Introspection: Teach Me to Pray

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Teach Me to Pray

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.  When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

Luke 11:1 (CEB)

In the secret, in the quiet place

In the stillness, You are there

In the secret, in the quiet hour I wait, only for You

'Cause I want to know You more

From "In the Secret" by Andy Park

The fall of 2015 was a tumultuous time in my life marked by change and anxiety.  At one point, I realized that my anxiety could be attributed to a lack of trust in God and that my lack of trust in God was perhaps connected to a lack of prayer in my life.  I decided that I needed to start regularly taking the time to entrust my sources of anxiety into God's capable hands through prayer.  Unfortunately, this practice did not last very long.  Lifting up my sources of anxiety to God forced me to think about things I really didn't want to think about, thereby inducing anxiety.

My approach to prayer was an utter failure, but I knew that prayer was still something I needed in my life.  After all, I had grown up knowing that prayer is important.  When I was very young, when my mom tucked me in at night, she prayed with me a bedtime prayer that begins, "Now I lay me down to sleep..."  Thankfully, she taught me a version that didn't force me to contemplate my mortality every night.¹  When I was in kindergarten, I learned a mealtime prayer of thanksgiving that begins, "God is great; God is good."  At some point, while I was in elementary school, I learned the prayer Jesus taught His disciples.

Last year, I delivered a sermon about prayer.  I stand by what I said in that sermon, but sadly my mind and my heart are often thousands of miles apart.  At that time, I knew a bit about prayer, but I was doing an especially good job if I remembered to pray the Lord's Prayer in the morning.

Not long ago, while perusing the religion section of one of the used book stores I frequent, I happened upon the book In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson.  This book is a volume in The Ancient Practices series, which was edited by the late Phyllis Tickle.²  It piqued my interest, so I bought it, thinking that it might be something good to read during Lent.  I was hoping the book might teach me something about prayer, but, when I started reading it, I quickly realized that it was not about prayer in general but about one specific type of prayer, namely the daily office.

The daily office is a liturgy of prayer and praise that is repeated at specific times throughout the day.  If you ever hear someone speak about "praying the hours," he or she is referring to this ancient practice.³  Benson writes that the prayer books of numerous Protestant denominations, including my own, include orders of prayer based on the daily office.⁴  After I read this fact, I took a look at my copy of The United Methodist Book of Worship and found orders of morning, midday, evening, and nighttime prayer.

It turns out that what I needed to develop a habit of morning prayer was a liturgy to follow.  I had already managed to get into the habit of reading the Bible daily by following a certain routine.  In the morning I read a passage from the Daily Lectionary to start my day off on a positive note.  After work, when I go out for coffee, I record my thoughts on the passage using my laptop, hopefully having pondered the passage throughout the day.  When it comes to religion or spirituality, people often look down on routines and checklists, but sometimes we need such things to make sure we do the things we need to do.

Using "An Order of Morning Praise and Prayer" from the book of worship as a guide and incorporating things I learned about the daily office from Benson's book, I cobbled together my own liturgy for morning prayer.  I have been following this order of prayer for just over a month now.

Call to Prayer

O Lord, open my lips,

and I shall declare your praise.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

My denomination's book of worship and hymnal offer a number of morning prayers.  They also contain prayers for specific occasions on the Church calendar, like Holy Week and Eastertide.

Psalter

Included among the Scriptures listed in Daily Lectionary is a Psalm to pray.  On certain occasions, I might pray an alternate passage.  For example, during Holy Week, I prayed the Servant Songs from the Book of Isaiah.⁵  Last week, in my church's bulletin, specific Psalms were recommended based on the topic of the week's sermon.

Scripture Reading

I had already made it a habit to read a Scripture passage from the Daily Lectionary in the morning, so I incorporated it into my morning prayer routine.

Response

A time of silent meditation on the Scripture reading is recommended.  During this time, I might reread the passage, read the notes in my study Bible, or simply think about the passage.

