Wadhams United Church of Christ
2569 County Route 10, Wadhams, NY 12993
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Sermon by Steve Smith
March 1 , 2009
Matthew 16:21-28
A lot of the work I do is intangible. It’s hard to measure how successful or unsuccessful it is, unless someone gives me direct feedback. So when I get some time off, I like to spend some time doing something tangible and concrete. In the summertime, this translates to yard work, planting some flowers, and making improvements to the outward appearance of the house. I’ve already got a list of ideas for our new house. In the winter, though, I enjoy working with wood. So when a friend generously offered the use of his wood-working tools, I took advantage of the offer and spent three or four hours raiding his scrap pile of project leftovers and using them to fill in some shelving gaps at our house. One of the projects was to enclose the cabinet area under our kitchen sink so we could use it to store cleaning chemicals without the fumes coating the dishes located in the same general area. Before I went, I meticulously measured the space, making careful notes and measurements for the oddly-shaped corners way up underneath the kitchen counter.
Armed with drawings and precise calculations, I went to work with my friend in his shop area. I was frankly amazed at how easy it was. Apparently, investing money in quality tools can make tool time a lot more enjoyable than my prior experiences. I was frequently dumbstruck by how quickly he performed tasks that often chew up hours of my time. After one of these demonstrations, I stopped him to make sure that it was legal to own tools like these, then spent a few pleasurable hours giggling and laughing hysterically when I compared his easy efforts to my antics when using less expensive and more labor-intensive tools. By labor-intensive, of course, I’m referring to the extra energy required to come up with creative and colorful terms to express my frustration.
Feeling rather giddy, I loaded my pile of custom-cut lumber into the back of the car, including the two panels that I was going to use to encase the space under the sink. They were things of beauty in my eyes: smoothly sanded surfaces, pieces of oak attached at top and bottom to be able to fix the panels in place, with pre-drilled holes to make the installation that much easier. I was riding high and looking forward to the opportunity to slide them into place and simply finish drilling the pre-set screws. Home improvement projects don’t get much better than this.
My first sign of trouble in paradise came when I tried to slide the panels into the opening under the sink. The placement of the pipes made it difficult to manage the restricted space I had to work with. “No problem,” I said to myself in what I’ve come to refer to as famous last words. “I should be able to exert a little pressure and jockey it back and forth until it fits.” After 20 minutes of exerting pressure, whipping the jockey and thinking up colorful expressions, I ran into my next setback: the notch I had cut to anticipate the oddly-shaped corner was too small, which meant that I would have to coax the panel back out of its tight new home in order to redo the notch.
“No problem,” I said again, with an ominous feeling settling over me. “I’ll just recut the notch in the other one first, so that should go in more easily, then I’ll come back to this one.” Two hours later, I stopped to catch my breath from hammering the next panel into an even tighter space, using a thesaurus to branch out into a new set of colorful expressions, and finally coming to the realization that for some reason, my carefully cut panels didn’t fit into the existing space. As I lifted my gaze heavenward, I realized with a mixture of fascination and horror that the entire kitchen counter was one to two inches higher than it had been before I started my project.
Fortunately, we have flexible hose piping under the sink, so I didn’t experience any plumbing problems, but it did take me another hour or so to chop through the obstructions holding everything up. After setting, resetting, and finally drilling new holes to get my preset screws to attach the panels top and bottom, I could relax and enjoy the fruit of my intensive efforts. Carrying that tangible image of a carefully precut project that wouldn’t fit into its designated space, we turn to the gospel of Matthew, where we heard the story of Peter being rebuked by Jesus.
Just prior to this passage, Peter had been getting all the accolades for correctly answering a puzzling question posed by Jesus. “Who do people say that I am?” He began the quiz with a concrete, tangible question. He had most of them stumped with the next one though, which was much more subjective and difficult to put into words. “Who do you say that I am?” Or, if you will, “Who am I to you?” When Peter came up with the right answer, “You’re the Messiah,” Jesus praised him up and down, and life was looking pretty good to Peter. “This following Jesus thing doesn’t get much better than this,” he was probably saying to himself. It’s also possible that he took pains to remind everyone that he had gotten one right. We all like to look good, don’t we?
But when Peter began to turn his gaze heavenward so as to bask in the holy glow of his special status in the eyes of Jesus, he realized with a mixture of fascination and horror that something didn’t fit into his blueprint of how this Messiah thing was supposed to play out. As he came plummeting earthward from his spiritual high, he heard Jesus talking about suffering, humiliation, abuse, and being put to death. Since he was the one who had figured out the Messiah puzzle, he took it upon himself to enlighten Jesus about what was involved.
Not wanting to humiliate Jesus in public, he took him off to one side to teach him the way of God more correctly. He might have had his arm around Jesus while he chided him and helped him look at this whole thing in the right light. “You don’t understand, Jesus. You’re the Messiah, so you don’t have to suffer. Let me help you with this part. None of this stuff is ever going to happen to you.” Much to his shock, though, Jesus broke away from him and used some stinging words, the harshest language that Peter would ever hear from his beloved teacher and mentor.
Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you’re not thinking about this like God, but like a mere human being.
Ouch! Talk about something not fitting into its intended spot. Just when he thought he had it all figured out, Jesus threw him a curve and jumbled everything up. It wasn’t just the kitchen counter sticking up where it didn’t belong; it was Peter’s entire understanding of who God is and what God is up to in this crazy, mixed up world. Apparently, his carefully constructed notions about God and his precise calculations of what the Messiah was supposed to do didn’t fit into God’s greater plans for this ragtag band of the clueless.
