What Kind of Stone?

Slate is a metamorphic rock, changed in form, which is sedimentary shale that has been pressed together more firmly than shale, and thus it will last much longer on the road.

With that difference between shale and slate in mind, let's turn again to our rock references, and especially to Peter.

What a variegated picture the Bible paints of him!

--Jesus points to Peter and talks about “rock”

--and yet a moment later, Jesus tells him “get behind me, Satan”

--Peter is the one who blurts out “You are the Christ”

--He is one of the first disciples

--But he is the one who notoriously denied Jesus 3 times on the night of the Last Supper.

--He is remembered as the rough and tumble fisherman, who become a chief speaker for the church,

--but he must also be soundly reproved by Paul when he is caught in double-dealing behavior.

--We hear fine and good things, and also weak and poor things about him.

--He is, then, a rather typical person.

--He is somewhat like a sedimentary rock; made up of layers and layers of this and that, laid down over years of living experiences.

He is a sedimentary rock that can break down rather quickly, and wash away if the weather is too severe.

The Good News in the Gospel today is that Christ Jesus can see more in Peter than just these things.

We judge things on the basis of what we know already;

Christ sees things from the perspective of what they will yet become.

We see the mud and the mess; he sees the transformed product.

We point to Peter the weak, the one who denies Christ;

but Jesus knows Peter as one who will sit at table in the completed kingdom.

With Peter the weak, he can build nothing,

but with Peter the one being transformed,

undergoing metamorphosis, Peter becomes the one bearing Christ's promises.

He can do amazing things, and work to build up and extend his kingdom.

Peter the fisherman of Galilee becomes the one who fishes for people.

Together with Paul, he is honored as a key leader in the church of Rome.

What a change!

No one could have guessed it or predicted it.!

The metamorphosis for us, our change of form, begins with Holy Baptism and it continues throughout our life.

Right from the moment of the water and God's promise, things began to happen.

Jesus begins to press us and form us into what he would finally have us be.

It may take a very long time, and yes, it may be uncomfortable at many points; heat and pressure are hard on us.

There are times when we cannot see the point of it all, and sometimes it seems as though evil will win.

We know those times when we rebel against God and harm ourselves.

We know those times when others rebel against God and would harm us.

Fear not; Christ will press us so that we are hard enough to withstand the trouble.

This is a good reminder in a week after we have recalled our own Baptism as we remembered Christ's Baptism, and gave the faith-chest as a life-long reminder to a neophyte.

Such beginners have only laid down the first layers of rock, and now the squeezing will start.

The metamorphosis for them is just beginning; they will be pushed to think and discover what is truly important in life under the Lord Jesus, and to live their lives in that shape.

There is much to learn...and so they are like all the rest of us who are struggling to understand,

who are being pushed to serve,

who are asked to share what we have and are.

Every one of us would rather do things our own way.

We'd rather wiggle out of the pressure than to be changed.

Only slowly do we move from saying “It's mine, all mine” to saying “It's God's gift to me; how can I use it well.?”

It is easy to forget that we who have many more layers of rock are not in this alone.

We are connected first of all with the Lord Jesus, who is applying the pressure to change us, and also we are connected to the other rocky people around us.

We need to be asking how whatever it is we are doing fits the shape Christ has in mind for us; how does it proclaim the love of God in Christ Jesus?

How does it build up the body of Christ?

Those are serious questions, for Peter long ago, and for us today.

What kind of rocks will our youngest members become?

What kind of rocks will we be?

By God's gracious gift and promise, we will not turn out to be weak and crumbly rocks, but strong and enduring ones.

So, on this day we remember Peter and his confession of faith;

Peter who is one with us in weakness,

and one with us in God's promised strength.

As 1 Peter says: ...you yourselves, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood....”

And it is happening to us, right now. Amen

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.