Out of the Cocoon, Simon to Peter

January 28, 2007

This little story comes from a Bill Moyers’ speech that I read this week. It’s a Baptist story.

There was once a man who was about to jump off a bridge when another fellow ran up to him crying, “Stop, stop, don’t do it.”

The man on the bridge looks down and asks, “Why not?”

“Well, there’s much to live for.”

“What for?”

“Well, your faith. Your religion.”

“Yes?”

“Are you religious?”
“Yes.”
“Me too.  Christian or Buddhist?”
“Christian.”
“Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?”

“Protestant.”

“Me too. Are you Methodist, Baptist or Presbyterian?”

“Baptist.”

“Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Savior?”

“Baptist Church of God.”

“Me too. Are you Original Baptist Church of God or Reformed Baptist Church of God?”

“Reformed Church of God.”

“Me too. Are you Reformed Church of God Reformation of 1879, or Reform Baptist Church of God Reformation of 1917?”

“1917.”

Whereupon, the second fellow turned red in the face and yelled, “Die, you heretic scum,” and pushed him off the bridge.

What we believe is really important. How we come to that belief is even more important. What we believe about Jesus is important. How we come to believe what we believe about Jesus is even more important because the way describes our relationship to him and the relationship is the most vital thing. It really is about the journey. It’s about the relationship.

We are still talking about the changes in our lives and the changes in our faith and our text. Ephesians 4:15 which says something like this: “Speaking the truth in love lets us grow up in every way into Christ.” We are talking about the journey to maturity in Christ and the changes that may happen along the way.

Today our case study is Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter, and who is often called Simon Peter.  In the portion of scripture that we read this morning, we heard Jesus ask his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”  In other words, what do people believe about me?  It is a really important question, what do people believe about Jesus?  And they answered that people thought that he was a prophet, maybe John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah or another one of the prophets. They believed that he was a preacher who spoke the truth of God.  That is what they believed and it was very high praise.

Last Wednesday night, we hosted Rev. Lisa Swartz, the very articulate pastor of the Unitarian Church here in Topeka. If I understood her correctly, many of her fellow Unitarians would agree with that assessment of Jesus; a great prophet, a great teacher but no more. Make no mistake, in telling the ancient story, we are talking about very contemporary things.

And then Jesus changed the tone of the conversation. He turned it into something extraordinarily personal. In philosophical language, he turned it into something intensely existential. Now he addresses each person at the core of his being, “But who do you say that I am?”  Can you see it?  They start to look at each other, hoping that somebody else will speak first and Jesus says, “Don’t do that. You must answer for yourself. Who do you say that I am? Who am I to you?” How is that for a contemporary question, “Who do you say that I am.”

And Simon finally answered, “You are the Messiah (in Hebrew) or you are the Christ (in Greek), the Son of the Living God.”  Now let me translate that for you. When Simon referred to Jesus as the Messiah or the Christ, he was saying, you are the one who has been anointed by God to bring God’s Kingdom to this world. God has singled you out, anointed you, Simon said, to establish God’s Kingdom in this sinful and broken down world. You are the one. You are the man!

Bear with me because that demands one more translation. The phrase “Kingdom of God” does not always translate well into the world of contemporary American ideas. What in the world is “The Kingdom of God?”

A common definition would be this: “The Kingdom of God” is the realm of God’s effective reign.

That is too abstract! Let’s try again. Wherever God is obeyed, wherever God’s will is followed, wherever God’s law is honored, God’s Kingdom is right there. So Peter was saying to Jesus, you are the one who has been anointed by God to create a community in which God is obeyed and ultimately that community will include the whole world! Ultimately, because of you, Simon said to Jesus, the whole world will obey God.  That is what Simon believed! Because of Jesus, the whole world will one day obey God.

That is what he believed when Jesus asked the question, “Who do you say that I am?” How did he get there? 

Let’s go back to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  Each gospel tells the story in a slightly different way but the essence of the story is that, before Jesus, Peter and his brother Andrew earned their living as fishermen. One day Jesus met them and said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  And, they left their nets and their business behind and followed Jesus.

Notice the question here. In saying “follow me,” Jesus did not ask, “Who do you say that I am?”  He did not say, “What do you believe about me or who do you believe me to be?”  In the beginning, his question was “Will you follow me?”  Do you believe enough, just enough, to follow me?

They are two very different questions. “Will you follow me?”  is an invitation to come along and see what you will see and learn what you will learn. It is an invitation to sit in the classroom with the teacher or to practice with the coach.  “Who do you say that I am?” is a question that assumes the time that has already been spent with Jesus. How can anybody know who Jesus is without spending time with him and watching him and listening to his words and feeling the integrity of his character? How can you know who Jesus is without first following him?

The first invitation is to follow. For Simon, that offered the remarkable privilege of physically walking the journey with Jesus.

Scan the pages of the Gospels and see where Simon walked with Jesus.

He went with Jesus to that place where “The Sermon on the Mount” was preached. I believe that the Sermon is a summary of the lessons that Jesus taught every day. So every day, Simon learned about:

×           Loving God and loving thy neighbor

×           God’s forgiveness and our need to forgive one another

×           Anger management

×           Trusting God and letting go of worry

×           Fidelity to one another

×           Hope and confidence in God

×           Prayer and fasting

×           Money and more

Every day, Simon listened to the lessons that transformed his attitudes about God and neighbor and himself.

×           He saw Jesus heal those with leprosy and he saw Jesus heal the child of the Roman centurion.

×           He saw the storm calmed and he saw demons tossed out.

×           He saw sin forgiven and saw the outcast, Matthew, called to discipleship.

×           He learned of the death of John the Baptist and he heard the parables of the Kingdom.

×           He saw the hungry fed and the unacceptable accepted.

×           He saw Jesus argue with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

As Simon followed Jesus, day after day and month after month, mile after mile and experience after experience, his inner life was transformed. He began to become somebody new – same old body but a new attitude inside. He was changed!

And now we return to Caesarea Philippi.  We are in Syria, in yet another city named after the Roman ruler who claimed to be god. We are in a site of rampant paganism and idolatry and Jesus asks the question, “Who do you say that I am?”  And Simon answers, “You are the Messiah, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

I think that this is what he meant.  Now that I have watched you for all of these months, now that I have listened to your lessons and tried to learn them for myself, now that I have watched you heal Jew and Gentile, male and female, saint and sinner, I have come to believe that through you, God will ultimately bring the whole world to obedience. You are the agent of God’s Kingdom and through your life, the whole world will come to believe and obey God.

And Jesus answered, “You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. You learned this from God. As you have followed me, God has reshaped your spirit, your attitude, your inner life. You have become a new person. You are no longer Simon. Now you are Peter (which means Rock) and on the rock I will build my church. 

Then Jesus began to explain that he must suffer and die and because Peter had not yet learned all of the lessons that he needed to learn, he tried to talk Jesus out of it. He knew enough but he did not know it all! There was more to learn about Jesus.

So, in the name of Jesus, I will ask you, will you follow Jesus? You may answer, I don’t know what to believe and I think that Jesus would answer back, “Of course not. You barely know me. But do you believe enough to follow me…do you believe enough to follow me?”

You need believe only enough to follow him and in due time, he will teach you what to believe. He will reshape your heart and mind. He will transform your attitudes. And some day, when he asks, “Who do you say that I am?” you will have your own answer that will be grounded in your own journey and come straight from your own heart.  And I suspect that it will sound something like this, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  But first you follow. The first question is, “Will you follow me?”