession of Jesus as the Christ that the Church – big C – is founded.
And then, in the same encounter, this week Jesus gives him another nickname, and it’s not exactly an endearing one. After Simon Peter’s profession, Jesus explains to him and the other apostles how when they get to Jerusalem he will be handed over to the authorities, tortured, and eventually put to death. Well, Simon the Rock, speaking for the group insists, “God forbid it! This must never happen.” Seems like a rational response, doesn’t it? But Jesus doesn’t commend him this time but rather tells him, “Get behind me, Satan!” Yikes! I’m glad for Simon Peter’s sake that that nickname didn’t stick.
In its purest form the word ‘Satan’ means ‘adversary’ or ‘prosecutor’ in Hebrew. It meant anyone or anything that got between God and God’s people. It wasn't until the deuterocanonical Book of Jubilees, written around 200-100 BC, that the word gets assigned to a single individual who commands fallen angels and tempts human beings. So, if we take the word literally in its context within the language and faith of the people of Israel, then Jesus is using it rightly in this instance. Jesus has made his mission very clear, and it’s one of downward mobility. He's going to Jerusalem, not to overthrow Rome, but to die on a cross. By stepping in and trying to prevent Jesus from going through with this mission, Simon Peter is, in fact, being a satan, an adversary.
But can we blame him? Simon Peter just wants to maintain the status quo. He doesn’t want Jesus to get hurt, sure, but on a deeper level, he doesn’t want things to change. Remember that this is the guy who wanted them to stay up on Mount Tabor when Jesus was transfigured. The harder he tries to keep things from changing, and the more he tries to hold on to the way things are the way he thinks they should be, though, the worse it gets for him, culminating with Simon Peter denying that he even knows who Jesus is.
Or, to paraphrase a line from Princess Leia, the more he tightens his grip, the more the things he wants to hold onto slips through his fingers.
As readers of this blog know by now, I have recently taken a new call as Interim Rector of St. James' Episcopal Church in Skaneateles, NY. And as I said to the folks in church on Sunday: Brothers and sisters, the work of an interim time, is to loosen our grip.
Preaching my first sermon at St. James', Skaneateles on September 3
Last week The Rt. Rev. Skip Adams, retired Bishop of the Diocese of Central New York and member of St. James', mentioned in his sermon that the Church doesn’t have a mission. God does. Jesus was always attune to what God's mission was for him, and it is our prayer that we may be so attuned ourselves. We pray to have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to receive that mission, and for hands and feet to be put into actions so that the mission may be lived out in an ever-changing and confusing world. That’s what discernment is about. Discernment is that stilling of our hearts, minds, and spirits, that opening up of ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit. It is a process, a marathon instead of a sprint. It is done in community, as well as individually, and it involves asking questions, wondering, and going deeper. Discernment is at the very heart of the common ministry to which we have been called this season at St. James'.
It is only through discernment that we understand Jesus’ mission, as the Church, as a church, and as individuals. Still, true understanding will come only as we give up our idea of what makes life worthwhile and yield to God’s idea. When we surrender the pursuit of our own “best life” in order to disappear into God’s life, we begin to live the only life worth living, which is the life that Jesus lived and showed us how to live.
This is the kind of life to which Simon Peter was, at least initially, an adversary. It's the life that surrenders the need for power, prestige, and possessions. It’s the life that doesn’t seek to hold on too tightly to what we have, but instead gives it away graciously and freely when the time comes. It’s the life that sets aside the need for personal protection and places all hope, all trust in God. It's the life grounded in abundance - what we have, what God is doing in our midst - rather than scarcity - what we don't have, who's not in church on Sundays. It’s the life that willingly and willfully takes up the cross – a symbol of shame and ridicule and pain – knowing that, contrary to every rational thought, it will lead to a new thing being born.
Doesn’t that sound exciting? Does it sound scary? Yes and yes. There’s danger in this dance, that’s why we can’t resist it! We may feel the tug to keep things the way they’ve been, to avoid the pain and discomfort that often come with change. Simon bar Jonah was in the same place y’all are now, but there’s a reason why he’s better known by the nickname he got last week than the one he got this week. Though he struggled to accept the mission of downward mobility that Jesus accepted in his earthly ministry, when the stone of the grave had been rolled away, the one they called the Rock finally understood what it meant to give up his own ambitions and ideas of how things are supposed to be and surrender to God's will, and he lived the rest of his life with that understanding. In so doing, he earned his true name.
We will find our true selves on this journey, too. The instructions for how we do that can be found in the 12th chapter of Romans (another of our readings from this past Sunday): “let love be genuine…perservere in prayer…rejoice with those who rejoice….weep with those who weep.”
That's the work of the Gospel right there, and I believe that the the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ, is enough. All by itself. It’s enough to turn this world, not upside-down, but rightside-up. Saying yes to this Gospel-centrered life that Jesus calls us into can seem scary, especially when it means letting go of our own ambitions and expectations and ideas for how we think things ought to be. But trust me when I say this, brothers and sisters, it is always, always worth it because it always, always leads to us discovering who we really are.
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