Trinity 15 Realised Impossibility 31/08/08
Jer 15.15-21; Rom 12.9-end; Matt 16.21-end.
“Never Lord!” Matt 16.22.
Orientation.
Do you remember the days before digital pictures when we had slide shows? The challenge for the presenter was to load the slide holder correctly so that the image would appear the right way up on the screen. In order to achieve this you had to load the slides upside down and back to front. It required concentration, especially when it was necessary to load one slide at a time as well as giving a presentation. You have to think in an inside out way to get it right. It’s like arranging words on an ohp.
Learning to think in a new way.
To put our reading into context, there is plenty to think about. Jesus refuses to pander to the demand from the Pharisees for a sign and a warning to avoid their teaching. He remarks on the limited faith of he disciples, who fail to understand about he yeast of the Pharisees. He is pleased with Peter who recognises that he is he Christ, the son of the living God. He goes further in saying he will build his church on the faith of Peter and the others ‘On this rock I will build my church,” and hands over the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. (Why Peter is pictured at the gates.)
But now he reveals to them what is going to happen and they simply cannot grasp it. “Jesus began to explain that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of he elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” There has never been anything like it before.
When steam trains were invented people thought that the sheer speed would suffocate all the passengers if they travelled over 30 mph. The first cars required a pedestrian to walk in front of them carrying a red flag. No one could imagine the devastating effects of the first atomic bomb. Can you remember what it was like before mobile phones and yet how difficult to predict their impact?
Jesus is not just a teacher or a prophet, but God’s anointed King and Messiah. What would you think about that? It would be natural to say “Here’s the new king, here’s the new kingdom, let’s go to Jerusalem, announce the new world order and take over in a bloodless revolution.”
But Jesus is going to do the exact opposite, because the way to the new kingdom is the exact opposite, a mirror image of what of Peter and friends expect. Upside down and back to front. It will not involve exultation, celebration, razz-ma-tazz, the Democrat Convention in Denver including web-log, press coverage and multi media. Not only will it be low key, but arrival in Jerusalem will involve the suffering and death of the new King, and as for the new kingdom …..
Are we surprised that Peter says ‘God forbid it Lord! or Never Lord” as our Bible puts it. The people Jesus will confront rulers, authorities legal experts will appear to win in this confrontation in Jerusalem and then Jesus will be raised from the dead!
Peter the ‘rock’ is rebuked by Jesus for what he says and yet is this not strange to us? Why doesn’t Jesus sit down and explain, go over the main points, invite discussion, ‘How do you feel about what I’ve just told you?’. None of that soft counselling stuff – “Get thee behind me Satan!”
God thinks differently from the way we think. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isa 55.9. The trouble is, God sees everything the wrong way round, or perhaps we should say “We see everything the wrong way round, like in a mirror, whereas God sees everything the right way round, as it really is. So Paul could say “Now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I am fully known. 1Cor 13.12.
Taking up the Cross
We need to know this because then Jesus says “If anyone will come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” It will cost everything and there are no half measures. Like learning to swim, you cannot keep your feet on the bottom of the pool. You have to forgo that security and launch out into the deeper water, only to discover that the water holds you up. “Those who want to save their life will lose it but those who lose their life for me will find it. “
This is true of the church today. It exists in the world for the nations and their communities and not for self promotion. This isn’t just my idea, it is the thinking of Bishop Leslie Hunter, who was Bishop of Sheffield from 1939 to 1962. He faced the reality even then that for many people in Sheffield “The church is not for the likes of us.” He taught his people to engage in local life.
He used to tell this story as a parable. “He had a dream, and in the dream he found the store where the gifts of God for his people were kept. There was an angel standing behind he counter. He said to the angel “I have run out of the fruits of the Spirit, can you restock me” The angel replied “It’s not that simple.” “Look, in place of war, afflictions, injustice, lying and lust, I need love, joy, peace, integrity and discipline, Without these we shall all be lost.” The angel replied “We do not stock fruits, only seeds.”
Taking up our cross in this age means growing love, joy and peace where we find ourselves. Not exclusively in church, but more importantly, in the world, among the people around us. Leslie Hunter was himself inspired by William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury from 42 – 44 when he died an untimely death. He it was who said “The church is a club for the benefit of its non members.”
Isn’t it interesting that Hunter was bishop at the time that St Mary’s, under the leadership of Stephen Burnett, gave away half the building to the local community for he purpose of locating a new centre, to enrich local life and nourish it with the generosity, grace and hope of the Kingdom of God.
“Those who lose their life will find it!” “Never Lord!” Amen
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