There have been some spiritual highs during my lifetime that have left me feeling exhilarated. As a result of some of these peak experiences, I have sometimes come down off the mountain with some residual confidence that I actually had a clue as to what God is up to on planet earth. Because I’m such a helpful kind of guy, I’ve probably put my arm around some people to help them figure out why the world they’re living in is so much messier than mine, and if they only gave me a chance, I could help them look at everything in the right light.
Not surprisingly, God has thrown more than a few curves at me. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I’ve been brushed back from the plate, beaned on more than one occasion, and maybe even chased around the field by some menacing characters who used more than their share of steroids. While God might refer to it as ego-reduction therapy, I find it unsettling to have to continually rethink my understanding of who God is and what God is supposed to do for us. But after being hammered into tight space after tight space, I’ve become much more flexible about admitting that I am one of the clueless ones who needs a lot of help from God just to be me and to do the things God has called me to do.
When our interpretations of our life experiences leave us feeling frustrated or disappointed with God, and we have a hard time making God fit into our carefully designed definitions and expectations of who God is and what God is supposed to do for us, we might do well to step back to do some refiguring. As life leads us into and through the unexpected twists and turns, we can spend a lot of time and energy trying to make God live up to our expectations, or we can spend that time looking for the help we need in order to prevail through our difficulties. We can exert a lot of effort trying to bend the universe to fit into the space we want it to fill, or we can expend that effort in an attempt to understand more about our role in this space God has given us.
After a stinging rebuke from the man he looked up to more than anyone else, our friend Peter had some hard work to do. He had to revise his expectations for the Messiah and spend some time wrestling with what that would mean for him on a day to day basis. Jesus spelled it out pretty clearly, but it’s a hard message to hear, let alone begin to practice.
If anyone wants to be my follower, they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Here’s the thing: we shrink from pain and suffering. When it happens, we want an explanation, if not a way out. Pain and suffering violate our sense of fairness. They distort our understanding of the way things are supposed to be. When bad things happen, it feels like the chaos is overcoming the order of the universe. When it feels like life is out of control, we very much want God to bring it back under control by making everything right again. When life delivers those stinging rebukes to our way of thinking, we stand with Peter among the ragtag band of the clueless, asking ourselves, “What does God want from me?”
Eugene Peterson, in his translation of the Bible, The Message, offers some commentary on this passage. Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead, Jesus said. You’re not in the driver’s seat, I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding your true self.
While the answers we get from God don’t always satisfy our craving to understand why things happen the way they do, the answers are pretty clear cut and direct. What does God want from us? God wants us, all of me, all of you, offered up as a sacrifice for God’s future use. While Peter might have gotten some mileage out of getting one right, it didn’t help God’s cause to have Peter going around reminding people that he had the right answer. After Peter had suffered and experienced the brokenness of the clueless, he could be of immense help to God by stepping into the brokenness of others to remind them that there is a God who cares more than they could know. He could be present with them as the incarnation of God’s redemptive love in their lives.
When we’re being hammered into a tight spot and there is no relief in sight, our shifting gaze toward heaven can be redirected to look for God’s help to endure, and then our reflections afterward can help us recognize the trace of God’s finger in our lives. When we go out to be with others who are being hammered, or beaned, or chased around by menacing circumstances, we go as authentic ambassadors and representatives of a God who understands that we need help and support in order to learn and grow from the troubles of life. In the meantime, keep your hammer and chisel handy, because you never know when a home improvement project is going to be required. For that matter, keep your hammer and chisel on hand, because God’s not done fitting us for the space God wants us in.
Welcome, Announcements, Joys & Concerns
A Prayer for Peace NC #588 (vs. 1)
Opening Prayer (From Psalm 51)
Leader: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your loving-kindness. In your great compassion, forgive us our sins.
People: Cleanse us from our sins. Against you have we sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
Leader: Purge us from our sins and we shall be pure; wash us and we shall be clean indeed.
People: Make us hear of joy and gladness, that we may rejoice as you heal our brokenness.
Leader: Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us.
People: Cast us not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from us.
Leader: Give us the joy of your saving help and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit.
ALL: Open our lips, O Lord, that we may now proclaim your praise and glory.
Hymn NC #86
Responsive Prayer
Leader: Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks that you are the God of all seasons.
People: When we are in the midst of joy, help us to remember to give you thanks.
Leader: When we are confronted with hardship and loss, let us remember that you walk with us to give us strength.
People: When there are moments when we simply cannot understand and we are faced with the question “why”, remind us to turn to you and listen for your comfort and reassurance.
Leader: You sent us Jesus Christ to show us what a human life can look like when it is lived fully. Help us to follow the way of Jesus.
People: God of love and mercy, we long to live as your people and share the compassion that you have first given us.
Leader: So often we hesitate, afraid to reach out, to truly give of ourselves.
People: Forgive us when our actions and our words hurt other people.
Leader: Have mercy on us when we simply neglect one another or are too busy to notice the needs all around us.
People: Open our eyes and our hearts so that we might recognize all the opportunities around us to share your love and compassion.
Pastoral Prayer, Lord’s Prayer
Hymn NC #303 Rejoice Give Thanks
Psalm 31:14-24, Genesis 9:8-17, Matthew 16:21-28
Sermon Hammer and Chisel
Offering, Doxology, Dedication
Hymn NC #211 Lord Jesus Who Through 40 Days
Benediction (Based on Isaiah 40)
Leader: We pray, Lord God, that as we have heard your words today in scripture and song, they may move and change us.
People: May we come from our time of worship with the same love and fire that burned in the life of Jesus.
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