Prayers of Intercession

The book of worship contains "A Litany for the Church and the World," which I have used when leading worship services in the past.  This litany, which includes a number of prompts for prayer ranging from Church unity to global politics, also works well for personal prayer.  Lately, I have been using a prayer of thanksgiving and intercession written specifically for Eastertide.  During Lent, I replaced the prayers of intercession with the prayers of confession that were printed in my church's bulletin.

The Lord's Prayer

Because the Lord's Prayer is so familiar to me, I sometimes rattle it off without even thinking about it, especially when my focus starts to wane.  To help me keep my focus, I often pray some less familiar variations of the prayer.

Blessing

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Spirit

be with us all. Amen.

I do not know how following this order of prayer will affect me in the long run, but I count it a blessing thus far.  Sometimes, starting the day with prayer makes the day seem a bit more holy.  Perhaps it is not that prayer makes the day more holy but that prayer opens my eyes to how holy the day already is.  On other days, I trudge through the order of prayer, half-asleep and concerned that I had not given myself enough time to pray and to also get to work on time.  Benson, a gardener, notes that there are times when prayer is a profound experience, like seeing flowers bloom, but that much of the time it can be mundane, like weeding the flower bed.⁶

For some people, prayer seems to come naturally.  Many of us know people who might be called "prayer warriors" by some - people who seem to have the proverbial "direct line to God" and spontaneously talk with God about anything and everything.  As for me, I need to be taught what to pray.  The Disciples needed to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, so I guess I'm in good company.  I suppose there are different kinds of prayer for different kinds of pray-ers.  If you, the reader, are struggling with your own practices of prayer, I offer you my experiences and the resources I have found.


Links:

• An Order for Morning Praise and Prayer
• A Litany for the Church and the World
• The Daily Lectionary

Notes:

1. The most common version of that prayer includes the line, "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
2. Robert Benson.  In Constant Prayer.  2008, Thomas Nelson.
3. Benson, p. 163
4. Benson, pp. 24-25
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_songs
6. Benson, pp. 55-57

Praying Hands was drawn by Albrecht Dürer around 1508.

Sermon: Who Is Jesus?

Delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on April 23, 2017, the Second Sunday of Easter

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Who Is Jesus?

Audio Version

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,

“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know - this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.  But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.  For David says concerning him,

‘I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;

therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

moreover my flesh will live in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

or let your Holy One experience corruption.

You have made known to me the ways of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne.  Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,

‘He was not abandoned to Hades,

nor did his flesh experience corruption.’

This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.  For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Acts 2:14a, 22-36 (NRSV)

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake! Come awake!

Come and rise up from the grave

From “Christ is Risen” by Matt Maher

Throughout the Gospels, we read numerous stories in which people approach Jesus with questions.  Some used loaded questions in an attempt to force Jesus into a difficult situation, like those who asked Jesus whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes.  Others were earnestly seeking knowledge, like the scholar who asked Jesus which commandment is the most important.  Some people asked questions that were downright silly, like the Sadducee who asked Jesus which man would be a the husband of a seven-time widow after the resurrection of the dead.¹  Even now, when we turn to Jesus through the reading of the Gospels, we are sometimes seeking answers to the questions in our hearts.

Lately, I have found myself fascinated by the stories in which Jesus is the one who poses a question to someone else.  For example, Jesus once asked two of His future disciples, “What are you looking for?”²  Later on, He asked a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, “Do you want to be made well?”³  The questions Jesus asks people tend to be the kind of questions we would all do well to ask ourselves from time to time.

