First, Pastor Ray presented a standard, sturdy sermon about what Jesus requires when he says "Follow me." He also noted that, like Peter, what Jesus reveals here about following him is not what we would initially "sign up for" or were brought up to believe. Pastor Ray commented that the disciples were men who likely engaged in rough talk. So did Jesus so it was not really a surprise for Jesus to respond to Peter in this impolite way.
I was more struck, as I heard the sermon, by what the name of Satan evoked. The temptations of Jesus instantly came to mind . In the temptation of worldly power Satan offers in the wilderness is a clue to how different the kingdom of God (the divine) is from worldly power (the human).
What is allegiance or worship of Satan? This is what is asked for in return for power over all the world A perspective we could start out with is that there is something other than God and no self denial involved. Pastor Ray preached how self denial is not self contempt. Self denial appears to be necessary for the kingdom of God to come.
The church often dances on a razor's edge when using the vocabulary of worldly kingdoms to describe the kingdom of heaven when it has come. In Philippians 2:8-11 we often move directly to the vision of every knee bowing and every tongue confessing without quoting the first part of the passage:
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What does Jesus offer when the superfluous is stripped away? Certainly the offering is not comfort, safety, glory or victory in any worldly sense.
Today at worship The Voices for the Voiceless Choir gave what could be their final performance. This is a choir of young people from the Clackamas area that works to bring awareness of the blight of child trafficking that exists in the world today. Their choir director, Kristy Moore, said there were plenty of dates they could have lined up but the dedication of the youth to continue in the choir was no longer there.This is the first time this choir performed at Creator. They sang a piece called Sancti Pater composed by David Martin of the Happy Valley Arts Academy. The sound was close to the sacred medieval chants in Latin sung in churches. A beautiful and melancholy sound. Kristy let a few of us after the service there was a whole program that David Martin had composed that they performed and there was rarely a dry eye in the house after those performances.
And I can believe that. Kristy's commitment to the work of this choir and the awareness of this particular social injustice was evident. This and perhaps influenced by the music itself I found myself emotionally drawn into a moment of recognition. She had given herself to this and it was a part of her and her family's life.
I imagine she and her family will continue this work in another way but I did think about what Peter could have thought when Jesus reveals what will happen is not what Peter expected. She accepted this could be their last concert while Kristy also expressed her hope that the youth would "resurrect the choir themselves" (her own words). My heart went out to this person I had only just met.
I have thought about Peter's emotions (certainly when reading about Peter's bitter weeping after his denial of Jesus) but I had never considered Jesus and his emotions as he told his disciples about the path they did not "sign up for". He knew their visions and where they thought following him would lead. We think about the word rebuke and the way I have always heard it in my mind is Jesus, bristling with righteousness, commanding Peter with his "Get behind me, Satan" response. Perhaps this is what the original Greek word means.
This time, however, I heard Jesus, filled with emotion and compassion for how his disciples must receive this news. He wants not to cause them pain. He does not want to disillusion them. He says this to Peter softly, almost to himself, because Jesus hesitates to take this particular path for the sake of those he loves for a moment. He recognizes this hesitation is about human things, not divine things and responds accordingly.
OS - Repetition is a form of change.
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