Tag Archives: Peter

The faith I want

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

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I don’t want a comfortable Jesus.  Comfortable Jesus is the type of Jesus that puts up with a lot of stuff because, well, he’s trying to be nice.  Comfortable Jesus is about being nice above all else.  Being nice means not saying things that would raise questions or point out injustices or hang out with “those” people.  Comfortable Jesus is really just a nice guy you see at Starbucks every day on the way to work, but you really don’t know.  Comfortable Jesus is a nice neighbor from down the street who you wave to when they are walking their dog past your house.

I don’t need a comfortable Jesus.  I have all that already.

Would comfortable Jesus be willing to mix it up, get in people’s face, question things, point out injustice?  Risk death?  Of course not.

What I need is a Jesus who is willing to go through death and hell and come back.  It’s not a matter of wanting it. It’s a matter of needing it.  Because if things rely on me, then I’m screwed.  I’m going to fail and fall.  Over and over again.

I need a Jesus who is willing to act out what he claims.  I need a Jesus that is willing to stand beside me in the worst of circumstances.

Thankfully, then I read Scripture I see that Jesus.  I hear Jesus tell his disciples to follow him.  This isn’t an invitation to a BBQ.  It’s an invitation to drop everything and follow him – he is the Lord of our lives.

I hear Jesus tell those who would follow him:

‘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?

(Matthew 16:24-26)

Take up your cross.  That’s not something like a hang nail that is bothersome and a burden.  That’s pick up the thing that will kill you and follow Jesus.  Willingly.  Jesus is talking about death here.  Not avoiding it.  Walking right into it.  Why?  Because Jesus knows that death doesn’t have the last say.

I want a Jesus who gets in my face and asks me:

‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you?

(Luke 6:46)

Yes, a Jesus who won’t make nice and settle for me only wanting to follow him some times.

I want a Jesus who talks about gnawing his flesh and drinking his blood and then pointedly asking me:

‘Does this offend you?

(John 6:61)

and,

‘Do you also wish to go away?’

(John 6:67)

He might as well be asking me this – are you all in on me?  Or is that a bit too much for you?

Simon Peter responds to Jesus question by saying:

‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life’

(John 6:68)

Right on Peter.  I’m with you Peter.  Where else are we going to go?  Certainly not some politician or political party.  Certainly not to money or work.  Certainly not to patriotism or capitalism or socialism or any other ism that exists.  Certainly not to sports or health.  Nothing else offers salvation.

And what will carry me forward and give me a course of action when I see a homeless person in need, or a hungry person, or someone who is sick, or dying, or in prison, or in need of clothes, or a listening ear, or who is in a broken relationship, or anything else.

Where else can we go?

This is the faith that I need.  It’s the faith that is offered to each of us.

Who do you say that I am?

28 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in Church, Theology

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This is the phrase taken from Sunday’s Gospel reading.  It’s Jesus asking the disciples the question – who do they say Jesus is?  Jesus wants to know – do they think of Jesus as just a nice guy who makes people feel good about themselves?  Do they think of Jesus as just another spiritual teacher?  Maybe Jesus is a prophet?  Or maybe they see Jesus as someone who has some good advice to give?

There’s hesitation in the answer – no one wants to answer.  But Peter makes the bold declaration – “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.”

Ut-oh.

I wonder if Peter even knew what he was doing when he said that.  If Jesus is Messiah, son of the living God, then there are consequences for that. If Jesus is just a nice guy with some wisdom to teach, there are consequences for that too.  It’s a lot easier to smile and nod and pretend to take in something that is said from a nice guy with good life advice.  You can’t do that though if we’re talking about God.

If Jesus is God, then that means Peter’s whole life is about to change.

This is what happens when Jesus encounters someone – lives change.

Jesus isn’t just asking Peter – “Who do you say that I am?”  He’s asking us this same question too.

What is our answer?  If our answer is similar to Peter’s then are we prepared for the consequences of the answer?  If Jesus is Messiah, then it impacts what we do.  It impacts our relationships.  It impacts our work.  And yes, it impacts our finances and our identities.  If Jesus is Messiah, son of the living God, then we can’t just cherry pick what Jesus says – we are called to live it out, we are called to imitate Jesus.

Jesus asks us – “Who do you say that I am?”

What’s your answer?

Jesus walks on water…you can too!!!

11 Friday Aug 2017

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This Sunday is the Gospel reading about Jesus walking on water and Peter giving it a try, only to realize he isn’t God and starts to sink.  I’ve always found the reading a bit odd to be perfectly honest. I never really liked the passage.

I don’t the words from Jesus – “Oh you of little faith.”  Often I don’t like it because what I hear in my head when I hear this is a voice that is condescending – As in “Oh Peter, you have got to be kidding me, try harder home boy. That was pathetic.”  Heard that way, this passage of Gospel is really disheartening and can just be a really killer for people.  That’s the danger of it anyway.  It’s a message of “try harder or else you’ll sink.”  That’s not gospel – that’s the message of the world.

Yet here we are – a statement by Jesus that sounds just like the world.

