Sermon 2/8/15
Matthew 16:13-26
A New Name: Simon Peter
Today we’re taking a look at Simon Peter, one of the
twelve disciples, one who was called a different name by Jesus himself. We pick
up in the gospel of Matthew, just after Jesus has been warning the disciples
against the corrupt teaching of the Sadducees and Pharisees, two groups of
religious leader who were always questioning Jesus, his methods, and his
authority. Now, as they enter Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who
do people say the Son of Man is?” He seems to want a sense of what his reputation
is, how people understand the ministry he’s been doing. They tell him that some
are calling him John the Baptist, and some Elijah, others Jeremiah, or another
of the prophets. And then Jesus is more direct: “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus
responds, clearly pleased – Peter has it right. Jesus says, “Blessed are you,
Simon son of Jonah!” He continues, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock, I will build my church.” Jesus says even his own death won’t stop the
community of faith that will form, that Peter and the other disciples will
organize and order.
But from this moment of recognition, Jesus begins to
speak to the disciples about the suffering he will undergo, about his death and
resurrection. They don’t understand him. Peter draws Jesus aside and rebukes
him: “God forbid it! This must never happen
to you.” And Jesus responds saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a
stumbling-block to me.” Finally, Jesus tells the disciples: If they really want
to be followers – if anyone does –
they must deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow. Jesus concludes,
“those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life
for my sake will find it.”
I hope this passage sounds a little bit familiar to you.
We read this very passage together over two Sundays back in August, shortly
after Pastor Penny and I started our journey with you. We talked about what it
meant for Jesus to be called Messiah
– one of his many names – what impact that had on our lives. But today our
focus is a bit different. This time, we’re paying particular attention to Peter
and what Jesus says to him.
Peter is called both Simon and Peter fairly
interchangeably throughout the gospels. Some gospels use one more than other.
John almost always refers to him as Simon Peter. Mark is the only gospel that
doesn’t mention Jesus naming Simon Peter.
And Matthew is the only gospel that gives us the story. In this passage
that we read, Jesus calls Simon Peter.
What’s the significance? Biblical scholars have debated this, because the name Peter is different in both Aramaic and
Greek. Last week we talked about how Saul started going by Paul, since Saul was
Aramaic and Paul was Greek, and Paul was interested in sharing the message of
Jesus with those who were Gentiles. Peter, too, is a Greek name, a Greek word,
which means “a stone.” The Aramaic word for stone is Cephas, and some of the gospels use this word for Peter. (As an
interesting aside, Paul always calls
Peter Cephas, as if to emphasize that
Peter doesn’t understand the mission of the church like Paul does. Yes, Peter
and Paul did not get along. Anyway:) So if we think of this exchange between
Peter and Jesus as in Aramaic, Jesus says, “You shall be Cephas, and on this cephas I
will build my church.” You are the rock, the stone, and on this rock/stone I
will build my church. It works fine, but the text we have, and the name Peter
seems to go by is the Greek: Petros. As I said, this word means stone. Not rock, but stone. And then when Jesus says, “on
this rock I will build my church,” the word is petra. Rock. Not stone, but rock.
Particularly like a shelf of rocks. The kind large rocks that make up a
landscape, that you can walk on, build on. A small change in the Greek word –
Petros to Petra – makes the difference between a stone and rock. Jesus is
saying that Simon called Peter is a stone – but the future Jesus sees in Peter
is a rock, a solid foundation on which a movement will be built into what we know
as the church.
Of course, just later in this very passage, Jesus calls
Peter by another name altogether: Satan! That word means adversary and
opponent. Peter is opposing what Jesus must do, his mission, his purpose,
because Peter is scared and confused. But despite the fact that Peter still
screws things up, still has some of his worst moments later on – after all, his
denying even knowing Jesus is yet to
come – still, what Jesus names Simon
for is his potential, his promise, his possibility. He names him for what Peter
can become if he follows Jesus, if he takes up the cross, if he denies himself
and chooses the path of Christ. Peter, the Rock.
What is
our potential? Promise? Possibility? What does God see in us? One of my
favorite images is a picture I’ve seen now and again of a kitten gazing into a
mirror, only to see a lion looking back. Sometimes I’ve seen this as part of an
article on self-confidence. When we feel good about ourselves, we look in the
mirror and see all that potential. But I think it is more like what happens
when we remember that we’re made in God’s image. When we gaze into God’s heart,
and God reflects back to us what happens when we ground our lives and our
purpose and our dreams in the very heart of God. Then, then, with confidence in God, rather than ourselves, the
kitten becomes a lion. And so when I think about the word play of Peter and
stones and rocks that are strong enough to be the foundation of a whole
movement of Jesus-followers, I realize what it means: A stone is a stone. But a
stone plus Jesus equals a rock solid enough, strong enough, to be a foundation.
Peter is Peter. But Peter plus Jesus equals one who, though still struggling,
inspires crowds to follow Jesus too. We might look in the mirror and see our
limits. But when we look into God’s heart, anything and everything is possible.
We are a little church, just little Apple Valley. But when we reflect God’s
heart to the world, we’re a place with a big mission and big purpose and big
reach and big potential Small seeds that with Jesus produce abundant fruit.
I’ve been participating in a clergy study group for the
last couple of years, and together, we read books and discuss how they impact
our lives and the lives of our congregations. Right now we’re reading Dare to Dream by Mike Slaughter, the
pastor of a large United Methodist Church in Ohio. I’ve found this book more
compelling than I expected, and you shouldn’t be surprised to see it offered as
a study here in the near future. Throughout the book, Slaughter encourages
readers to figure out what their God-purpose is, what their God-centered dreams
are for life. He writes, “If [our] purpose is from God, it will always honor
God, bless other people, and bring you joy. If it doesn’t meet those three
criteria, then it isn’t a God-purpose, no matter how successful you are in
accomplishing it.” And then he encourages us to reflect on three questions to
figure out our God-purpose: “Where do you see the greatest need around you in
your neighborhood, your community, or your world? How can you meet that need?
What gifts do you bring to further that mission?”
Soon, our Lenten journey will begin, and we’ll focus on
the practices of forgiveness and reconciliation. But when Easter comes, and we
greet the promise of resurrection and new life again, I’m going to try to help
us think very seriously about these questions. What are the needs we see? How
can we meet them? What gifts do we bring? How are we honoring God? How are we
blessing others? What brings us joy? I want us to start to look into the heart
of God and see the promise, the possibility, the potential that God sees in us.
You plus God equals what? Apple Valley plus following Jesus equals what? We’re
like Peter. And so even when we glimpse the image God shows us, we’ll still get
things wrong. But maybe we’ll start believing that we’re a people, a
congregation that can dream God-dreams, with purpose, with the possibility to
transform our lives, our community, and our world. God sees that potential in
us. Do you? Blessed are you, stones. Because on this rock, God is building, and
building, and building.
Amen.
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