Palm Sunday always brings with it a real mixture of feelings. There is that great exuberance and high expectation when Jesus rides into town on the donkey. The questions and the hopes: is this the Messiah we have awaited for so long? Yes, let it be so. Yet we also know the change of heart this crowd will have by the end of the week. When the hosannas fade, the mood darkens and these same people will cry out for Jesus’ crucifixion.
In my message, I am not going to talk about the anonymous crowds, though, but rather I want to look at one particular disciple whose spiritual experience somewhat mirrors that of the crowd. Simon Peter has been on a roller coaster not only on Palm Sunday, but throughout his discipleship training—from exuberance and great commitment to dismal failure and discouragement. And back again.
Two passages: one, a conversation that takes place along the way as Jesus is teaching
And second, another conversation, this one on the night of the Passover meal, shortly before Jesus is betrayed.
A Rock and a Hard Place
One of the arguments that many people have against the church is that there are so many hypocrites there.
Here’s the story of one church that got rid of all the hypocrites. I don’t think it’s a true story. But these days just about anything is possible. (came from St. Laurent family).
One bright Sunday morning a 2,000-member congregation was startled to see two men enter, both covered from head to toe in black, wearing black hoods, and carrying submachine guns. One of the men shouted, “Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ remain where you are.” Immediately the choir fled, the deacons fled and most of the congregation raced out the back doors. Out of the 2,000 there remained about 20.
The man who had spoken took off his hood, looked at the preacher and said, “OK pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites. Now you may begin your service. Have a nice day!” and the two men walked out.
Well, I suppose that’s one way to get rid of the hypocrites.
Perhaps an even better way would be for us to simply look honestly in the mirror, along with Peter, and see whether hypocrisy stares back at us. It’s a real struggle to build integrity into our life, isn’t it? To truly live the faith that we profess to believe.
Peter certainly knows that truth.
Peter’s story is powerful simply because he is so much like us. He is enthusiastic about his faith; he wants to believe. He wants to be a part of what Jesus is doing in the world. He wants to be faithful. Yet, time and again, he fails when it comes time to deliver on his own promises.
In the first passage of scripture he moves quickly from the Rock on which Jesus will build the church, to a stumbling stone. When he confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, Jesus praises him and he gives him the name Peter, which means rock. Way to go, Peter, you got it! You’re the Rock, I will build my church on your faith. Then when Jesus begins to talk about being arrested and put to death, suddenly Peter becomes a hindrance. He is a stumbling stone in Jesus’ way. Peter, you just don’t get it. You don’t understand at all.
What happened with Peter is a little bit like what happened in a Sunday School class for four-year-olds one Sunday. The teacher asked them, “Does anyone know what today is?” A little girl held up her hand and said, “Yes, today is Palm Sunday.”
“That’s fantastic, that’s wonderful,” the teacher said. “Now, can anyone tell me what next Sunday is?”
The same little girl held up her hand. “Yes, next Sunday is Easter Sunday.”
Again the teacher was thrilled, and patted herself on the back for being such a great teacher. “That’s fantastic.”
She had one more question for the class. “Does anyone know what Easter is about?”
The same little girl responded again and said, “Yes, next Sunday is Easter because Jesus rose from the grave,” and before the teacher could congratulate her, she added this: “But if he sees his shadow. . .he has to go back in for seven weeks.” (story file 18.5.5)
Sometimes I think that Jesus must have felt like that Sunday School teacher. Just when it seemed like Peter was getting the point, he fell flat on his face.
Peter just didn’t get it. Not really. Yes, he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but he didn’t have a clue what that really meant. And that misunderstanding was at the heart of his failure to be the strong and faithful disciple that he wanted to be. It wasn’t a lack of commitment or a personality problem. Sure, Peter had an effusive personality that gave him a tendency to foot-in-mouth disease, but I don’t think it was his personality that really gave him the struggle that we see here. I think it was his faulty belief system.
