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Sermon by Bishop Paul
C. Hewett, SSC
Pentecost 15 – August
24, 2008
The Church of The Good
Shepherd, Rosemont. PA
Text: Mt. 16: 18, "you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church."
Peter is the man who became a rock. When
we first meet him in the Gospel, Peter is Simon bar Jona, Simon the
son of John. The name "Simon" means "dove," with
connotations of being timorous and fluttering. "Peter" is
a kind of nickname, based on "petras," rock-like, or "rocky."
Simon bar Jona is a Galilean fisherman,
the brother of Andrew, partners with James and John. Jesus meets them
by the Sea of Galilee and calls them from their fishing boats, and offers
them the promise of metamorphosis. "Follow me, and I will make
you (to become) fishers of men. Simon is quick-tempered and emotional,
chivalrous and loyal, but also vacillating. Jesus sees in Simon the
vacillator Peter the rock. (“Petra" is the Greek word for "rock.”)
In the Gospel this morning, Jesus asks his apostles who He is. They
have been resting around Caesarea Philippi, having a time of teaching
and fellowship. Jesus asks the central question of all time, the question
everyone will have to answer, sooner or later: "Who do you say
that I am?" Simon steps out and proclaims, "You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God!” Jesus is God in the flesh. At the root
of all the issues we face today is the question, "Is Jesus God
in the flesh or not?"
Peter answers boldly as the Father has
revealed the truth to him and from this point on Jesus calls Simon by
the name of "Peter," the rock on which He will build His Church.
Those who name Jesus as Lord themselves receive a new identity in the
Son, as a son of God by adoption and grace. Peter calls Jesus the Christ,
and Christ gives Simon a new name, Peter. What we call Jesus determines
whether we sink into the superstitions of our age or launch out into
the abundant life. The greatest superstition of our age is that man
is the measure of all things. Alexander Solzhenitsyn has summed up the
whole tragedy of the 20th century with the old Russian proverb, "Men
have forgotten God." The greatest tragedy of all is that God is
not loved more. His Son is forgotten, ignored or denied by so many.
We ourselves can be lazy in regard to the capacity for love He wants
to enlarge in us, by the Holy Spirit
Yet, in our Liturgy, we proclaim what
we feel, think, know and believe about Christ. We lift Jesus higher,
for all to see and adore. "My Lord and my God," we say, as
the Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation are lifted for all to see.
We lift Him higher, whose rule and authority cannot be compromised,
reduced or watered down by anyone. He lives. He rules. He gives gifts
to His people, so that we can draw all men to His heart, to lift all
to His throne, with that great phrase in our Liturgy, "Sursum Corda!"
"Lift up your hearts!"
(But the same) Peter is later broken
by his three-fold denial of Jesus the night before the crucifixion.
After the resurrection, Jesus restores Peter by giving him three chances
to proclaim his love. Jesus absolves Peter. Now Peter's weakest point
becomes his strongest because he lets God break him and take charge.
God chooses the least likely men, and the least likely times and the
least likely ways to show His power.
Peter learns to prevail in God's strength,
not his own. He would be a surrendered soul through whom God can do
great things. He will discover that as God becomes more real to us,
He becomes less tame. The Messiah is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
He is always breaking out of the boxes we put Him in, so as to accomplish
His mighty purposes. He is so much bigger than we imagine or expect,
always opening up new horizons for us. He does more than we think He
will. Peter, the most vacillating, becomes the chief of the apostles,
the foundation stone of the Church. He gives the first sermon on the
Day of Pentecost. He performs the Church's first miracle. He is the
first to bring in the Gentiles.
When Herod begins to persecute the Church
he beheads James, the brother of John, and puts Peter in prison. Peter
is caught like an animal in a trap, under the guard of four squads of
four soldiers each. The Church is now praying for Peter without ceasing.
This is a dark time for the Church. At Peter's darkest hour, just before
the day of his execution, an angel delivers him from his chains. This
is so often God's way: to deliver us under humanly impossible conditions,
in the darkest hour of the night, at the last minute. The iron gate
leading from the prison back into the city opens to Peter and the angel
of its own accord. A difficulty disappears before it is reached. Some
gates open of their own accord, and for others, God gives us a key when
we get there.
(Peter) (He) becomes the first Bishop
of Rome, where he is martyred around 60 AD, under Nero, by being crucified
upside down. He asked to be crucified that way, because he did not believe
he was worthy to be crucified upright as Jesus was. One tradition is
that his preaching won so many souls to Christ and changed so many lives
that the authorities were enraged, having lost sources of income or
concubines. St. Paul is beheaded about that time, also in Rome. Saints
Peter and Paul are always invoked together, Peter as the Apostle to
the Jews and Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Peter was the man who became a rock.
However often he might fail, he always let God help him recover his
courage and integrity. One look from the eyes of Jesus brought him back
to his rock-like loyalty. We may pray, with Peter, "When thou seest
me waver, with a look recall." God can restore the waverer to rock-like
strength. He can restore the angry man to patience, the lustful to purity.
He makes even abject death a Passover to glorious life. His wounds from
the cross are the very place where the new creation is shown. Our Lord
says to us, "If you make me your Master, if you give your life
to me, if you let me break you, I will make you a rock." Like Peter,
the first among the apostles, and like Mary, their Queen, each of us
is a living stone, built up into a spiritual house, a temple of the
most holy Trinity.
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