Finders Keepers,
Losers…
Life after losing.
“Get behind me Satan!” (Matthew 16.21-28)
I have found this scripture to really push at my understanding of Christ as endlessly compassionate and gracious. The story goes that Jesus was sensing the impending threats to his life - you cannot go on critiquing and challenging empire without risk. Rome has little tolerance for “constructive criticism” and the Religious Authorities at the time had little tolerance for anyone who disturbed the incredibly fragile co-existence within empire. And Jesus shares this with the disciples.
But as Peter sees it, God would never allow for Jesus to be harmed; God would not allow for him to even “dash his foot against the stone.” But that is the view of another character, and Jesus makes that plain. If we had forgotten, the language that the author employs brings us right back to the earlier scene of Christ in the wilderness - tempted by the devil with power, wealth, invincibility and control. Every time, Christ turns it down for that which is genuine.
In this passage, Jesus seems to expel more emotion at Peter than he ever did with the devil. And perhaps we are to pay attention to this… not necessarily because of any sense of condemnation, but to receive the urgency within it.
Within Christ, there is a sincere understanding of calling. There is a sense of calling to teach, reveal, and embody the love of God and to be as true to this as possible - even when there’s risk and cost.
Christ is trying to be faithful to the calling. Peter can’t accept it.
Peter is holding on to an idea and a hope that Christ will be something else. Maybe it is like the vision offered to Jesus in the wilderness, or maybe it is closer to the image of the Messiah within the Jewish tradition. Either way, it is an image that does not and cannot include suffering. Peter is holding on to an image of God that is actually interrupting the real image of God before him.
This is what leads Jesus to speak the words that contain the essence of the gospel…
“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”
Peter is certain that he knows who God is, what God is doing, and where he stands in all of this. Until he isn’t. Peter is holding on to something that he must now let go of. Peter must lose this, or he will be left only holding onto an idea and an illusion, not the genuine.
What is God trying to do before and within us?
Are we willing to let go of our ideas of who God should be and what God should be doing?
Are we willing to let go of our ideas of who we are in relation to the image of God we have held?
These very questions hold the possibility of a radical deconstruction/conversion/rebirth and so we can have some grace with ourselves as we receive the questions. These are not easy questions. They are not questions that just pass us by. They are perennial within the life of faith and a faith community, and there is some urgency to it all - that the questions are worthy of us.
There is always threat and risk in losing - a cost to the self that often involves some portion of identity and spirit. And, there is something beyond the loss. Something that is found only after we have let go and lost.
What must we let go of, in order to discover the genuine?
Let us honor and wrestle with these faithful questions to be ever more faithful to God, ourselves, and one another.
Peace,
Rev. Chris McCreight
Manuscript and Video of the sermon, “Finders Keepers”
In Our Church and Community:
Food and Resource Drive for our Haitian Neighbors in Springfield:
There are many ways to help our siblings in Springfield, and one way that the church is helping is by holding a food drive to provide groceries. Foods can be dropped off in the kitchen of the sanctuary building or brought to the worship service this coming Sunday, September 6th. The collections will be delivered the following week.
Community “HillFest” at Hiram College on Monday, September 7 from 6-9pm
Our Contemplative Services will return on Wednesdays, beginning September 9th @ 5:30pm
It was so good to host The Hiram Rapids Stumblers this last Sunday evening for Hiram Village’s Summer Concert Series. Partnering with the Parks and Recreation Board, we’ve offered the sanctuary as a “rain location” for these concerts. It’s a gift to be able to host and use this phenomenal space in all the ways that serve our community.