One day, while Jesus was alone with the Disciples, He asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”  The Disciples responded with some of the rumors that were circulating about Him at the time, that He was either John the Baptist or a prophet of old who had returned from the dead.  Jesus then asked the Disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”

The disciple Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”⁴

Peter made a bold claim about Jesus, and I have no doubt that he wholeheartedly believed what he said.  Still, I think it is safe to say that, at that time, he did not fully understand what it meant that Jesus is God's Anointed One.  Peter, like many people of his day, expected the Messiah to be a great warrior king who would liberate the Jewish people from their Roman oppressors and usher in an age of peace and prosperity for Israel.  Not long before Jesus was betrayed to those who wanted Him out of the way, Peter boldly said to Him, “I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!”⁵  Again, I believe that Peter meant what he said, that he would have valiantly died in battle for Jesus.  When Jesus surrendered to the mob that came to arrest Him, Peter realized that there wasn't going to be a battle, and he ended up denying three times that he even knew Jesus.⁶  Peter lied to save his own skin, but I think there was a measure of truth in his lie, for he did not know Jesus as well as he once thought.

Jesus had foreseen Peter's denial, but He also knew that Peter would be back.  When He predicted that Peter would deny Him, He also said to him, “When once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”⁷

The day after Jesus was arrested, He was sentenced to death and crucified, and His body was placed in a borrowed tomb.⁸  Two days later, the Disciples received reports that Jesus' body was missing.  Peter raced to the tomb and found that it was indeed empty.  Later that day, Jesus appeared to Peter and the other Disciples.⁹  Jesus had been resurrected from the dead, just as He had told the Disciples.¹⁰  For forty days, the Disciples continued to learn from Jesus, and Peter began to see beyond his preconceived notions about who “the Messiah of God” was supposed to be.  Jesus ascended into heaven, and, ten days later, on a feast day called Pentecost, a crowd of people from many nations gathers around the Disciples.¹¹  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter steps forward to address the crowd.

So what does Peter say about Jesus now?

Peter describes Jesus as “a man attested... by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him.”  Throughout the Gospels, we read that Jesus proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God and that, as a sign of this coming Kingdom, Jesus healed people of their diseases and ailments, cleansed lepers, freed people from their demons, raised the dead, fed the hungry, befriended the friendless, challenged the self-righteous, and sent His followers out to go and do likewise.  These works, according to Peter, signify that Jesus was indeed sent by God.  In some translations of the Bible, these works are called Jesus' credentials or accreditations.¹²

The Gospel teaches us that God so loved the world that He sent His Son, not to condemn the world but to save it,¹³ but this Son of God was not well received by the world He came to save.  Jesus was a man attested by God... but rejected by humanity.  Peter says to his audience, “This man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.”

When Jesus returned to Jerusalem during the week of Passover, His works became a bit more provocative.  First, Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, as a king might ride into town during peacetime.¹⁴  Next, Jesus stormed into the temple and ejected the merchants, proclaiming, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”¹⁵  Through these two acts of protest, Jesus seemed to be challenging both a violent empire and a corrupt religious establishment that kowtowed to the empire.  Fearful of the potential repercussions of Jesus' actions and the people's response to them, the religious leaders colluded with the Roman Empire to have Jesus crucified like an enemy of the state, even though He had done no harm.

Peter proclaims to his audience, “God raised [Jesus] up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.”  He goes on to say, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”  Scholar William Barclay notes that the Resurrection of Christ was central to the preaching of the Apostles.  After all, there would be no Church without it.¹⁶  Peter and the other Apostles boldly proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because it had changed their lives profoundly.  Barclay writes,
When the disciples preached the centrality of the resurrection, they were arguing from experience.  After the Cross, they were bewildered, broken men, with their dream gone and their lives shattered.  It was the resurrection which changed all that and turned them from cowards into heroes.¹⁷

The people had awaited a Messiah who would free them from their oppressors.  What they did not realize is that, what they hoped Jesus would do at a local level, He was doing at a global or even cosmic level.  As the ancient prophet declared, it was too small a matter that the Servant of God should only save Israel.¹⁸  Though Jesus appeared to be challenging the Roman Empire and the religious establishment, He actually had some greater adversaries in His sights the whole time, enemies that had been oppressing all of humanity since the very dawn of human existence.  His two acts of protest in Jerusalem brought Him to the battleground of the Cross, where He faced off against the sin of humanity and the fruition of our sin, namely death.

