23rd, August 2020
St. Barnabas. 08.00 & 10.00
Readings:- Isaiah 51:1-6, Romans 12:1-8
& Matthew 16:13-20
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in your sights O Lord our Strength and Redeemer. Amen.
I like the way that the Bible as it is written. It gives you straight facts, no feeling about what was said or who said it, no edge of the seat dangers, just plain facts, we have to think about feelings and such.
Jesus asks his disciples a simple question, “Who do people say I am?” Actually the question was, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They clamber to give the various answers that they have heard such as John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or name any prophet. Then Jesus asks the “biggy”, “Who you do you say I am?”
Now I have no doubt that many of the twelve knew the answer, or suspected that they knew. They may even have talked about Jesus and what he had done and said, and each had come to their own conclusion. It may have been that all of them knew but only one speaks out. “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
Can you imagine being there when Peter answered the question?
You have good old Peter leaping in feet first again and his eleven companions all thinking, “I believe that is so but I would not have said it to Jesus face.” Then Jesus, quite unmoved, states that Peter would be the fountain of his church.
Peter the rock on which Christ will build his church. He is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. He is installed with powers to bind and loose thing here and in heaven. Gob smacked or what?
You now have Peter totally lost for words and his eleven companions saying to themselves, “Quite right Peter good job, you deserve it, because I would not want it!”
I cannot help thinking that Peter was a bit, “Are you sure?”, “Do you really know me?” “I am just a humble fisherman!” “I get things wrong!” He has every right to be sceptical if we look at a small section of his record.
When he first met Jesus he hired out his boat after a long night of fishing and catching nothing. Jesus teaches from the boat then tells them to cast off and drop their nets. Peter is all over him, “We have fished the whole night and caught nothing. Are you a carpenter’s son going to tell us how to fish?” But they cast their nets and had a great catch.
Next week we will hear how Peter tells Jesus he will not let him be sacrificed and Jesus’ rebuke is, “Get behind me Satan!”. And it is Peter diving in without thinking that got him to the High Priest’s courtyard, the night Jesus was arrested, where he denies knowing Jesus three times.
Then we see Peter standing before the crowd on the day of Pentecost and speaking, full of the Holy Spirit, he explain what the Crucifixion means to everybody.
Before being called visit Cornelius, a Roman, Peter has a dream about animals and being called to kill and eat. He replies that he has never eaten anything that is profane or unclean. Three times it happens and then God says to him, “Never call anything that I have made unclean.” The dream became clear when the servant came and asked Peter to go to the household of Cornelius the Roman.
The eleven may have been delighted that Peter was called the rock, the foundation of the church, but each of them, except one, had a big hand in spreading the gospel message around the world. God used all their talents in places that they could best be used. God used Peter’s undoubted talents in a productive way. His leadership, after his visit to Cornelius he reported back to the council in Jerusalem that the gentiles can be saved. God makes it possible for them to receive His saving grace.
What does all this mean to us? We are not all “Peter’s” and we are not meant to be. But we are all called into His service in our own way. So far this year we have avoided our APCM and voting for various posts like Church Wardens, secretary, treasurer, members of Deanery Synod etc. But it will come soon and we will have to move on that front. As I see it sometime before 2022.
But we each need to be asking God what do you want me to do? How can I use my talents to extend the Kingdom of God? And it is no good saying that job is filled, many position could do with a deputy. This allows continuity. Speaking of posts, when Christmas and Easter come round many people step up and deliver the cards that are produced. If you told somebody that is what you do they may laugh but it matters to the many people that you may never meet to receive those cards.
In St. Mary’s Dagenham, where Sarah and I moved from, we had a vicar join us from Welling, South London. When he told his Welling parishioners where he was moving to they said to “Why what have you done?” But he felt called to St Mary’s and used his talents to get us to do great things in the area.
Nobody takes a back seat we are all important. When Jesus asked “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” they were all eager to answer. When He asked, “Who you do you say I am?” Only one person spoke up.
These questions are being asked today. People ask the question today, “Who is Jesus?” Who is the Son of Man?” The answers comes back, “An irrelevance” “An ancient religious leader” “Someone that gives us an excuse to indulge a few times a year!”
But Jesus then asks of each of us, “And who do you say that I am?”
“And who do YOU say that I am?”
