Blessed In What You Believe
Matt 16:13-19
Mr Cursue was the chemistry teacher at my secondary school.
He was a hideous looking figure.
All bent over, with big yellow teeth and long stringy hair.
He lurked about the school at breaks and lunchtimes in an alarming sort of way.
Walking in the shadows and loitering on corners – ready to catch out the boys who misbehaved.
He would creep up on you from behind if you were mucking about in the cloakrooms and with a simpering whisper he would enquire “and what do you think you’re doing..?
There would be a moment for you to offer an explanation but it would never suffice, so there would be a cuff around the neck and you would be forcibly removed to a place where a long line of boys waited with their faces against the wall, for a more fulsome punishment.
There are many people who believe God is on the prowl and for that reason they tend to stay away from churches.
The notion that, by and large, God looks down disapprovingly on humanity, lurking in the shadows and waiting for the moment when he can leap out and punish
The suffering in the world, the personal misfortunes we all undergo, our knowledge of our own personal shortcomings, all provoke that well known whisper in our guilty consciences “I must have done something to deserve this”
Quite often the preoccupations of the church which reach the headlines in the media only serve to enhance this assumption. We create the impression of an elitist organisation intent on sifting out those whose lives we think do not match biblical principles.
Today we give thanks to God for the lives of Peter and Paul, and their commemoration brings with it, news to make us breathe a sigh of relief – that we are not, in the end going to be condemned for the things we get wrong. That God does not lurk in the corridors and cloakrooms of our lives waiting to pounce, for if this were the case, the lives of these two saints would surely have taken different directions.
Peter in his acts of denial and sheer pig headedness, Paul in his murderous vengeance against anyone who spoke the name of the Christ.
The truth is that both they and we share a common salvation, born not out of what we do, but what we believe. Thus for Peter, our Gospel reading this morning marked a turning point – all his shortcoming amount to nothing when compared to his pronouncement.
“You are the Christ the Son of the living God”
Jesus blesses him for what he believes rather than as a reward for faultless discipleship.
All St Paul’s misdemeanours are forgotten and forgiven in that moment when on the road to Damascus, he is cast to the ground in sudden blindness and exclaims “Who are you Lord”- a confession of belief right at the heart of darkness and confusion.
Blessed by what we believe. It makes our recitation of creeds and these well known prayers and praises all the more vital to our Christian lifeblood. We do need to come to the point where we believe what we’re saying and out of our beliefs will emerge a pattern of living that brings a smile to the face of God.
RH 29.6.08