For two days, Jesus lay in the grave, and it appeared that sin and death had claimed yet another victim.  On the third day, He was resurrected from the dead by God, and He emerged from the tomb victorious.  The battle was won, and our liberation from sin and death was secured.  As St. John Chrysostom, an early archbishop, proclaimed on one Easter Sunday,
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.  He has destroyed it by enduring it.  He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.  He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh...  Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!  Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!  Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!  Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!¹⁹

At the Church I attend, Christ's victory over death is celebrated rather dramatically on Easter Sunday.  At the beginning of the service, the acolyte, the Bible bearer, the praise band, and the two pastors proceed into the sanctuary, while the congregation sings Charles Wesley's beloved Easter hymn “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”  The senior pastor stops in front of the cross on the communion table, which has been covered by a shroud since Good Friday.  During the second verse of the hymn, as the congregation sings, “Where, O death, is now thy sting?  Alleluia!” he whips the shroud off the cross, throws the shroud to the floor, and stomps on it.²⁰

Christ's victory over death has profound implications for our lives.  In Jesus' day, the Roman Empire promoted the Pax Romana, a twisted kind of peace that was maintained by the annihilation of anyone who would dare to stand in opposition to the Empire.  The people wanted someone to defeat their oppressors, but Jesus, through His death and resurrection, rendered their oppressors ultimately powerless.  This is good news!  To know that no evil that can be wrought upon us, not even death itself, has to have the final word should be a complete game changer for all of us.  In the words of Jonathan Tompkins, “Sin and death, they are still around, but, friends, their power is limited, and their time is short.”²¹

Peter calls to mind the sixteenth Psalm, in which the psalmist David cries out for protection to the God in whom he has taken refuge.²²  Toward the end of the Psalm, David proclaims, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.  For you do not give me up to [the Grave], or let your faithful one see the Pit.”²³  We read in the Bible that David was spared from death at the hands of his enemies more than once, but he did eventually die.  Peter reasons that, if David is dead, then he could not have been referring to himself as the one who was not given up to the grave; therefore, he must have been prophesying about someone yet to come.  God had promised David that his dynasty would never come to an end,²⁴ but the one who was spared from death was not David but his descendant, Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter concludes, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and He ascended into Heaven to sit at the right-hand of the Father.  From thence He has poured out the Holy Spirit upon those who follow in His footsteps.  To Peter, these things are Jesus' vindication, the definitive proof that Jesus is indeed the true King and Savior.  Peter might have lost hope briefly when Jesus was arrested, but his new proclamation about Jesus is even bolder than his first, for he has declared that Jesus is not only the Messiah, but also Lord.  To profess that Jesus Christ is Lord was a dangerous thing to do in the days of the Roman Empire: to say that Jesus is Lord is to say that Caesar is not Lord.

C.S. Lewis, in his most famous work Mere Christianity, suggests that, in the same way that the first-century Jews suffered under the oppression of an evil empire, the whole world suffers under the oppression of forces in rebellion against the Creator.²⁵  Lewis writes, “Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”²⁶  When we proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, we proclaim that we have sworn our loyalty to the true King of the world and that no other power truly reigns, no matter how prevalent, influential, powerful, or violent it might be.  Those who claim to rule this world may wield the power of death, but our God has the power of resurrection.  In the words of St. Paul, “If God is for us, who is against us?”²⁷

Years later, in a letter to the early Christians, Peter writes that, through the resurrection of Christ, we are “born anew into a living hope.”  We have hope that the trials we face in this life will not destroy our faith but will only make it stronger, and we have hope that we too will be saved from the power of sin and death.²⁸  Similarly, St. Paul suggests that the Risen Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection.  In the same way that the ancient first fruits offering was given in anticipation of a greater harvest yet to come, God's raising of Christ from the dead is a sign that there is more resurrection to come.²⁹  In the midst of the suffering we face in this life, we can take hope, remembering that Christ was resurrected and looking forward to our own resurrection.

Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”

St. Peter proclaims that Jesus is a man attested by God with mighty works, the victor over sin and death, and the true Lord and Savior of the world.