But wouldn’t you know it, Jesus doesn’t let Peter drown. He doesn’t give Peter what he deserves.  Instead, Jesus reaches out his hand and pulls Peter to safety.  Jesus embodies grace and does the exact opposite of this world and its gospel message.  How great is that.

But really, what’s the deal with Jesus walking on water?  Maybe it’s the message that Jesus can not be controlled by the chaos of the sea.

Imagine if this story were told today.  You’d see News Team 21 going to the scene to interview the guys on the ship and report what they experienced.  Then there would the viral selfies of James and John showing Jesus in the background, but it wouldn’t be too clear – it was stormy you know.  And finally, we can’t for get about the tweets.  Thomas: Jesus walks on water.  You’d think he was God or something. #doubting, #gottogetmeapairofthoseshoes

Then the 30 seconds of fame would die off because one of the Kardashians would have walked across something and tried to outdo Jesus.  And then Jesus walking on water would be so last week.

At any rate, what does this mean for us today?  Good question.  I don’t think it’s God’s call for us to try crazy things that might get us killed.  And I don’t think it’s God’s call to do publicity stunts either.  I think it’s about this.  We get sent out into a messy world that tosses us and turns us all over the place.  And it’s scary and messy and we feel like we’re going to get thrown out of the boat. And just when we think it can’t get any worse, Jesus shows up in unexpected ways – ways we have trouble believing.  And bam, grace happens.  And boy do we need that.  And when grace comes, all the chaos doesn’t matter any more.

Sound like modern life?  based on some recent conversations, it sounds exactly like what the passage about walking on water is all about.

Preaching Gospels

11 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by in Humanity, Sermon Prep, Society, Theology

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Preaching the Gospel can be quite unpopular.  There are lots of people who preach very popular gospels – sometimes even from pulpits.  Most of the time though preaching doesn’t happen in the pulpit.  It happens throughout our ordinary days.

If you are lucky, you get to hear Jesus’ Gospel for 10-20 minutes on a Sunday – maybe even longer.  But then you are inundated with other gospel messages seven days a week for every waking hour from a variety of sources.

What are these other gospel messages?   It’s a list I thought of when I thought of all the other gospels I was exposed to over the course of just one day.  These gospels were preached to me when I work out, when I’m driving, when I’m on social media, when I’m talking with people, when I read my mail, when I watch something on Youtube or TV, when I eat, when I walk in our bathroom, when I look all around me.

These are the gospel messages I heard, saw and experienced:

The gospel of revenge, competition, nationalism, patriotism, materialism, consumerism.  I heard the gospels of Democrat and Republican parties.  I heard the gospel of militarism and might makes right.  I heard the prosperity gospel and the death and destruction gospel of the Rapture.  I heard the gospels of fashion, medication, fame, fortune, and sex.  I heard a gospel of judgement.  A gospel of us versus them.

I heard these gospels.  Very few times did hear a gospel of good news.  I heard gospels that are exhausting and tiring and essentially gospels of bondage.  I heard gospels that preach that salvation is up to you if you try really hard and are able to point the finger of blame at everyone else who is guilty of something.

The Gospel of Jesus is different, as I continue to discover.  Each of us will make sense of it in a way that speaks to us.  Here’s my way.  The Gospel is like running a marathon.  When you hit the “wall” that psychological wall, you don’t feel like you can do anything else – you hurt all over, you are mentally done.  It is at this point when you know at a deeper level whether you believe or not.  Marathons are lonely.  Marathons can be painful.  But in the end, you know it was worth every bit.

One thing I heard from yesterday’s sermon was that it’s much easier to hate than to love.  Peter gets frustrated by Jesus asking him three times if he loves him.  It irritates Peter.  Love isn’t easy – in fact often it doesn’t make rational sense.

“They” attack us – what should we do?  The common answer is to strike back and teach “them” a lesson so they know who not to mess with.  I’m exhausted already.  This answer has been the standard answer for all of human history and I think it’s safe to say at this point that it doesn’t work.  Peace is never the result of this decision.  Just more death and destruction and violence and hatred.  It’s the easy way out.  If you kill your enemy you don’t have to invest time and energy in another person or nation.

Love is much harder – not just in response to war, but in response to all of the false gospels that are preached at us endlessly every day.  Grace is much harder than what all the other gospels demand of us.  Peace is much harder and more unpopular than all the gospels that demand violence and being right.

And demand is the right word.  All of these false gospels are demanding.  They demand our adherence, lest we be labeled as some kind of freak or irrational or unrealistic.  They demand our energy and attention, lest we be labeled as uninformed or stupid.  They demand orthodoxy, lest we be labeled a traitor or a sympathizer or a heretic.  They demand our lives, lest we be labeled a radical.

There is a different Gospel.  Yet we don’t get to hear it very often.  Our culture isn’t interested in it.  Nor should we expect our culture to preach it.  But it’s a Gospel that tells us that we don’t have the energy to do it on our own.  We have been given everything we need – whether we think that’s enough is another story.  Because of this, we can respond out of freedom and love and grace and peace.  We can live these things, as difficult as they are, not in order to gain anything, but because of what has been done for us.  It’s very freeing.