| Fourth Sunday in Lent | Church of the Covenant |
| March 26, 2006 | The Rev. Dr. Robert J. Campbell, D. Min., D. D. |
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Act II, Those In Charge
Scene II, Denial
Introduction
We're looking at the crucifixion as a drama played out on the world's stage. One of the great teachers of theater, Stanislavski, wrote,
"A director must toss his thoughts into the audience. The form of the production will be found when the director knows what he wants to say and why she wants to say it. When those answers are known, we will know the inner content of the play."
The writers of the narratives surrounding the last days of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, later to be known as The Christ, knew exactly what they wanted to say. Taking oral tradition they reworked their accounts for their audience in order to help their people see their own lives reflected and in the process catch sight of their Lord reflected in their lives.
Mark 14: 54, 66-72
Peter followed Jesus at some distance right into the courtyard of the high priest where he sat by the fire. One of the maids of the priest came past and seeing Peter said, "You were with the Nazarene Jesus.” But Peter denied it saying, "I don't know what you are talking about.” Then he slipped out into the gateway. There the maid saw him again and started saying to people standing around, "This is one of them!” Again Peter denied it. After a while the people milling around began to say, "You certainly are one of them; you're a Galilean,” at which point Peter began swearing, "I don't know this man!” Immediately the cock crowed a second time and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And Peter broke down and wept.
Sermon
Jesus, pressed by the intensity of the interrogation, finally confessed, "I am.” And immediately Peter followed with, "I am not!" and such has been the dilemma of faith ever since.
Peter had seen Christ's power at work. He was first to be called, first to be sent out to preach, and he was valedictorian of the class. His own mother-in-law had been healed, he was witness to the raising of Jairus' daughter, and probably stood outside the tomb when Lazarus stepped into the sunlight. He left a thriving fishing business to follow Jesus; yet, Peter repeatedly fell short.
With great enthusiasm he exclaimed, "You are the Christ!" Then he outright rejected Jesus' prognosis of what was to come, which prompted Jesus to call him the devil. He stood on the mountain top of transfiguration and cried, "Let's stay here and build," when Jesus wanted to keep moving forward. Time and time again Peter heard Jesus say, "Deny yourself, your ways, your needs, take up your cross and follow me." How often had he heard Jesus' words, "Anyone ashamed of me of that person I will be ashamed!" Yet Peter didn't seem to get it.
He was a passionate person, a natural leader. Perhaps not ambitious like James and John, but at the very least he wanted rid of the yoke of Rome. Yet, Peter's passion proved to be his downfall.
In the heat of the moment he had exclaimed, "No way will I turn my back on you Lord!" Then he was caught sleeping and finally with expletives rolling from his tongue, dock worker that he had been, he declared; "I don't know this man!" Imagine, and this was the one about whom Jesus had declared, "Upon this rock I will build my church!"
What is ironic is that on one hand this scene of denial has the most agreement in all four accounts of the gospel; yet, there are infuriating differences in the detail when it comes to minor points, and as we catch the nuances, we see each writer, each preacher, which is what they were, preaching to congregations. We see each of the four gospel accounts trying to get a different pointed message across. So what's the word for us?
Generations of Christians have sung the haunting words, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" and then heard a sermon linking them to Peter's denial. For some of us it's like hearing Edward R. Morrow say, "You are there!" We deny our faith and we know it!
When we join the church we are asked, "Will you be a faithful member giving of yourself in every way? Will you seek the fellowship of the church wherever you may be?" We say "Yes." We forget that means like membership in Rotary Club, we will be there when we are on vacation, on business trips.
We baptize our children affirming Jesus as Lord. We say we trust him and want our child to obey his word and show his love; that we want our child to study, know, and serve Jesus. But then it's like that television add showing a pajama clad father declaring to his family, "It's Sunday, I think I'll open a checking account." We get distracted and the weekend is all too short.
As a congregation we affirm our responsibility to teach our children. But when the call comes for teachers the answer often is "I served my time." forgetting the Christian faith has no retirement program. When it comes time to spend cash on renovating the education wing, too often in churches it becomes a minor agenda for tight budgets.
We come to the Lord's Table and hear the words, "Do this in remembrance of me," but we forget the Lord's words, "If you have a grievance, a problem, with a brother or sister, settle it before you come to the table.” "We are there," but we are not alone. The story has repeated from the beginning.
Peter's passion moved him to affirm, "You are the Christ!" But then the soft bed of reality lulled him to sleep. The curious questions of the crowd caused him to swear, "I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Maybe he had a different Jesus in mind. Maybe that's the case with a lot of folks.
