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Matthew 16: 21-28
Wayne Wold writes:
This Sunday we shall hear again about Peter in the gospel reading. Last week he was the proclaimer of Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God!" This week Jesus addresses Peter with the stern rebuke, "Get behind me Satan!" Why the change? Is Peter, after all, the rock or a hindrance?
Truthfully, he is both for he is very human. God's ways, as Jesus has shown us again, are often paradox. To follow Jesus one must take up one's cross. Those who try to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for Christ's sake will find them.
Those who gain the world forfeit their lives, and, ultimately, to live is to die. Such are the dynamic truths of Christianity. "They must be true," goes the old saying, "for no human could have invented such a preposterous faith."
This, then, is the paradoxical truth to which we witness whenever we gather for worship. Such fantastic and unbelievable truths must be constantly rehearsed and continually proclaimed for us to learn them. Even then we must ultimately rely on God's gift of faith to believe such claims and on God's grace to fulfill them. Such a God is not for us to fully understand--only to trust, serve, imitate, worship and praise.
Come worship at St. Timothy's on Sunday. Let's lift our hearts and voices as together we become lost in wonder, love and praise.
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