September 15, 2024 – The Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
Fr. Cal Calhoun
Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”
In the Name of the One who is the beginning and the end of our spiritual journeys, Our Creator God, Redeemer Jesus, and Refresher Spirit. Amen.
This is certainly one of our more familiar gospel readings. “Get behind me Satan.” That is really one of our more popular Biblical clichés.
This story starts on a journey. Our reading begins: “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples….” They are on a journey. This entire narrative happens over a relatively short period of time, maybe 20-30 minutes, while they are on a journey.
And it struck me that this journey, or more precisely this 20-30 minute snippet of a journey, is a lot like our spiritual journeys in microcosm. And somehow that is kind of cool to me, that Jesus and his disciples are on a journey and then this story is like our own spiritual journey. Let’s take a look:
Jesus and his disciples are on a journey. Along the way Jesus asks: “Who do the people say that I am?” It’s the perfect ice breaker, right? If you want to know what someone thinks, but you feel they might be afraid to tell you, you get them talking: “what are the others saying?” And the disciples reply: “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others one of the prophets.” Jesus gets them started, and then he turns it to them. “But who do you say that I am?” We don’t know if Peter was the first one to shout out the answer ahead of others, or if there was a long pregnant pause, while they shift their eyes to one another, wondering who is going to say something. At any rate, Peter answers Jesus, “You are the Messiah.”
The journey begins, there is conversation, there is exploring and learning, and listening, and then…. there is conversion! “You are the Messiah!” Peter wasn’t ready to say that when Jesus plucked him off the fishing boat, probably not even after Jesus healed his mother-in-law, but there was all those other healings and the stilling of the storm, the feeding of the 5000, and then that walking on the water episode. No, when we begin our spiritual journeys we don’t generally start with conversion. We have to get there, be led there, we often have to have an experience of God, some connection to Jesus, before we can say, “You are God.” And certainly, Peter has that opportunity to connect to Jesus as God, in a way we never will.
Then, the first thing Jesus does is tell them not to tell anyone. Now that may sound like music to the ears of Episcopalians who would rather not talk about things religious, and certainly not about conversion, but I’m not going to let you off the hook that easily, because you’ve heard me say it before and you will hear me say it again: we have to learn to tell our stories of our journey with God.
After Peter’s proclamation, Jesus begins to tell them about what lies ahead, suffering and rejection, death, and after three days rising again. Peter is still flying high, he has just identified the Messiah and Jesus didn’t deny it!! Likely Peter’s head is swimming with grandiose thoughts, he might even be thinking about his place in the kingdom, because, you see, most Jews saw the Messiah as the one who would restore the nation of Israel, get rid of the Roman occupiers, a Warrior and a King, someone like King David maybe?
But, Jesus is talking about a servant messiah, about suffering and sacrifice, dying and rising. And clearly this servant and sacrifice stuff does not fit Peter’s idea of Messiah. So Peter pulls Jesus aside and in his new found confidence as the one who has just named the Messiah, he begins to rebuke the Messiah. You just have to love Peter, huh? At times he shines: “You are the Messiah.” He gets it!! And no sooner does he get it, than he gets Jesus’ rebuke. We don’t know exactly what Peter said to Jesus, but “Get behind me, Satan!” must surely trump whatever rebuke Peter had for Jesus. Peter: at times he shines and at times he stumbles, he confesses Jesus as Messiah and he denies he even knows him, he walks on water and he sinks like a stone. Peter is every one of us, just pilgrims on the journey with good days, amazing days, and not so good days, in fact, some really bad days, days of doubt and denial, days of darkness and despair. Thank God for Peter! Peter shows us that we do not have to be perfect Christians, or perhaps more importantly, that we can’t be perfect Christians.
On our journeys: we are engaged – led to God, perhaps with an invitation, we have our conversion, but then we can be tempted to fall back into our old patterns, to sleep in on Sunday mornings, or to find something else to fill the time we had set aside for reading the Bible. And really, I believe our journeys are full of conversions, full of mountain top experiences, times when we feel God’s presence, times when we have an epiphany, an Ah ha! of understanding with respect to God, only to have it slip away after a couple of months, or sooner. You may only have one conversion experience when you truly understand that God exists and God is not the person you see in the mirror. You may not have to question that again, maybe, but you may question, just like Peter, why all the sacrifice? Why all the pain and suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people and vice versa? We all have questions and doubts, the deep dark valleys that follow the mountain tops. “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Poor Peter, he just had it right, and in the next moment, he lost it. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Jesus calls the crowd together with the 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, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”
What is Jesus talking about here? It is the cost of discipleship. It is not cheap grace that Jesus blesses us with. The cost is discipleship. And the stark reality is that, just like Jesus in this passage, the road ahead for us will include servanthood, suffering, rejection, and death. But the good news is, that we, too, like Jesus, at the end of all that will rise to new life. Hopefully, the suffering and sacrifice won’t be the focus of our journeys with God. If we’re lucky, maybe the suffering we face will be to alleviate the suffering of others, like…, I don’t know…. the Good Samaritan? But if we are going to stay on the spiritual journey, weather the ups and the downs, sooner or later, we are going to have to answer the call to discipleship. Sooner or later we are going to have to ask ourselves, who is it that God has created me to be? And what is it that God is calling me to do? One simple answer is: Discipleship.
Which leads me quite wonderfully, quite wonderfully to last Sunday’s kick-off of Sunday School! [11:00: if you missed Sunday School today, you can get started next week!) We have Sunday School for all ages. We have three adult formation offerings. The Lectionary group meets downstairs in the library and discusses the readings we have each week. We have an 8-week conversation on Health, which explores physical, mental, spiritual and relational health called the Heart of Health is Love. There is also a Coffee and Conversation group of mostly parents meeting downstairs. The Women’s Bible Study is meeting on-line and in-person on Tuesday evenings at 5:45.
If you missed the Ministry Fair in the last few weeks, or if you were thinking about signing up for something and hesitated, the sign-up sheets are still out there this one last Sunday, so you can still take advantage of this annual opportunity to explore and partake in the various ministries that make up this little part of the Body of Christ, that we call the Church of the Good Samaritan.
So branch out, be adventuresome, what ministry are you being called to? Where is Jesus calling you on this road to discipleship? There is really no better way to get connected to this community than through its various ministries.
In our spiritual journeys, we will all have our conversions, our up and downs, our servanthood, our suffering, dying, and rising, our sweet spots and our rough spots, just like Peter. And just like Peter the journey is meant to lead us to discipleship. And an important part of discipleship is community, you can’t be a disciple all alone. Just ask Peter. Amen.
Year B – Proper 19 – The Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost – September 15, 2024 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
