“But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it…” Matthew 16:24-25

I once read that after the Civil War, the great General Robert E. Lee, (a devout Episcopalian by the way), was asked by a mother who had lost her husband in the war, what would be the greatest lesson she could teach her child. “Teach him to deny himself’, Lee responded. That sounds so easy doesn’t it? To instill or develop self discipline. But the simplest and best advice is many times the hardest to accept and follow, even when we are committed to Christ.

Martin Luther King, Jr, preaching on part of today’s gospel reading, once told the story of the southern Baptist preacher who’s wife went out and spent two paychecks on a single dress. The cost upset the preacher to begin with, but when he saw the dress, a low cut short jersey dress, which accentuated his wife’s slender and fit figure, he became enraged. While expressing his displeasure, the wife tried to explain how confident and alive the dress made her, and how when she saw herself in the dress in the mirror, she couldn’t resist buying it. He responded by stating that we should resist all of life’s temptations by prayer and suggested that she should have said aloud at he greatest time of weakness, ‘Get behind me Satan’. Her response to him was, ‘But I did. I shouted, ‘get behind me Satan’. And he said, “Wow, it looks even better from back here”.

It seems, try as we might, that there is always a difference in how we see things and how God sees things. What highs and lows Peter experienced in life, even as a disciple of Christ. Last week Jesus said, “Praise to you, Simon, son of Jonah, for no flesh and blood gave you these words, but my Father in heaven. And so I call you Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” And now this week, in the same passage, Jesus says to Peter, get behind me Satan, you are a stumbling block to me, for you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. In one paragraph, Peter goes from the rock on which Jesus decides to build his Church, to a stumbling block between Jesus and the Cross. From inspired by God, to bumbling human.

Do you experience this is your own life, inspired one day, defeated the next? The fulfillment of dreams, as well as crushing defeats? Haven’t we all felt betrayed or let down by a friend on occasion? Have you ever-experienced great joy and deep hurt with your spouse or significant other? Did your parents ever disappoint you? What about your children? How do we handle these situations? Most importantly, how are we called to handle such situations, and what does the manor in which we handle ourselves in such situations say about our intention and ability to set our mind on the divine instead of the human? What stumbling blocks stand between the cross and us?

I must admit that try as I might to set my mind my mind on divine things, I am most often just like Peter, and see only what I want to see. As Jesus begins to paint the picture of the great suffering and death he is to experience, Peter still clings to his own version of the truth or what he wants to be the truth. “God forbid it Lord. This must never happen to you.” he says to Jesus. In spite of the fact that Peter knows who Jesus is, Peter seems to believe that if we are ‘good” enough, or as I have felt on occasion, pray hard enough, God won’t let anything bad happen to us. Why? Why did Peter refuse to accept the truth, even when it was spoken to him directly from our lord? Others might have a different answer, but I think one reason is fear. For if it was part of God’s plan that the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of Man, the living God, suffer and die, what was God’s plan for Peter? What was God’s plan for us? Whether it is of suffering, death, the uncertainty of life or simply letting go, we all have fears don’t we? Even Jesus prayed before his death, “Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me”. But when fear takes hold, we hear only what we want to hear and see only what we want to see. When working with families trying to deal with the anticipated death of a loved one when I was in deaconate training at St. Joseph Hospital, I was amazed to learn that no matter how hard the dying person tried to talk about the situation, get things in order and come to peace with the world, people just wouldn’t listen or discuss it. “Oh, let’s not talk about that now” or “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” or worse yet, “we don’t need to talk about this because things are going to be just fine.” How many times in life do we see only what we want to see, because sometimes it’s too painful or we are simply to afraid to do otherwise? Even when the Truth is standing before us, clear as day.

The truth is, like it or not, we can do everything ‘right’ and still get hurt. In today’s Epistle, Paul cautions us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, for we are members of one body in Christ, with each having gifts according to the grace given us. We each too have crosses my friends. Don’t presume yours is any heavier than another’s. Help lighten their load by loving them.‘Goodness’ provides no protection from pain and disappointment, and Jesus doesn’t promise freedom from suffering. Jesus promises something much greater. Jesus promises each of us, in the midst of life’s pain, sufferings and disappointments, ‘new life’ here and now, and life eternal, for those who learn to keep their eyes on things divine, even in the midst of our humanity, and are willing to lose their life for his sake. This is the Truth, the Way and the Life, whether we fear it or not, even if we stumble along the way.

Jesus, by facing his trials instead of running from them, showed us a new way to live. He removed the stumbling blocks and overcoming fear, accepted the cross. When Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me”, most of us need not look very far. And in seeking the courage to do so, we would do well to remain mindful of how much more fortunate we are than Peter, for we know the outcome. Just as Jesus died for Peter on a cross, so too did Peter at a later time, die on a cross for Jesus. In our baptisms we are not only buried with Christ in his death, but share in his resurrection. Most of us are not called upon to die on a cross like Peter; we only need to make a decision. Either we risk heartbreak by loving, trusting, forgiving and losing our lives to Jesus, or we live only to ourselves in this life, and miss Life altogether.

Someone once said, “There are only two kinds of people in this world—those who are alive and those who are afraid.” The life God gives us, while a blessing itself, is uncertain and ever changing. Paul knew this when he said; “we walk by faith, not by sight.” As a consequence of fear, it is difficult to set our mind on the divine rather than the human, and acknowledge we are not in control. What stumbling blocks exist in your life? What are you afraid of? Pick it up and follow Jesus. Then get out of the way. He will do the rest. Amen