St. Barnabas. 08.00 & 10.00
Readings:- Isaiah 51:1-6, Romans 12:1-8
& Matthew 16:13-20
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in your sights O Lord our Strength and Redeemer. Amen.
I like the way that the Bible as it is written. It gives you straight facts, no feeling about what was said or who said it, no edge of the seat dangers, just plain facts, we have to think about feelings and such.
Jesus asks his disciples a simple question, “Who do people say I am?” Actually the question was, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They clamber to give the various answers that they have heard such as John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or name any prophet. Then Jesus asks the “biggy”, “Who you do you say I am?”
Now I have no doubt that many of the twelve knew the answer, or suspected that they knew. They may even have talked about Jesus and what he had done and said, and each had come to their own conclusion. It may have been that all of them knew but only one speaks out. “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
Can you imagine being there when Peter answered the question?
You have good old Peter leaping in feet first again and his eleven companions all thinking, “I believe that is so but I would not have said it to Jesus face.” Then Jesus, quite unmoved, states that Peter would be the fountain of his church.
Peter the rock on which Christ will build his church. He is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. He is installed with powers to bind and loose thing here and in heaven. Gob smacked or what?
You now have Peter totally lost for words and his eleven companions saying to themselves, “Quite right Peter good job, you deserve it, because I would not want it!”
I cannot help thinking that Peter was a bit, “Are you sure?”, “Do you really know me?” “I am just a humble fisherman!” “I get things wrong!” He has every right to be sceptical if we look at a small section of his record.
When he first met Jesus he hired out his boat after a long night of fishing and catching nothing. Jesus teaches from the boat then tells them to cast off and drop their nets. Peter is all over him, “We have fished the whole night and caught nothing. Are you a carpenter’s son going to tell us how to fish?” But they cast their nets and had a great catch.
Next week we will hear how Peter tells Jesus he will not let him be sacrificed and Jesus’ rebuke is, “Get behind me Satan!”. And it is Peter diving in without thinking that got him to the High Priest’s courtyard, the night Jesus was arrested, where he denies knowing Jesus three times.
Then we see Peter standing before the crowd on the day of Pentecost and speaking, full of the Holy Spirit, he explain what the Crucifixion means to everybody.
Before being called visit Cornelius, a Roman, Peter has a dream about animals and being called to kill and eat. He replies that he has never eaten anything that is profane or unclean. Three times it happens and then God says to him, “Never call anything that I have made unclean.” The dream became clear when the servant came and asked Peter to go to the household of Cornelius the Roman.
The eleven may have been delighted that Peter was called the rock, the foundation of the church, but each of them, except one, had a big hand in spreading the gospel message around the world. God used all their talents in places that they could best be used. God used Peter’s undoubted talents in a productive way. His leadership, after his visit to Cornelius he reported back to the council in Jerusalem that the gentiles can be saved. God makes it possible for them to receive His saving grace.
What does all this mean to us? We are not all “Peter’s” and we are not meant to be. But we are all called into His service in our own way. So far this year we have avoided our APCM and voting for various posts like Church Wardens, secretary, treasurer, members of Deanery Synod etc. But it will come soon and we will have to move on that front. As I see it sometime before 2022.
But we each need to be asking God what do you want me to do? How can I use my talents to extend the Kingdom of God? And it is no good saying that job is filled, many position could do with a deputy. This allows continuity. Speaking of posts, when Christmas and Easter come round many people step up and deliver the cards that are produced. If you told somebody that is what you do they may laugh but it matters to the many people that you may never meet to receive those cards.
In St. Mary’s Dagenham, where Sarah and I moved from, we had a vicar join us from Welling, South London. When he told his Welling parishioners where he was moving to they said to “Why what have you done?” But he felt called to St Mary’s and used his talents to get us to do great things in the area.
Nobody takes a back seat we are all important. When Jesus asked “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” they were all eager to answer. When He asked, “Who you do you say I am?” Only one person spoke up.
These questions are being asked today. People ask the question today, “Who is Jesus?” Who is the Son of Man?” The answers comes back, “An irrelevance” “An ancient religious leader” “Someone that gives us an excuse to indulge a few times a year!”
But Jesus then asks of each of us, “And who do you say that I am?”
“And who do YOU say that I am?”