St Peter's Confession

I spent the last school year attending extended CPE: Clinical Pastoral Education. My plate was full after adding the remaining two classes to finish my School of Christian Studies requirements. Those two classes along with the CPE completed all of the Diocese’s requirements of a postulant as well. And as I was writing this sermon on Friday, I received notification from Bishop Baxter inviting me to meet the Ordination Commission on September 28th, to be interviewed for Candidacy as a Deacon. I owe a great deal of thanks for the support of Father Mark, the vestry, and to all of you for making this possible. I’m truly grateful for making it this far.
During my CPE I did an internship as a chaplain at Gettysburg Hospital. There are so many stories of how God creates the space in the midst of a Chaplain and the patient or patient’s family and friends; I hope to have the opportunity to tell you about some of them in the future. I was able to pray with many different people and many different styles from a Quaker woman who asked me just to sit with her in silence to a Four Square Pentecostal Minister who was whipping up the Holy Spirit with huge gyrations of his arms and loudly praising Jesus and asking Him for His healing power! Some stared off in to space while others quietly wept. I in turn worked on my listening skills and learned how to pray without a book. This produced some very tender moments where I left the room in tears on more than several occasions. As the year progressed, entering a room became easier. The situations didn’t. You see, at the beginning of the course there was so much confusion in my mind as what I was to do or what to expect when making visits. Hospitals were not my favorite place to be; especially with my wife having spent so much time in them the past couple of years. After a time I was going along with the flow, so to speak, paying attention, listening, talking things over with my peers and colleagues to grasp an understanding of what was expected of me. Then one day I was called on an emergency and before you know it I was reacting and not thinking because I’d let go of my safety net and was relying – unknowingly - on Holy Spirit to guide my actions.
This sounds similar to what many of us do on our paths as we try to understand what we are called to do or why we are called to do it. We have a gut feeling or something catches our attention and we start to seek out and learn what we can. We may have a revelation or an epiphany. And the reality of it is – with the exception of having Jesus physically present – is that these episodes in our lives aren’t very different from what the apostles experienced as they travelled with Jesus on his journeys of healing and preaching. They are the experiences that are described in what we just read in the Gospels. They listened to his call as he chose each of them; they dropped their current interests and began to follow him. They were normal workers, tradesmen, and professionals who worked at their jobs for the family income. They watched, they listened, and they talked with each other about what Jesus taught them. Their journey was more ardent then yours or mine, no doubt, and if any of them were like me and perhaps a few of you, a lot of knowledge and education came their way through osmosis. If we hear something and do something enough times - one day we find ourselves hearing the Holy Spirit speak to us as we receive the answers we need. After Jesus’ journey that included feeding the 5,000 then the 4,000 with numerous miracles thrown in here and there for good measure, it came time for Him to see who had been paying attention. After crossing the sea and landing on the banks of Caesarea, Jesus asks the question that brings their journey to a turning point. A turning point toward a destination they were not expecting: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Ask yourself that question. Who do you believe to be the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Christ? The apostles answer to the question showed the diversity of opinions the people had, who held the likes of John the Baptist, Elijah, and the prophets in high esteem. None of them; however, had mentioned Jesus.
Now the title Son of Man is most often referred to as meaning the Messiah. It dates back to the Old Testament and appears in several books of the prophets, most notably in the apocryphal text of Daniel, but Ezekiel holds the claim for being called Son of Man the most times with over ninety references, just slightly higher than any reference to Jesus in all of the Gospels combined. So after Jesus hears the replies he asks another question. Up to this point, he was considered a great teacher, healer, and performer of miracles who knew many things, but there were many others out in the streets at this time in history who were claiming to be the Christ. What throws the whole Messiah image upside down is that Jesus’ image is not of the Warrior King savior that Israel had been looking for to set them free and lead them to the Promised Land. The Son of Man was about to become completely ridiculed, tortured, and murdered in order to bring about a different kind of redemption. Redemption not of land, material possessions, or physical freedom; but redemption for the loss of Eden, broken trusts, and reconciliation of the soul with God. A redemption that would be secured through the resurrection.
Recently I heard this next question in a different way. Even as the question was read as I’ve heard every time before with the emphasis “Who do YOU say that I am?” with the emphasis on the “You”, I heard “who do you say that “I AM?” And I immediately recalled: I AM THAT I AM. Who knows if this was what Peter heard, too, for he burst out, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God!” Yes, it was at this point where Peter was open and listening to the Holy Spirit revealing to him the answer that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of Man, and the Son - not just of a god, but the Son of the one living God. If we think about the reactions of the others as they sat hearing this, each of us may have our own thoughts. Some will imagine them sitting quietly soaking it all in, feeling the Holy Spirit move through them in a calming peace. Others may feel an exhilaration and want to jump up and down swinging their arms around because they can’t contain the emotions that are welling up inside. Still others may weep happily, laugh with joy, or even stare up into the heavens and ask themselves over and over, “What just happened here?”
For Peter, what happened next was the presentation of authority and responsibility for the knowledge he had just received. It is said that with knowledge comes responsibility. Ignorance may be bliss in some places but for me, nothing is as exhilarating as the knowledge that Jesus is the Son of Man. I hope to continue with the help of God to be responsible by supporting this claim through my actions. As each of us receives the message and realizes what it entails, may we carry out that responsibility and continue the work of Christ in whatever gifts we have been given. Whether it be providing food for several dozen people at lunch, sending cards or making phone calls to the sick and homebound, or using the power of prayer to connect with the Holy Spirit and bring about peace; whatever your gift, when used the grace received in return from the Son of Man is truly amazing. Amen.