Here I want to remind you of the principle that I got from Ed. Behind every action is an intention, and behind every intention is a belief. Peter rebuked Jesus when Jesus started talking about being arrested and being killed. Why did he do that? He did it because of his belief system. Go back to Peter’s great confession. Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God. Those are not just words to Peter. They mean specific things. To say that Jesus is the Messiah means that Jesus is going to round up the freedom fighters of Israel and start a battle against Rome. And he’s going to win. The popular belief at the time was that the Messiah would be a supernatural figure who would victoriously march against the enemy and free Israel. Sort of a “superman” figure. And a part of the whole scenario was that he would not die. That is what’s in Peter’s heart when he says, “you’re the Messiah.” And that is also what is in Peter’s heart when he says, “That can never happen to you.” That can never happen to you. You can’t die, because you’re the Messiah.
The Palm Sunday crowd had the same belief that Peter did. That’s why they yelled “hosanna” at Jesus. We use hosanna as simply a praise word, but there was far more to it on Palm Sunday. Hosanna means “God save us.” They were crying out for Jesus to take action. Show the Romans what you’ve got, Jesus. Go get ‘em. Let’s get this military coup underway.
Peter’s understanding, his belief, was not the same as Jesus’ belief, was it? Jesus believed that in order to be the Messiah, he would have to die. And then he would be raised back to life. And that life would give life not only to him, but to all his followers as well.
For Peter to build integrity in his discipleship, he didn’t just need to change his behavior. He needed to change his belief system. He needed to let Jesus define what it meant to be the Messiah instead of trying to force Jesus to fit into his beliefs.
And that’s what we need to do, too. If you want to be a follower of Jesus, you’ve got to decide that what Jesus thinks is more important than what you think.
Have you ever found that what you believe about God doesn’t go along with the things that God does? Or you find things that Jesus says in the Bible go against your grain. Like Peter, many of us want to stuff God into the god-mold that we have made. To make God fit what we think is just and right and loving and true. But we need to let God define who God is. And we need to let God define who we are, too. Because sometimes our beliefs about ourselves are out of synch with reality, too.
This is what we see in the second brief passage from the Bible. This time, the belief that Peter needs to change is about himself. He believes that he is strong enough to walk with Jesus to death. But he’s dead wrong. When the guys come in with the machine guns, Peter is out the door with the choir and the deacons.
Still, it is in this brief interchange that we find great hope for Peter, and for ourselves as well. We see clearly how very well Jesus knows Peter. He knows that in the crunch Peter will deny him. This image of being sifted like wheat is a powerful one. In those days at the harvest, they would shake the wheat in a sieve to remove the chaff. In the hours to come, when events will turn from bad to worse, Peter will feel his faith being shaken. He will not be able to keep the promise so glibly made. And Jesus knows. Jesus knows. But Jesus also knows this about Peter: His failure will not be complete; he will be back. And that is because he doesn’t have to depend only on himself. He thinks he does, but there is a greater power to draw upon. God’s power. Jesus has prayed for him. And Jesus’ prayer will save him from self-destruction. Can you imagine Jesus praying for you right when you are behaving at your worst? When life has turned its back on you, and you just want to give up? Well, Jesus is doing that. Jesus prays for all his followers. Including you.
Notice at the beginning of the passage in Luke, Jesus calls him Simon, not Rock. But by the end, he is again calling him Peter. Reminding him of the name that Jesus gave him. Yes, Peter, you will be that rock. But it won’t be easy, and you will fail miserably before you live into that name. But you will do it, because I’ve prayed for you.
Like Peter, many of us have grand thoughts about our own ability. Our loyalty, our honesty, our integrity. We can do it. Just watch. But then, when we fail to live up to our promise, as Peter did, we feel like there’s no return. It’s over. We have been defined by that failure. Defined by our own human weakness. And many of the people around us may confirm those beliefs.
But Jesus doesn’t see it that way. Jesus is kind of like George Bernard Shaw described his tailor. He said, “The only [person] who behaved sensibly was my tailor; he took my measurements anew every time he saw me, while all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.” (story file, 17.8.8)
Like Peter you can become a strong and stable building block with which Jesus is constructing his church. You can. But you may need to change your mind about who Jesus is and who you are. And change places. A number of years ago there was a popular book with the title God is My Co-Pilot. More recently I have read this suggestion: If God is your copilot, change seats. That’s what this is really all about. Peter believed in Jesus as the Messiah, but he insisted on writing the script himself. And many of us do the same thing. We say we believe in God, but we sit in the God seat of our life, instead of moving over and letting God actually sit there. But if you want to be a follower of Jesus, you’ve got to do just that. Follow Jesus. The real Jesus.