Who do you say Jesus is?

Amen.


Notes:

1. Mark 12:13-34
2. John 1:35-39
3. John 5:2-9
4. Luke 9:18-20 (NRSV)
5. Luke 22:33 (NRSV)
6. Luke 22:47-62
7. Luke 22:31-34 (NRSV)
8. Luke 23:32-56
9. Luke 24:1-12, 36-42
10. Luke 9:21-22
11. Acts 1:3-9, 2:5-12
12. See Acts 2:22 in the Common English Bible or The Message.
13. Based on John 3:16-17
14. Luke 19:29-38 (NRSV)
15. Luke 19:45-46 (NRSV)
16. William Barclay.  The Acts of the Apostles, Revised Edition.  1976, Westminster Press.  p. 27
17. ibid.
18. Isaiah 49:6
19. http://anglicansonline.org/special/Easter/chrysostom_easter.html
20. Jonathan Tompkins.  “Why Easter?”  Travelers Rest United Methodist Church podcast, 04/16/2017.
21. Christine Matthews and Jonathan Tompkins.  “Why Palms? Why Passion?”  Travelers Rest United Methodist Church podcast, 04/09/2017.
22. Psalm 16:1
23. Psalm 16:9-10
24. 2 Samuel 7:16
25. C.S. Lewis.  Mere Christianity.  bk. 2, ch. 2
26. ibid.
27. Romans 8:31 (NRSV)
28. 1 Peter 1:3-9 (CEB)
29. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 (NRSV)

St. John and St. Peter at Christ's Tomb was painted by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli around 1640.

Holy Week Perspective: Peter's Confession

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Peter's Confession

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."

Matthew 16:24-25 (NRSV)

"Are ye able," said the Master

"To be crucified with Me?"

From "Are Ye Able" by Earl Marlett

One day, Jesus asked the Disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  They responded with some of the rumors that were circulating about Him at the time, that He was some prophet of old who had returned.  Jesus then asked them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Ever the first to speak, the disciple Simon answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  Simon had high hopes that Jesus was the Savior his people had been awaiting for a long time - the one who would liberate them from their Roman oppressors.

Impressed with this audacious claim, Jesus gave Simon a new name, saying, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."¹  Simon's new name Peter is derived from the Greek word pétros which means "rock."²

As the group headed toward Jerusalem, Jesus warned the Disciples that He would soon suffer and die at the hands of the powers that be and then be raised.  This was not something the Disciples understood, and it was not something Peter wanted to hear.  He took Jesus aside and said to Him, "God forbid it, Lord!  This must never happen to you."

Jesus replied, "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."³  The disciple Jesus had named Peter was being called Satan.  In a short span of time, the rock on which Jesus would build His church had become the rock that would threaten to make Jesus trip.  Jesus then announced to the Disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

No doubt Peter and the other Disciples wondered why their long-awaited Savior would talk about crosses and dying.  Only wannabe messiahs ended up on crosses.  The true Messiah was supposed to defeat the Romans.

When Jesus and the Disciples reached Jerusalem during the week of Passover, exciting things started to happen.  Jesus rode into the city on a donkey, lampooning the Roman governor's procession.  The people welcomed Him, shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!"  Afterward, Jesus went to the temple, drove out the merchants and money changers, and proclaimed, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."  He effectively threw the city into an uproar.⁴

A few days later, after Jesus celebrated Passover with the Disciples, He warned them that, on that very night, they would all abandon Him.  Peter spoke up and proclaimed that he would never desert Jesus.  Jesus then said to him, "Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times."

Peter reiterated his loyalty, saying, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you."⁵

That night, Jesus went out to pray, and an armed mob, led by one of Jesus' own, came to arrest Jesus.  One of the Disciples drew his sword and attacked someone in the crowd, but Jesus said, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."  The Disciples fled, and the mob took Jesus away.⁶

While the mob took Jesus to the house of the high priest, Peter followed at a distance, and, while Jesus stood trial before the high priest, Peter lingered outside.  Three times, people confronted Peter, claiming that that they had seen him with Jesus, and, three times, the Disciple who was once called "the Rock" denied that he even knew Jesus.  A rooster crowed, and Peter remembered what Jesus said hours earlier and how he had responded.  He went away and wept bitterly.⁷

So did Peter weep bitterly because, in his cowardice, he had lied to save his own skin?  Or did he weep bitterly because there was perhaps some truth in his lie?

