Trinity 13 

Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 105

Praise the LORD and pray in his name! Tell everyone what he has done. Sing praises to the LORD! Tell about his miracles. Celebrate and worship his holy name with all your heart. 

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty God, who called your Church to bear witness that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself: help us to proclaim the good news of your love, that all who hear it may be drawn to you; through him who was lifted up on the cross, and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Almighty God, you search us and know us: may we rely on you in strength and rest on you in weakness, now and in all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Bible Reading Jeremiah 15.15–21

O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance do not take me away;
know that on your account I suffer insult. Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail. Therefore, thus says the Lord: If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,  you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you,  but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

Second Reading Romans 12.9–21

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Gospel Reading  Matthew 16.21–28

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 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?

‘For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’

Post Communion Prayer

God our creator, you feed your children with the true manna, the living bread from heaven: let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage until we come to that place  where hunger and thirst are no more; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

The disciples clearly had a flawed understanding of what was in store for Jesus, they also completely misunderstood what was in store for themselves! Accepting the invitation to follow Jesus was not going to be a path a greater glory, power or riches. When the mother of James and John had a quiet word with Jesus to promote the interests of her boys, she did not have in mind that being close to Jesus would mean them hanging on a cross! Sadly somewhere along the line wires were crossed and the disciples just couldn’t help but think that following the one who could turn water into wine would end up in some kind of fantastic future. They were right of course the future was fantastic, but not the one which they had planned. 

It wasn’t for the want of Jesus trying to correct this misunderstanding, he kept telling them that his was a way of servanthood, of caring and looking after the downtrodden, the message just didn’t get through. So today Jesus is at his most explicit, a verbal banging of the disciples heads together. Jesus makes blatantly clear that his reward for doing everything exactly as God wanted would be for him to be killed. This death would not come at the hands of some deranged assassin, his death would be decided by the very religious leaders who were custodians of the true faith of Abraham. Moreover Jesus tells them that if they want to follow him then they will have to die too!

This was a hard lesson to learn and it is almost too much for the human mind to take in; that the God whom all Israel worshipped would take flesh and be arrested and killed by the leaders of those who claimed to worship him. Then those who had faithfully followed Jesus would lose their lives also. You can understand how the disciples would have disbelief having followed Jesus and seen his powers. How could it possibly end badly for the one who fed thousands, who spoke to creation and calmed the waves and who raised the dead ? There is also a sense in us that good will triumph over evil, the obedience to God will mean that all will turn out right. In a sense that is true but it doesn’t mean that the good comes without death first. I think of Oscar Romero whose statue we have recently installed in the Cathedral at St Albans. His faithful ministry could not have been cut more cruelly short than to be murdered whilst celebrating the mass. His ministry is now legendary, yet his most powerful contribution to the cause of justice came through how own death. 

You and I are not of course great saints like Oscar Romero, yet Jesus is just as explicit to us today in terms of what is expected of us. If you want to follow then you have to be prepared to give everything. We will never know whether our willingness to give our lives will ever be tested but we are tested in other ways every single day of our lives. To what extent do we ‘go with the flow’ or are we prepared to stand up for the ethics of the kingdom expected of those who follow the king Jesus? It is the small things which we sometimes find the hardest but these count more than we can know. We know that Jesus would not talk with his friends when somebody was lonely on the other side of the room, he would not treat people differently because of their social status, birth or background. His behaviour in ordinary daily affairs demonstrated that he was truly extraordinary. 

Jesus came offering something which the world had never seen before, what Peter and disciples hoped for was simply more of the same, but in a greater measure for themselves. They wanted things like jobs, and to take back power from the Roman forces of occupation. Jesus came bringing something completely different and this took some time for them to learn and to change. Our challenge as disciples is also to hold out the vision of something radically different. Ours is the vision of a way of living which Paul describes in our reading today from Romans. It is characterised by genuine love even to those who are enemies, expressed in caring for them and giving to them. This way of life is more concerned with the needs of others than ourselves, to the extent that when they weep we weep also, when they are happy we are happy too. It is not as dramatic as ending up on a cross but it takes a daily commitment and a lifetime of prayer. Charles Royden 

Meditation

Christianity had no tradition of impressive buildings at the time Constantine became Emperor in the fourth century. This changed with Constantine, who lavished many favours upon the Christian faith, including some great buildings and opulent homes. Said St. Jerome at the time: "Parchments are died purple, gold is melted into lettering, manuscripts are dressed up in jewels, while Christ lies at the door naked and dying."

