Thank God for Peter! He is such a source of hope for you and me, and not in the way that we might expect. Peter—the leader of the disciples, the rock upon which Jesus would build his Church, the chief of the apostles, the one to whom the keys to the kingdom of heaven were given, St. Peter—this Peter is such a source of hope for you and me. I am so thankful that Peter didn’t get everything right the first time, or the second time, or the third time! He didn’t make just little mistakes; he made gigantic mistakes!
In one breath, Jesus would praise Peter for his great faith, and in the next he would chastise him for his lack of faith. Jesus wasn’t being inconsistent; Peter was inconsistent. Even we, who struggle with our inconsistencies and doubts, can look at Peter and marvel: “How can you be so thick-headed, so stupid and weak at times? When will you get the point, get with the program?” But that’s the aspect of Peter’s personality that should give us all hope. For Jesus was patient with Peter; he stuck with him until he did get it right. He sticks with us until we get it right. He chooses imperfect people to carry out his work. And so there’s hope for you and me.
They are near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He has taught them much of what he wants to teach them. They have witnessed incredible miracles. And so one day Jesus asks the disciples who people say that he is. After hearing their responses, he asks, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus praises Peter, calls him blessed, because God has revealed this to him, and then tells him that he is a rock and that he will build his Church on that rock.
Then Jesus goes on to prepare the disciples for the purpose of the coming of the Messiah. He tells them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the leaders of Judaism and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Peter doesn’t get the point. He says, “Forbid it, Lord…….This shall never happen to you.” And then Jesus says to Peter, the rock on which he would build his Church, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.”
Jesus goes on to say, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Peter was able to say the words of faith, to call Jesus the Son of God. What he was not able to do was to accept the consequences of that statement of faith. Jesus wants us to praise him not only with our lips, but in our lives.
The words of our Lord are no more palatable in our day than in Peter’s day. We live in an extremely hedonistic society. The culture tells us to indulge ourselves, not deny ourselves. I call this Burger King theology: “Have it your way.” If something gives you pleasure, have it your way, do it. If it isn’t pleasurable, then don’t do it, or stop doing it. If you really want something, why wait? Have it your way; charge it. If you don’t want that pregnancy, get an abortion. If life is not making you happy, if you’re too sick to enjoy yourself, then end it. If it feels good, do it, and do it only if it feels good. In a nutshell, that is the philosophy of our culture, from the greatest of us, to the least of us
It isn’t coincidental that our culture is also plagued by alcohol and drug addiction, violent crime, child abuse, spouse abuse, and a host of other afflictions. Living life with the self as the center ultimately is not only self-destructive, but also is destructive to those around us. Hedonism, living life according to the pleasure principle, is attractive on the surface, but it is false because its end is destruction—destruction of marriage and family, of morality, of self-respect, of life itself. It simply is false.
Our Lord’s response to Peter shows us another way. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” In saying we should deny ourselves, Jesus isn’t talking about giving up something that we like once in awhile. He is talking about conversion—taking ourselves out of the center of the picture and putting God in the center. That takes effort, because it doesn’t come naturally. Hedonism is what comes naturally, but remember, hedonism is a false path. Putting God in the center means taking the time to pray about decisions we have to make and asking the question, “What would God have me to do?”
To take up our cross is to share in Christ’s work of saving the world. It follows naturally from self-denial, as we seek to make Christ known through our willingness to forgive, through standing up for what is right when such a stand is unpopular, through suffering patiently when under attack. In denying ourselves and taking up our cross, we will be following Christ, for we will be living not according to our plan, but according to God’s plan.
A current movie is Cowboys and Aliens. As the title suggests, it’s a combination of two genres, cowboys and Indians and science fiction. The main character is having a kind of personal crisis. He has lived his life according to the pleasure principle—if it feels good, do it—to the point of stealing and murdering. He wants to change, but he fears that there is no way out of his predicament. This is his confession to the preacher in the community. The preacher, meaning well, tells him, “God isn’t interested in what you’ve done, just in who you are right now.”
The preacher’s intentions were good, but his theology was bad. God is interested in what you have done, and he wants to forgive you. All you need to do is confess your sins and then you can start fresh. You can change. You can choose to live a different way.
I have a confession to make. I am influenced by hedonism just like anyone else, and I make use of confession on a regular basis. I do know the plan, and by God’s grace I think I’m learning, little by little, to live by it. But I do thank God for Peter!