Did Peter really know Jesus?

Peter was no coward.  I believe that, when he claimed that he was willing to die for Jesus, he actually meant what he said.  In one Gospel account, when the mob came to arrest Jesus, Peter is identified as the disciple who drew his sword and attacked.⁸  Peter was indeed willing to die for Jesus, but he had assumed that, if he were to die for Jesus, he would die for Jesus in battle.  It was not until he realized that there was not going to be a battle that he ran away.  He was willing to fight for Jesus, even if it meant losing his life, but he was not willing to lay down his life with Jesus.

When Peter boldly declared that Jesus was "the Messiah, the Son of the living God," he believed what he said with his whole heart, but he did not truly understand what his proclamation meant.  To Peter, the Messiah was supposed to be a conqueror, not a martyr.  Because of his preconceived notions, he could not accept what Jesus said, that the Messiah must suffer and die and be raised again.  If the One he was following had to endure such things, then what might he have to endure personally?

Like Peter, many of us are eager to declare that Jesus Christ is our personal Lord and Savior, but have we truly thought through the implications of this claim?  Have we truly contemplated what it means that, if we are to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses?  I think that many of us, like Peter, try to turn Jesus into something He is not.  We want Jesus to be a triumphant warrior and not a suffering servant, because we, His followers, would much rather fight and win than suffer and serve.  The truth is that nobody can truly take up his or her cross and follow Jesus without dying in some way.

If we, like Peter, realized that the assumptions we had made about Jesus were utterly wrong, would we continue to follow Him?

If we truly knew what it would cost to follow Jesus, would we be willing to pay it?

Do we, like Peter, need to confess that we don't really know Jesus?

The Gospel story reminds us that death, be it literal or figurative, is not the end of the story, for, after death, comes resurrection.  Jesus' story did not end with death, and Peter's story did not end with denial.  In one telling of the Gospel story, when Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times, He also says, "When once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."⁹  Jesus knew that Peter would abandon Him and deny Him, but He knew that Peter would be back.  He didn't call Peter "the Rock" for nothing.  Peter would indeed become a leader in the early Church, and, led by the Spirit, he would come to a greater understanding of who the Messiah really is and what it really means to follow Him.

May we who call Jesus Christ our Savior contemplate what it really means to be His disciples.  May we not be afraid to take up our crosses and follow Him through the cycle of death and resurrection, whatever that means for us personally.  And, when we fail, may we not be afraid to pick ourselves up and keep going.


Notes:

1. Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSV)
2. Wiktionary: Peter
3. Matthew 16:21-23 (NRSV)
4. Matthew 21:1-13 (NRSV)
5. Matthew 26:31-35 (NRSV)
6. Matthew 26:47-56 (NRSV)
7. Matthew 26:57-58, 69-75
8. John 18:10
9. Luke 22:32 (NRSV)

The Denial of Saint Peter was painted by Caravaggio around 1610.

Lenten Perspective: Great Enough

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Great Enough

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death -

even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5-8 (NRSV)

But I need You to love me, and I

I won't keep my heart from You this time

And I'll stop this pretending that I can

Somehow deserve what I already have

From "I Need You to Love Me" by BarlowGirl

One day, Samuel, a prophet of God, approached Saul, the King of Israel, with orders.  Saul's mission was to lead the Israelite army in an invasion of Amelek, the land the Israelites' longtime enemies, and to ensure that nobody was left standing.  All of the Amalekites and their animals were to be annihilated.  Saul led his soldiers in the invasion, but he did not follow his orders completely.  The army slaughtered all of the Amalekites with the exception of their king, whom they took as a prisoner.  Saul also allowed his soldiers to take the best of the Amalekite's livestock as plunder so that they can offer them as sacrifices to God.¹

