Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

Below is the text of the sermon I preached yesterday, for your edification...

Our gospel passage is the latter part of the confession of St Peter at Caesarea Philippi. When Jesus asks his followers who it is that people say he is and Peter replies “Thou art the Christ”.

We are two weeks in to Lent, and so far both our Sunday gospels have made mention of Satan. We do not often think of Satan, or hear of him in our reading, yet here he is twice!

Last week we heard how after his baptism Jesus was driven into the desert to be tempted by Satan.
This week, Peter takes issue with Jesus’ foretelling his death and resurrection, and Jesus rebukes him, saying “Get thee behind me, Satan!” – which to our ears may seem a little strong! Poor old Peter, so often hot-headed, so often getting it wrong.

On Tuesday evening a group of us watched some scenes from ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ as part of our Lent Oasis. In one of those scenes we saw Peter meet Jesus for the first time. I thought it was interesting, and insightful, how Peter was portrayed...

Peter has just been out fishing and has had a bad day’s catch (if any catch at all). He is coming back to shore shouting and cursing and in a foul mood (My Father is a fisherman so I understand something of his plight!). When Andrew, his brother, introduces him to Jesus Peter is more than a little doubtful:
“What? Another holy man! Tell me, what good will he do us?” is very much his approach.

Yet, Jesus gives Peter principle place among his apostles: “Thou art Peter (the rock), and on this rock will I build my church”
and (from the end of John)
Jesus tells Peter “Feed my lambs and tend my sheep”. He gives Peter pastoral care of his flock.

So why does Jesus seem to be so harsh with Peter? Why does he call him Satan? When it seems that Peter only wants to protect Jesus from the death he foretells for himself, one of rejection and great suffering.

Perhaps, when Peter seems willing to relieve Jesus of his sufferings Jesus is reminded of his own temptation in the desert. There, Satan tried to seduce Jesus into rejecting the mission he is given by his Father and taking the world’s glory. We hear from Jesus himself in a few weeks time, on Maundy Thursday during the Agony in the Garden, that he struggled to come to terms with the mission he was given. “Father, would that this cup of suffering could pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done.” Jesus knows what it is that he has been sent to do: to reconcile us to God by his passion, death and resurrection. And, he also knows how much suffering and pain this will mean he has to go through, before he rises in glory.

Perhaps the voice of Peter in his ear, saying something like “Lord, do not say this, you will not have to suffer, I won’t let you” is rather tempting, is rather like what Satan said to him in the wilderness.

If something is to be tempting it has to be something we feel a little attracted to. You could not tempt me with baked beans on toast for lunch, for instance, because I do not liked baked beans. However, if you offered me a slice of cake after mass that would be a different matter...

For Jesus to have been tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he must have realised the attraction in the things that Satan offered, there must have been a small part of him that might have wanted them. We know that Jesus struggled with the knowledge of his passion, perhaps the temptation to “fall in line” with what Peter was offering was indeed attractive. He hears the echo of Satan in Peter’s words and he reacts: “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Jesus refuses to be seduced by the temptation to deny his purpose. Knowledge of what the future holds can be a frightening thing, especially if that future will bring pain and sacrifice. Jesus knows that pain will come and, though he might like to do otherwise, he refuses to be distracted.

In Lent, we might well consider what it is that tempts us, what things we know the future may hold that we would rather avoid. We might hear the voice of Peter (a voice that recalls Satan’s temptation) offering us another, easier way, yet with Jesus as our example and our companion, we set our face towards the future with boldness and faith.

Jesus says that to be his followers means “to take up our cross and follow him, to lose our life for his sake, and yet in losing it, to save it”. For many of us the future holds painful things, in some cases this will be that we have to continue to bear the burden and pain of the past, or else it may be that we will have to make sacrifices of time and money, or personal emotional sacrifices. Yet Jesus says “take up these things, bring them with you to me and I will offer you rest and refreshment”. He will bring us salvation, that salvation will not just be the amplification of the good things in our life, but the deification (the bringing into God’s presence and perfection) of the things that give us pain and grief.

Christ’s cross was his burden, it was his implement of torture, it was his agony, it was his forsakenness by his Father, it was his death. Yet the cross on which he hung and died became his glory. Pain is turned to beauty, death to life, as the words of the hymn demonstrate:
“Faithful Cross! above all other
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be;
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.”

We can come to the Lord with all the things we would rather leave behind, all the things we are tempted to ignore, and as we follow him we will find that out burden becomes our glory, our weaknesses become our strengths. Jesus set his face towards the Cross knowing that glory would come. We can set our face towards Holy Week, this Lent, in anticipation of Easter. And, we can set our face to our pains and burdens knowing that Christ has us in his care.
Amen.