2 March 2016 St.
Athanasius Lutheran Church
Lent 3 Midweek
Vienna,
VA
Jesu Juva
“The
Little (or BIG!)
Peter in Each of Us: Misunderstanding”
Text: John 18:1-11; 1
Corinthians 1:18-31
Well Peter wasn’t going to make the same mistake
again! He wasn’t going to be caught sleeping this time. He would keep his word
and promises. He would stand by Jesus. He would not shrink back. Yes, he would
even die with His Lord - and for Him, if necessary. He would prove
himself. Now was his hour.
So when he sees the band of soldiers and
some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, when he sees
the lanterns and torches and weapons, when he hears that they’ve
come for Jesus and are going to arrest Him, bind Him, and take Him away, Peter
draws his sword. He’s going to go down fighting. And the first casualty of his
flying sword is the right ear of Malchus, the high
priest’s servant.
Oh Peter! How can you be so misunderstanding?
It’s not about you, it’s about Jesus. This is His hour, not yours. He would
prove Himself and His love, not you. He would die for you, not you for Him. You
will still shrink back, but He will not. He will stand by you, and He will keep
His Word and promises - every single one of them. He is going as it is written
of Him. Don’t you see that, Peter?
But he doesn’t. He should. Look at what had just
unfolded before his very eyes. When the crowd of soldiers and officers come up
to Him, Jesus cuts them down with just a few words. I am he, he
says, and they all draw back and fall to the ground. Like
dominoes knocked down by a giant divine hand, all those big, brave soldiers
tumble to the ground. And it could have been worse. The one whose voice
commands creation, rules over sicknesses and diseases, and expels demons, could
have struck them all down and taken their life. But He does not. That is not
what He has come for. He has come to lay down His own life - for Peter, for
them, for you. So after they all get up and approach Him again, Jesus withholds
His power. He allows Himself to be taken. The Creator places Himself into His
creatures’ hands.
Don’t you see, Peter? Do you still not
understand? Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup
that the Father has given me? But Peter hadn’t heard that. That was the
struggle and those were the words he had just slept through.
So what about you and me? Do we understand?
On the one hand we do. We know the story. We know
of the crucifixion and the resurrection and how it all turns out in the
end.
But what we don’t know is the end of our own
stories. How it will all turn out for us. Like Peter, sometimes we are faced
with frightening situations. We see the powers and forces of this world, and
their unholy alliance against Christ and His Church. We know our own past
failures and want to do better, prove ourselves, not
let our Lord down again. And so we try to be strong and pull our swords and
fight for our Lord. That’s not necessarily wrong, this side of the cross, as
long as we use the right sword - the sword of God’s Word.
But isn’t that the very sword we so often leave
in its sheath?
Instead relying on the swords of our own strength, of human
wisdom, of political influence, of earthly and worldly power. Those all
have their place, but against the evil and darkness in our world, they are not
just weak, they are nothing. And we, like Peter, are easily overcome.
Consider again the words we heard from St. Paul
tonight: God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God
chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and
despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things
that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
And the most foolish, weakest, lowest, and most despised thing of all is the
cross, and Jesus on it. That you must be saved by a crucified
criminal. That what looks like shame is really glory.
That what looks like death and defeat is really victory and
life. That’s stupid.
But that Christ is the power of God and the
wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger than men. That Christ now places
Himself into the hands of those He came to save, and allows them to crucify Him
to do just that. They crucified a criminal against Rome - that’s what
could be seen. But Jesus died the death of all us criminals against God -
that’s what could not be seen. He took it in our place, to - as He said in the
garden - let these men go. And because of Him, we have been. Let
go from the guilt of our sin. Let go from the grip of death and the
grave. Let go from the condemnation of the evil one. That the Word of
God be fulfilled. That we have a Saviour.
And so Jesus heals the ear of the servant Peter
in his zeal had cut off. That he might hear the Word of God. For faith comes by
hearing the Word of God, and understanding by believing what it says - not what
we think ought to be. For as we sang: How firm a foundation, O saints of the
Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word (LSB #728 v.1)!
Peter would later understand. He would preach
Christ crucified. He would boast [only] in the Lord.
And he would lay down his life for Jesus; he would be martyred. But not to keep his word, but because Jesus had kept His.
Not to prove himself faithful to Jesus, but because Jesus was faithful to him. And not because his love was so great, but because Jesus’ is.
And so while those who crucified Peter thought they won by so doing, Peter
would finally understand that he had already won. For Jesus had won the battle
for him.
And for you. So that whatever
troubles, whatever powers, whatever fears now come to attack you, you need not
fear. You have already won, in Jesus. You are a child of God and under His care
even now. And on the Last Day, Jesus will say to the grave let this one go - and it will. And you will live. For Jesus did
drink the cup. He loses none that He is given. And so we rest and we hope and
we boast in Him.
In the Name of the
Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.