When Samuel learned that Saul has not followed orders, he went out to reprimand him, and he learned that Saul had set up a monument to himself.  When Samuel confronted Saul with his failure to do what he was told, Saul tried to argue that he did nothing wrong, but Samuel would hear none of it.  Samuel told Saul that his failure to follow orders had cost him his dynasty and that a new king would soon be chosen.²

"The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you." ~ 1 Samuel 15:28 (NRSV)

Before I continue, I want to acknowledge that this story is brutally violent and that the idea a supposedly loving and gracious God would command people to slaughter their enemies simply does not compute.  I will not try to reconcile this brutal story with the image of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ, but I will point out that both humanity's view of violence and humanity's understanding of God have changed over time.  These changes, I believe, are reflected in the arc of Scripture.  All of that said, I think that this story can serve as a case study from which we can glean some important lessons.

Basically, Saul had a job to do, and he failed to carry it out as he had been instructed.  Some would say that Saul's fatal flaw was disobedience, rebellion, or arrogance.  I think that maybe these character flaws were actually symptomatic of a much deeper problem.

I think that Saul was a very insecure man, and, as a result, he felt the need to puff himself up in the sight of others.

Consider the evidence.  Saul set up a monument to commemorate his victory.  He took the enemy king captive so that he could triumphantly parade him home as a trophy.  When his soldiers wanted to take the best of the sheep and cattle as spoils, he gave in to win their approval.  He planned to sacrifice the livestock as burnt offerings, perhaps to gain bonus points with God.

Saul didn't think very highly of himself, so he took a number of actions in an attempt to make himself look great, in the eyes of the people he led and even in the eyes of God.  Samuel said to Saul,
Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?  The Lord anointed you king over Israel.  And the Lord sent you on a mission...  Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?³
All of Saul's attempts to prove his own greatness were totally unnecessary, for God had already entrusted to him the great responsibility of leading God's people.

A person who compensates for his or her insecurity with arrogance has no business being a leader.  A leader is ultimately a servant who bears a responsibility to the people he or she leads, and such a role warrants humility.

Humility has nothing to do with regarding oneself as inferior to others.  C.S. Lewis defines humility as "self-forgetfulness."  Humble people don't think poorly of themselves: on those rare occasions when they do think of themselves, they think realistically.⁴  Truly humble people, I suspect, are immune to inferiority complexes.  They are so secure in who they are that they do not need to focus on who they are, and thus they are able to focus outward.

During the forty-day season of self-denial and repentance known as Lent, we remember that Jesus Himself retreated to the wilderness for forty days.  He knew that He had been put on this earth for a special purpose, to save His people, and during His time in the wilderness, the enemy tempted Him with various ways to become great in the eyes of His people.⁵  Immediately before journeying into the wilderness, Jesus went to the river to be baptized.  After He emerged from the water, He heard a Voice from Heaven say, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."⁶

I think that maybe this affirmation from God sustained Jesus during His time in the wilderness.  He was so secure in who He was and whose He was that he had no need for the things the enemy offered Him.

I believe that each of us has a purpose in life, and, if God would give us a purpose in life, then God must believe that we can fulfill our purpose.  How much greater do we need to be?  There is no reason for us to try to make a name for ourselves.  There is no reason to try to impress people.  There is no reason to try to win God's approval.  All we need to do is to humbly and boldly do whatever God has called us to do.  Perhaps, during this journey through the metaphorical wilderness we call Lent, we need to take time to remember who we are and whose we are, believing in the God who believes in us.


Notes:

1. 1 Samuel 15:1-9
2. 1 Samuel 15:10-31
3. 1 Samuel 15:17-19 (NRSV)
4. C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letters.  ch. 14
5. Luke 4:1-13
6. Luke 3:21-22 (NRSV)

The image of Samuel's confrontation with Saul was painted by John Singleton Copley in 1798.