Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 26 or 26:1-8
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:21-27
That sweltering Florida morning, everyone who knew "Tanker" knew the big buckskin quarter horse was a winner. Not only was he strong and quick, but that day he had the best jockey in north Florida: "Shrimp" Corrigan could make a winner out of even a mediocre horse, and Tanker was already a winner. This was a sure thing, solid as a rock. The bets were high. The crowd was rowdy. The start was quick. Tanker was on fire and immediately in the lead. Then, in spite of Tanker's powerful drive, Shrimp pulled back. They finished fourth.
The owner and trainer looked as mystified as Tanker. Did Shrimp, "the boss," change his mind about his winning horse and make Tanker into a loser? Did the boss betray them?
Simon Peter would know just how that feels - to be called a winner then suddenly cast as a loser. To be called ‘blessed' one minute and ‘satan' the next. The foundation stone turns into a stumbling block. And chances are you've just bet your life on it.
Poor Simon Peter. Minutes ago for him, and last week's gospel for us, he was a winner: the one who knew the right answer: That Jesus is "the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." And Jesus calls him "blessed" and names him "Peter" meaning "Rock" -- the rock on which Jesus will build his church. And now in today's reading he's suddenly called a "satan" – meaning an accuser, a slanderer. Peter the winner becomes a "stumbling block" or a scandal.
How often it happens that something we counted on as a ‘sure thing' winner changes or turns out to be something else and we feel betrayed: the stumbling block could be as simple as a favorite restaurant gets a new lousy new cook, or our church gets a new prayer book, or a friendship or a marriage fails. How often it happens that we count on ourselves as "the rock" to get us through the hard times, only to find we have (in the words of today's epistle) "thought of ourselves more highly than we ought to think," and then we ourselves become the stumbling block keeping us from where we'd like to go.
Peter thought himself rock enough to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem and death. Peter "knew" that these bad things must not happen to the Messiah.
But Peter had lost sight of the vision of the Kingdom, because he focused instead on all the trouble right under his nose. Peter became a stumbling block for himself and a "satan" for the Messiah.
Oh, Peter's intentions were good. He wants to stop Jesus, to protect him and keep him safe. But Jesus shifts Peter's vision to the bigger picture, saying: "Get yourself out of the way and follow me."
Life isn't an easy road. There are enough rocks in path without our putting ourselves in the way as stumbling blocks. We ourselves are often the biggest obstacle. The rocks of our lives can be huge and heavy. But when we set ourselves aside and we begin to look at Jesus – or at the Christ present in other people – then by comparison the cross is light, and we are able to carry the troubles and pain of this life. Only then, following Jesus, do we become like Peter, a rock on which Jesus can build something wonderful. Only then, looking at Christ, does the loser become the winner – "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
. . .
Meanwhile, back at the races .... In those first few strides of the race that day, Shrimp had felt something odd in the movement of Tanker's left shoulder. "The boss" pulling back and making a loser out of the winner saved Tanker's leg, his racing career, and probably his life. Shrimp all along kept his vision on the bigger victory. He didn't let the little stuff, those stumbling blocks and ‘satans', trip him up. Tanker and Shrimp went on to win other and bigger races.
And Peter did, too. "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it." Those losers, carrying their crosses, will be winners.
Set your mind on divine things rather than human things, Jesus suggests. Keep your eye on the vision rather than the stumbling blocks of this life.
Sometimes, stumbling along with that cross, you'll look and feel like a loser, But Christ will come with his angels in glory, and prove that cross to be the sign of victory and life.