Hymns

• Praise the Lord, his glories show
• I am not skilled to understand
• Jesus invites his saints
• We are called to be God’s people
• Ye holy angels bright
• Abba father
• Because your love is better than life
• For I’m building a people of power
• Lord thy word abideth
• Through all the changing scenes of life
• I’ll go in the strength of the Lord
• He’s got the whole world
• Just as I am (Tune Saffron Walden )
• The Church’s one foundation
• O Lord my God when I with awesome wonder
• Soldiers of Christ arise (Tune St Ethelwald ) 

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the men and women of faith, who down the centuries have taught us how to be your children. We give you thanks for the inspiration of their lives and ask that we may grow to be worthy of joining the company of the saints in Heaven. Amen

My Father, how blind and deaf I am – to miss your voice as you speak within my own being! You call to me in my restlessness and discontent, You guide me by my own confusion….out of myself into you. Keep me faithful while I grope my way along – as one who searches blindly along a wall – until I understand that there is a door… always open. And the door is you. Amen (Julian of Norwich)

Almighty God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence: give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and truth: through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever Amen. O blessed Jesus, 

Immortal and victorious, by the sorrow you suffered when all the powers of your heart failed you, have mercy on us and help us in our days of darkness and in our hours of weakness, that we do not lose hold of you either in this life, or in the life of the world to come; and this we ask for your own name's sake. Amen St Bridget of Sweden, 1303-1373

God the Father, eternally mysterious, we worship you. God the Son, eternally responding, we bless you. God the Holy Spirit, eternally witnessing, we adore you. Holy and glorious Trinity, three persons and one God, we magnify you, now and for ever. Amen. Nestorian Liturgy, 5th century

Additional Material

Commentary

In 1972 Donny Osmond had a solo hit with the Paul Anka song ‘Puppy Love.’ He was 15 years old and the words expressed the torment of a teenager surrounded by older people who failed to appreciate the intensity of adolescent love. 

And they called it puppy love, Oh, I guess they'll never know 

How a young heart really feels, And why I love her so

At Caesarea Philippi, the Apostle Peter had a kind of ‘puppy love’ when he acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus was proud of Peter and said that the confession he made would be like a solid rock foundation upon which to build the church. However things were soon to go wrong. Peter misunderstood Jesus because he imagined that since Jesus was the Son of God, he would have power and authority on earth. Instead Jesus went on to describe the route he would take to death on the cross. Peter was appalled and told Jesus that it must never happen. Peter had realised who Jesus was, but he could not come to terms with the fact that this meant life would actually get harder! 

In a few short paragraphs of the Gospel of Matthew, Peter went from being a rock to a stumbling block. Peter had a dream of what being the Messiah meant, he wanted Jesus to go to Jerusalem to sort out those in political, economic, and religious power. Jesus tells him that instead he will go and suffer and die. Peter has to move rapidly from an enthusiastic, but immature appreciation of who Jesus is, to a grown up and realistic understanding of the cost of real love. Perhaps Peter felt like Donny in the second verse of the song, 

‘And they called it puppy love, Just because we're in our teens, 

Tell them all it isn't fair, To take away my only dream.’

It was not fair, but the dream which Peter had lasted only a very short time, quite suddenly Jesus demanded that he grew up and understood the price of love. Most of us can grow gradually in our Christian understanding, over many years, but that was not a luxury afforded to Peter.

Of course there are Christians who find maturity in their faith very difficult to come to terms with. Some churches encourage the belief that love of God will be rewarded with sparkling good health, happy and harmonious relationships and comfortable affluence. This is ‘puppy love Christianity,’ but as we learn about what being a true Christian means we understand that it is no more believable than the tooth fairy.

There is a difficult balance to be struck here. In the Book of Revelation the Church in Ephesus is criticised for having lost its first love. Christians must be aware of the possibility of their love of God going off the boil and becoming stale, like an old married couple with a dead marriage who take each other for granted. But the words of Jesus to Peter remind us that we must also have a love and appreciation of God which moves beyond adolescent ‘puppy love.’ The Apostle Paul put this very clearly in chapter 13 of his first letter to the Corinthians. He wrote "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I gave up childish ways."

When we move beyond the initial rush of ‘puppy love’ we recognise that with real love there is a cost. It is tempting to worship a Jesus who is surrounded by uplifting worship songs, who makes us better when we are poorly and blesses us with good relationships and prosperity. But just like Peter in our story today, we have to put childish ways behind us and recognise that real love is not about good times and the Christian feel good factor.In the song Donny calls out for his love to be taken seriously 

’Someone, help me, help me, help me please, Is the answer up above? 

How can I, how can I tell them, This is not a puppy love’ 

Jesus provides Peter and the disciples with a sure fire way for them to prove their true love. Jesus tells them, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.’

Peter was to find that ‘grown up love’ was costly and he trusted Christ through many difficulties which were to follow him in his life. This might sound rather depressing, it would be so much nicer to believe that Jesus was like a fairy godmother who would make everything better. But the Christian faith is for not a fairy tale for children and it is reassuring to know that when things are hard it is not because Jesus doesn’t love us anymore. The good news is that generations of Christians have found that when they walk through the storms of life, Jesus walks with them and they are never alone. Charles Royden

Meditation

Peter the rock became the Stumbling Block (Greek: skandalon). Even worse, he becomes Satan. Satan is that which seeks to deflect us from the way of God and that is what Peter is doing trying to deflect Jesus from his God-given path to the cross. Just as Satan tried to persuade Jesus to take the easy way (turn these stones into bread -- make a spectacular display of yourself -- bow down before me and I will give you the world), so now Peter calls Jesus to abandon the narrow, rough road that leads to the cross for a wide, smooth road that leads elsewhere. It is the devil who loves human greatness; God despises it.