The Rocks And Gates And Keys That Can Set Us Free

Acts 12:1-11 Matt 16:13-19

There was a student who, during the summer holidays, got a job working at the local boating lake.

His task was to issue tickets to those who wished to take one of the little motor boats out on the water. He had also to make sure that no boat was out for more than the prescribed twenty minutes.

On this particular day he is very busy. He’s issued tickets for boat numbers 6, 9, 18.19. and 23 and at the end of twenty minutes he’s shouting through the megaphone for them all to come back in.

Then he’s issuing more tickets – but he notices that boat No6 has not come back  and is still out on the water

“No6, will you come in please” he cries “Your time is up”

But he’s too busy to take any more action because the queue for tickets is getting longer.

After twenty minutes more he call in more boats and he notices that boat No. 6 is still out there

“No. 6 will you come in now” he shouts through the megaphone “ You’ve had nearly an hour – I’ll have to charge you extra”

He’s busy with more and more tickets as boats 4, 7,11, and 15 go out onto the water.

He’s now getting very cross when he sees –boat No 6 is still on the lake  “if you don’t come in right now” he shouts “I will call the authorities, and then you’ll see.

Then, for the first time he looks at that boat properly and the colour drains from his face

He picks up the megaphone “Boat No 9 – are you in trouble!”

Being a Christian is all about how you see things. It’s all about which way up your life is being set. Towards a view of the kingdom of heaven, or stuck with just this.

When the first disciples set out with Jesus, they probably couldn’t put their finger on why they had done it. They probably couldn’t say what it was about the man.

Now Peter, who had been with Jesus from the beginning, reaches the point where he looks at the man properly for the first time and sees not just a growing friend, not just a fine storytelling teacher, not just an amazing miracle worker – but something more “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” – he cries – and in that moment of confession, everything is turned on its head.

And as Jesus reacts to Peter’s discovery –he uses three images in what he now says.

A rock. A gate and a set of keys. And he’s asking Peter, as he’s asking us, how will you put such things to use – towards the kingdom, or just stuck with this.

A rock can be a negative thing to think about. They picked up rocks to throw to condemn the woman caught in adultery. The seed that fell on rock yielded nothing. When Jesus was buried, they rolled a rock in front of the tomb to seal off life forever. Life is rocky and we mean it’s not going well.

But children sing about the wise man building his house on the rock and we thought it was good advice about building things from a sound base – we didn’t understand that Jesus  was that man, and the rock was Peter and then would be us. The rock was rolled away from the tomb as a signal that new resurrection life had begun. 

A gate is something that can be shut fast to keep people separate. When we talk of “gated communities” – we think of places set apart and isolated, maybe because of fear of what lurks out on the street “Please Shut the gate” – we fix the notice in our garden, for we want to keep our territory free from trespassers.

Yet Jesus spoke of the gate of a sheepfold and Himself as the Good Shepherd  who opens that gate so that those who once were held in a confined space, might come to share in the place of green pasture and be nourished.

A bunch of keys is something held by the prison warder to make sure that people serve the sentence to which they are due. Keys can lock away undesirable elements or keep precious things from being stolen. Rather disastrously I think, we have seen this passage as about restricting access to heaven, Peter will be on the door and will only let in those deemed good enough.

The keys of the kingdom are given surely that darkened places may be filled with light, that those who  had thought themselves restricted should be allowed to run free. These are the keys to the locked room at Pentecost from which the spirit filled disciples charged into the city to witness confidently to their Lord.

Rocks and gates and keys. It all depends on how you see them, and how you see them depends upon how you see Jesus of Nazareth, and your answer to Peter’s question  “But you, who do you say that I am”

Do we recognise the freedom at our fingertips if we dare to whisper in unison with Peter – “You are the Christ”

All this imagery is at the forefront of the reading we heard from Acts. Peter is in prison. Keys and gates are used to restrain him. Just down the road, the rock like church is doing the right thing – it is praying for his release. The prayers of the rock church are effective – Peter is free – chains fall away – doors are opened – but if you read on in this great little story, you will find that when Peter gets to his friends, they are unable to believe that he truly is free.  That it is Him at the door. They’ve not yet quite seen rocks and gates and doors for what they are.

True for them and true for us and the way forward is simple. It is to follow Peter in fixing our gaze upon Jesus. Staying close by his side at all times. Coming to see him for who he truly is and the interpreting the world in the light of what it is you are prepared to finally say about Him.

RH 28.6.09