 |
| St Peter -- Durer |
- Exodus 3:1-15 and Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b •
- Jeremiah 15:15-21 and Psalm 26:1-8 •
- Romans 12:9-21 •
- Matthew 16:21-28
In
the Epistle for this Sunday, Paul sets a very high standard for
Christian conduct: ‘Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit . . .Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer . . . Bless those who persecute you . . . Live in harmony with one another . . . Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.’
These are all admirable injunctions, of course. Yet they are also
counsels of perfection. How many Christian lives actually model this
ideal? How many ever have? Very, very few, is the only honest answer.
Happily, if this
seems a depressing conclusion, the Gospel for this week offsets it to a
considerable degree. The
passage brings to the fore the strange relationship that Simon Peter
had with Jesus. In part this was a result of his impulsive and
vacillating character. Peter was the sort of person who could be
inspired to leap over the side of a boat one moment, only to be crying
out in fear the next. In terms of the whole Gospel
story one vacillation is especially well known -- his behavior at ‘the time of trial’. When danger looms -- in the unlikely form of a servant girl! -- Peter's emphatic assurance of
love and loyalty to Jesus is rapidly displaced by three equally emphatic denials -- 'I never knew him'.
Jesus
too seems to vacillate in his attitude to Peter. Last week's Gospel recorded how, early in their
relationship, Jesus declares Peter to be the ‘rock’ on which the church is to
be founded. Now, in this week's passage that same rock is declared ‘a
stumbling block’, someone who has to be told, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ -- a dramatic reversal indeed.
 |
| Christ Saves Peter -- Alexander Ivanov |
Yet
this fact remains. Jesus chose Peter. He made him a witness of the
Transfiguration. He granted him the largest number of post-Resurrection
encounters. Why? An important clue to the puzzle lies in this rebuke: ‘you
are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things’. It is precisely Peter’s
inconsistent character that equips him for the role he has
been assigned. In his weakness, he is a true representative of our
common humanity. In his
devotion to Jesus, however faltering, he exhibits a spiritual hope of
which we are all capable. Paul’s counsel of perfection is a description
of that hope, but its ultimate realization is not in Peter or in us, but in Jesus. That is why he is to be hailed as true man and true God.
No comments:
Post a Comment