Why Peter Was an Idiot Sermon for Proper 17, Year A

Sermon for Proper 17 year A by Fr. Rian Adams

Text: Matthew 16:21-28

Since February of this year, the People’s Republic of China has removed and destroyed over 900 crosses from Christian churches. If that wasn’t enough, to display a cross on a place of worship is a crime against the government. If congregants disobey, the government can try them as insurrections. 

The cross is offensive. 

I read an article in an academic journal a few months ago at Sewanee that informs this sermon. The author called for the historic Christian churches in New York City to remove the crosses because they were invasive and not in the spirit of inclusion. She said crosses might offend the non-Christian tourists who visit the beautiful churches.

The cross is offensive. 

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus says the cross is the way to God… “Anyone who wants to come after me, let them take up the cross and follow me.” When his most loyal and exuberant disciple heard such, he had to correct his Rabbi’s ignorance. It caused a rift between them that even made it into the Gospels. 

The cross is offensive. The apostle Paul called it a stumbling block. That’s true for the Chinese government, a clergy person in New York City, and Simon Peter, the fisherman. 

Because this a heavy subject, I’ve used some satire… today’s sermon is about Why Peter Was an Idiot. Why do I say that Peter is an idiot in this passage?

Because Peter Denies Difficulties.

Last week Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the son of God.” 

Peter hit a home run! That was the first time in Matthew’s Gospel that the disciples came out and said that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus praised Peter, gave him a new name, Petros, rock, and gave him the “keys to God’s kingdom.” 

It gives us a sigh of relief. The tension subsides, and we no longer have to wonder if Peter will ever “get it.” Finally, after 15 chapters, the disciples realize that Jesus is the Christ. 

Immediately following those verses, Jesus reveals what it means to be the Messiah, “I’m going to Jerusalem to die on a cross.” 

That was too much for Peter!… “Jesus doesn’t know what he’s talking about… I agree with him on everything else, but this idea is absurd.” So Peter decides to enlighten him, set him straight, as it were.

Have you ever had to deal with a know-it-all? Few things are as succulent as when you can prove them wrong! I heard that the best way to handle a know-it-all is to tell them that “Know-it-alls should know that nobody likes a know-it-all.” 

Peter musters his best professorial voice, “Jesus, I’m not saying that you are ignorant of interpretive method, but your ideas are incongruent with conservative and informed interpretations.”

Here’s the bottom line, Peter acts the fool in this Gospel passage because he has no room for other opinions, interpretations, and especially no room for Messianic difficulties. 

Why is he an idiot? Secondly, 

Because he doesn’t trust Jesus.

Jesus isn’t in the mood for Peter’s foolishness and his dedication to an easy way out; he says to him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me.” 

Well… that escalated quickly! Everyone is having a good time, then Jesus has to talk about the government killing him. Peter just can’t stand that much ignorance, so he tells Jesus just how stupid the idea is, then Jesus fires back by calling Peter the one name that’s the ultimate insult, Satan. 

Do these two need a training seminar on family systems and pastoral relationships? “Lesson # 1, No name-calling, especially ‘stupid,’ and ‘Satan.’” Lesson # 2, don’t fight in front of disciples who are middle management.”

Before we excommunicate Jesus, it would be helpful to know what the word Satan means. It means tempter, adversary, stumbling block.

The word is scandalon in Greek; it’s where we derive our English word scandal. “Peter, your suggestion that I can bypass the religious and governmental powers that revolt against a message of love, hope, healing, mercy, and inclusion is scandalous.”

Remember what the apostle Paul said in his letter to the Corinthian Church, “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but for the ones who follow Jesus it is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Peter wanted a Messiah without a cross… Such a Christianity does not exist. When we preach that love and inclusion hold hands, we can expect resistance and retaliation. 

Then we reach a turning point in the text. What Jesus says next is ground-breaking…, and it changes the theological scope of Jesus’s ministry, and should inform our own. 

He says that he must go to Jerusalem, be crucified, die, and rise again. He says that it’s God’s will for this to happen.

There are a couple of different ways to understand this: 1) God willed Jesus’s torture and death to satisfy himself. That view tells you how people understand the nature of God. There is another interpretation; 2) That Jesus’s suffering and crucifixion were an inevitable result of a God-filled ministry that called the systems, “the principalities and powers of this world,” into accountability.

Because Peter doesn’t trust Jesus, he’s trying to subvert the Holy Spirit’s work of convicting the world of sin. Peter wants to take over the world’s system so he can be a beneficiary of it, Jesus wants him to increase the value of people. 

The Backward Kingdom

People around the world know of the book, Alice in Wonderland. In that classic work, Lewis Carrol took us inside ourselves to see our journey out of childhood. 

But Carroll followed the book with one of his most brilliant pieces, Alice Through the Looking Glass. The story takes us through the journey, the adventure, of growing into our own souls. 

In the book, everything is backward. To find her destiny, she goes backward to go forward, and she goes left to get right. It’s an upside-down kingdom!

The kingdom of God is upside down… its an upside down kingdom where the cross is right-side-up. 

Amen. 

Sermon for Proper 17, Year A