"I don't know the man." It may have been the most honest statement in all the gospel accounts. The Jesus being beaten up wasn't what Peter was looking for. Judas' betrayal may have been an attempt to force Jesus' hand and start an open insurrection; the Jesus he was following apparently wasn't what he was looking for. Thomas was looking for something different. How many down through the centuries have not known him? "Will the real Jesus please stand up?"
How many churches, preaching the gospel of "What God can do for you," know Jesus? Peter, upon whom the church was founded, didn't know Jesus so how can we? Are we there? Of course we are!
Peter stands at a safe distance. He tries to position himself without being noticed. It's fine to be a Christian, but don't make a big deal of it. At least he didn't run like the rest. All's well until the mistress at the gate sees his face in the firelight, like that warm cherub glow that comes across our faces when they're illuminated by candles at a Christmas Eve service. "Silent Night, Holy Night," but suddenly the night was not so holy, all was not "calm and bright."
Recognized, Peter tries to distance himself. "I am the Christ," Jesus confessed. "I am not one of his," Peter professed. Point and counter point. Like that standard defense of our day, "I refuse to answer on the grounds it might incriminate me." It will incriminate us! It's supposed to!
In the early church there was a prosecution test put to suspected Christians, "Are you a follower?” "Unless you deny Jesus and utter blasphemy, we will know you are." It was the martyr's choice, a no win situation, confess Jesus and die; deny Jesus and live with your conscience.
Peter denied a second and third time cursing, "I told you." Then he heard a distant reminder. Whether it was a domesticated rooster or the call from the traditional Roman watch; it matters not Peter remembered! And, all the writers agree, he collapsed as if dead. He wailed, "mournful" is the translation. His remorse was in the brutal fact he had not kept his word. "I will follow you anywhere Lord," except. Now he was exposed for who he really was.
"No one stands so much alone in the universe as a denier of God; an orphaned heart that has lost the greatest of fathers, one stands mourning by the immeasurable corpse of the universe.” (1) If there is no God, and everything therefore is permitted, the first thing permitted is despair. (2) Here was Peter, amidst utter despair, adrift like a cork surrounded by a sea of helplessness. His God was dead and he had nothing left! Which raises the question, how often is it that is where you and I do find ourselves?
Maybe we've all heard this sermon too many times. Maybe that's what's wrong with the church, it's too condemning, too much about scolding. We do our best. Yet, when the day of reckoning came, Peter's best wasn't good enough. Why are all the gospel writers in such agreement on this part of the story? Why did the early church allow such an incriminating account of its rock-hard founder to be recorded for all of history to see?
Peter threw himself onto the ground and burst into tears. He had betrayed what he passionately believed in most and it was over! He was disgraced! Luke adds, "Jesus looked Peter in the eye.” I suspect it wasn't a stern glance; probably it was that look of gentle sadness and disappointment.
But there is a fix to this mess. Peter isn't mentioned again in Mark. Except later when a robed young man says to the women, "Go tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus is going ahead of you."
There is a fix to this mess. At first you might tend to think of Peter being singled out as the leader, but that's not the case. He who had been first had become last.
"Go tell the disciples and Peter.” "Were you there?" We are there and tired as we might be of being reminded of it, we, like Peter, know ourselves. So what's the message?
In the 1st century a handful of people made an astonishing claim. They actually believed, without compromise, without fear, that the Messiah, God, had come. They preached that message with such passion they turned the world upside down.
They were either nuttier than fruitcakes or something true had happened that demanded the most radical reorganization of their lives.
If God had become known through a particular life on earth, and if the powers of this world had killed him, but the grave had not been able to hold him, then it would be necessary to adopt a totally new way of living; seeing death and what seemed to be failure as obsolete. And if this Jesus was active in what was being called the church, then the church must be particularly important to God's whole plan for humankind, in spite of all of its failures. That was the message!
And Peter, the primary founder, was certainly the example of all good persons. If Peter had repudiated Jesus in public, denied he ever knew him, then Jesus had been put to death, which meant it was too late for "I'm sorry's." If that had happened! But then there was that sentence, "Go and tell the disciples and Peter, and...?" And you and me? And the church? That's the word from the Lord!
So go and tell everyone that in spite of denials and distance, in spite of our good intentions buried deep under those warm covers of human frailty, "go and tell the disciples, Peter, and all the rest, that Jesus goes before us!" And he does. So, what are you afraid of? Go and announce that to the world! That's the message, your message.
1) Johann Paul Richter, 1763-1825 Said to Atheists
2) Attributed to John Frederick Maurice, 1805-1872, English Theologian
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