MARCH 12, 2006 PASTOR SCOTT FULLER
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38
Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we may believe and in believing we may obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have you ever been convinced that you were right…only to discover, with a significant measure of embarrassment, that you were wrong? Have you ever told a tale, propagated a problem, let loose with a lie, effected a faux pas or made a mistake that someone else noticed? You may find this hard to believe…but I have...occasionally…frequently??? O.K., I do it all the time! And though I’m not going to share with you some of my more magnificent missteps, I will tell you one that happened on our recent trip to France.
On the first day that Carolyn, Rachel and I spent in Paris, I ended up in charge of reading the map. I don’t really remember being elected to the position…nor, come to think of it, did they even ask me to consider that vital role…I guess I just sort of claimed it. We had visited the Eiffel Tower then decided to walk the three-four miles to the cathedral of Notre Dame.
So I studied the map and…got it! I knew where we were going and off we went. Underway, we saw something on the map called the American Church and decided to back track a little to try and find it. Well, I proceeded to steer us in direction that, again, I was sure was correct, even to the point of overruling the objections of my wife and daughter. As it turned out, I was only this much off course… according to the map. But as many of you know, a little space on paper can turn into a lot of paces on foot. Finally, I had to give up and admit that I was wrong, something that the other two had known to be true for many, many blocks.
When I finally swallowed my pride, mother and daughter shared a look, Rachel took over and immediately got us pointed in the right direction. So we walked, and then we walked some more, and then we all began to wonder if the effort was really worth it. By this time our bodies were starting to tire, and we still weren’t any closer to Notre Dame. But we turned a corner and there was a huge church that looked like it was in the right spot on the map. Well, it wasn’t the church we were seeking, but it was the perfect place for us…to get out of the biting wind and, thanks to my misguided directions, to rest our weary s-o-l-e-s and s-o-u-l-s.
So we ducked inside…and immediately were engulfed in the inspiring sounds of a passionate piece wonderfully played on an organ. We just looked at each other…and sat, letting our eyes drink in the beauty of the building, and our ears be delighted with that glorious sound of music. Not only did it fill that magnificent worship space, but it filled our hearts as well. And continued to bless both our ears and spirits for some time to come.
Now I’m not sure that Carolyn and Rachel would ever say they were happy that I’d gotten us lost, even though we never would have been blessed by that amazing experience. But the truth is: that little accidental moment of grace stands out as a highlight of the trip for each of us.
In a similar sort of way, Peter’s experience in our Gospel lesson for today was both wrong and right, and in that way an incredible gift to the likes of me and, I suspect, most of you…for that is what we are as well: often wrong, but even in our wrongness…sometimes able to see God work something that is spiritually and wonderfully right.
Peter is pumped: he has just been saturated with a sense of revelation! If this moment were depicted as a cartoon, we’d see a big, bright light-bulb over his head, and in the balloon from his mouth the single expression: Aha!!! Jesus has just asked his disciples the question Who do you say that I am?
The light comes on and Peter answers You are the Messiah! And Jesus does not contradict him…he sternly tells them all not to talk about it, but Peter is right, he gets it, he sees what Jesus is destined to do: rule the world.
This is pretty heady stuff – Peter’s figured it out. He’s seen the map. He knows where they’re going and how to get there! But then…Jesus starts talking all this dark, depressing stuff about suffering, rejection, even death! So Peter takes him aside for a little pep talk: let’s cut out the negative stuff, relax, focus on the positive, we know where we’re going!
And with just four little words, Jesus bursts his bubble Get behind me, Satan! Wow! That’s harsh! Why did Jesus say that to Peter?
-temptation? -distraction? -frustration? -pain?
In fact, it wasn’t a simple matter of misreading a map, of taking a right that can easily be corrected by taking two lefts. No, the journey that’s laid out for Jesus, and for everyone else who calls him Lord, includes some time in the Valley of Dark Shadows. Certainly at times for our own dumb mistakes and at others because of the pain that is a part of Life.
But Jesus’ call to take up our cross is more than just dealing with our own pain. It also means trusting in God to help us speak a Word of Good News to people who are in need. And it’s about trusting the Spirit to take our gifts, whatever they are, and put them to work binding up the brokenhearted, setting free those who are captive, giving sight to the blind, helping the lame to walk, all those things that Jesus laid out as the true map of his ministry.
So here’s the miracle: as much as it must have stung Peter to have Jesus call him Satan, and, later, to fulfill Jesus’ “map” by denying his Lord, God has taken Peter’s pain and turned it into a blessing for all of us who follow in his footsteps, misguided as they occasionally are. Thanks be to God that even our wrongs can be turned into rights, that the people of this planet might be blessed by the good news of God’s Spirit in Jesus Christ. Amen.