Unconditional Truth

The first portion of today’s Gospel reading reports a remarkable interchange between Peter and Jesus. Mark’s Gospel includes three passages that foretell Jesus’ passion, his death and resurrection. This is the first one. “Jesus began to teach [the disciples] that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected… and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark says that Jesus said these things quite openly; that is, he said them publicly and plainly. Suffering and death lie ahead, Jesus said. Then the scene gets really interesting. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Surprisingly, Peter gets points here for personnel management style: do your rebukes in private, not public. But Peter rebuked Jesus! This is like the mail clerk rebuking the CEO. And then, looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.” Jesus, apparently publicly, rebuked Peter, saying to him, “Your words are the devil’s words. Get out of my sight.”

And if all of that weren’t remarkable enough, what really struck me is that Peter hangs around. Peter remains a follower of Jesus. You know the continuation of the story; Peter sticks around as a disciple. There are, of course, a few rough spots in Jesus’ and Peter’s relationship still ahead. But Peter stays around. Peter’s spiritual leader has just told him he is full of Satan. Not very affirming or empowering words from Jesus. But Peter stays the course. Switching from a corporate metaphor to a parish one, in a way Peter has been Jesus’ senior warden, one of several disciples with a special relationship with Jesus and one who fills a leadership role among Jesus’ other followers. And then Jesus rebukes Peter publicly, in the presence of the other disciples, and tells him he is being self-centered and sinful and has completely missed the point. If you were Peter, how would you have reacted to this incident? I expect most of us would have left that parish and never come back. But Peter stayed. Peter stayed with Jesus.

And what are we to make of Jesus’ role in this encounter? That Jesus would have made a lousy supervisor in the corporate world and probably a lousy pastor in a parish? Yes. And that’s worth thinking about. Because those are not Jesus’ roles and we should not expect them to be. This encounter is not a conversation between supervisor and employee. This is not a conversation between pastor and parishioner. This is a conversation between the Son of God and a disciple.

This morning’s Gospel passage is from Mark 8:31 and following. Listen to Mark 8:27-30, the verses immediately preceding today’s reading. “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter (!) answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’” In Matthew’s Gospel Peter adds, “The Son of the living God.” Peter said to Jesus: You are the Messiah, the Christ, Son of the living God.

Right after Peter named Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, Son of the living God Jesus began to teach the disciples about how the Messiah would suffer and be killed. And then Peter and Jesus had the remarkable dispute recounted in today’s Gospel. Peter telling Jesus, the Messiah, that he must be mistaken and Jesus telling Peter that he was acting on the devils’ behalf. In this heated interchange, Peter knew to whom he was talking. Peter knew who was talking to him.

Does that make this conversation more or less remarkable? I’m not sure. But can you imagine this scene as a model for your interaction with your Lord God?

First of all, the conversation is intense and personal. You can expect that in your conversations with Jesus. You can expect a meeting that is intense, immediate and personal. This conversation is about Peter’s expectations of God. It is about the effect of God’s will on Peter. It is about God’s specific interest in Peter’s words and actions. This is not the Sermon on the Mount with its richly poetic, but sweeping and anonymous statements like, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.” This is Jesus and Peter, mano a mano. Jesus teaches us all from the mountain. But we can also expect the sort of intense personal interaction that Peter experiences in this passage. Our individual words, our actions matter to Jesus. If we are willing to engage him, Jesus will always have the time and will always be right there to respond.

It is also worth noting that Peter did not hesitate to confront Jesus. Peter initiated this conversation. Having just acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, Peter did not hesitate to challenge what Jesus was saying. We should be encouraged by that. We should be encouraged. This is a model for how we can interact with God. Peter was not shy or deferential. Nor did Peter consult academic authorities on Messiahship before presenting a carefully reasoned response to Jesus. Peter did not worry about whether or not his theology was “right” before he spoke to God. Peter spoke his heart, without thinking it seems. Actually, Peter did quite a bit of that, speaking without thinking, and it was OK. “No,” Peter said to Jesus, “you can’t be right.” Mark doesn’t report what words Peter may have actually said. We don’t know if he simply did not want his friend Jesus to suffer or if he feared the loss of his teacher and rabbi. Or if Jesus’ words did not fit with whatever preconceived idea Peter did have for the Messiah. All we know is that Peter did not like what the Son of God was saying and doing and he said so. And so can we. It’s OK.

But Peter was also willing to hear the truth from Jesus. Peter was open to accepting divine correction. That, too, should be a model for us. Peter was willing to accept divine correction. What we can expect from Jesus is unconditional love and unconditional truth. We don’t get either of those in even the best of our human relationships. Our human relationships with one another can certainly be rich in love and truth, but they are always limited, tempered, contingent to some degree. Whether those relationships are friendships, pastoral or therapeutic relationships, professional relationships in the workplace, comrades in sport or battle, or even the closest romantic or family relationships, our human relationships do not offer us absolute love or undiluted truth… ever. And Jesus does… always. A relationship with Jesus offers us both. Unconditional love and unconditional truth.

It is easy to muddle our expectations of Jesus with our expectations of human relationships. We expect Jesus to be the best of friends, always sharing our perspective and interests. Or we expect Jesus to be the best of all possible pastors, always nurturing us. Or we expect Jesus to be the best of possible spouses, whatever that relationship looks like. But Jesus is none of these things. Jesus is not friend or pastor or spouse, and we should not expect him to be. Jesus is the Messiah, Son of the living God. And what we can expect from Jesus is unconditional love and unconditional truth. (Incidentally, it is equally inappropriate to expect your friend or pastor or spouse to be Jesus.)

Jesus gives us unconditional truth. Jesus names the sin within us. Names it unconditionally as evil. The truth of our complicity with Satan is laid bare. Peter! Get behind me Satan! For you, Peter, are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. If we as individuals really listen carefully to God’s Word, spoken directly to us in Scripture… If we really bring all of ourselves to the relationship shared here at God’s Table, then we will hear the same words spoke to us by name. Your sins are the devil’s work. You are setting your mind on human things, not divine.

It couldn’t have been easy for Peter to hear these words of truth. But Peter did not run away or fade away or file a lawsuit or go shopping for a new savior… which are some of our normal responses when human relationships do not meet our expectations. He stuck around. And that is a model for us. And Peter learned something, of course in this experience. He learned some things about himself and his sin, and about the real nature of the Messiah. He lost the argument, but he learned a few things in the process.

Probably the most important thing Peter learned is that Jesus’ unconditional love for him did not falter or diminish even the slightest bit. Nothing Peter could do would change or decrease Jesus’ love for him. Jesus died for Peter after this encounter. Jesus’ love is truly unconditional. Stick around and find out.