Metamorphosis

--In today's Gospel reading, Christ commends Peter for his faith and then uses a pun on his nickname which we could perhaps translate “Rocky” to talk about the establishment of the church.

--And in the hymn we sing in a few minutes, the refrain proclaims On Christ the solid rock we stand; all other ground is sinking sand. [LBW294]

The references are all different in scope and importance, but they are all working with the idea of a rock as something durable, lasting, permanent.

Time for science class, recalling the three main types of rocks:

igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.

Igneous- from the fires inside the earth, lava, bringing minerals and resources from hiding, capable of building entire mountains on land and islands in the sea.

Metamorphic – rocks that have been changed under heat and pressure, like anthracite coal or diamonds or slate.

Sedimentary – which are made up f layers upon layers of mud, debris, vegetation, microscopic seashells, etc.

Both their origins and their uses vary; we don't try to wear coal on a ring, or try to burn limestone in our fireplace.

Our farm buildings are about halfway up a hillside, and we continued up the dirt road to fields at the top, and drove to the bottom to reach the highway.

The dirt road was always a problem, washing out into ruts and mud holes.

With the front dump bucket on the tractor, Dad could get at a shale bank and take shale and fill in the ruts.

But shale is very soft rock, and the rain and the traffic soon would reduce it to mud , and we are back to the same problem again.

When Dad later got a bulldozer, we could dig deeper into the hill and get to the slate layers, shale to which heat and pressure has been applied so that it becomes much harder.

It had undergone a metamorphosis.

When we applied it to the ruts and roadway, it was much more durable and longer lasting; it had been made much more suitable for the job that we needed it to do.

The person that we are thinking about today is Peter.

What a variegated picture the Bible paints of him!

In today's reading, Christ points to Peter's confession of faith You are the Christ and talks about this “rock” that is needed in order to build up the church.

Yet only a few verses later, Jesus will have to forcefully say to the impetuous Peter: Get behind me, Satan!

In a few weeks we will be hearing the story of the Transfiguration, that vision of Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah on the mountain, where Peter tries to take charge and rearrange things, and Jesus has to restrain him. [Mt.17:4]

There is Peter who isn't sure whether to trust Jesus, and sinks like a rock on the lake. [Mt. 14:28]

There is Peter falling asleep just like the others in the garden, unable to join Jesus in prayer. [Mt. 26:37]

There is Peter the one who tries to protect Jesus with the sword, and only makes a bloody mess of things.[John 18]

There is Peter who thrice denies that he even knows Jesus at all, when questioned by mere servants with no authority to cause him harm. [Mark 14]

And yet there is Peter who is thrice blessed by the resurrected Lord Jesus and instructed to take on important work on behalf of Christ: Feed my sheep, Christ says. [John 21]

Peter is one of the first witnesses to the resurrection, and instructed by name to go with the other disciples to Galilee to await the Lord's appearance. [Mark 16]

Peter is also the one who starts off that great sermon on the day of Pentecost, reminding all the hearers about God's mighty deeds in Israel and how they find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus.

The sermon and event have a powerful effect and the church is launched with the Spirit's work through the words of Peter that day. [Acts 2]

Truly, there is something different about this man.

There has been a vast change in the fisherman, a metamorphosis, a transformation from weak shale that crumbles when put to the test to a durable slate that can take whatever hardships lie ahead and continue his work.

It is not his accomplishment; the transformation has been applied to him from outside.

The force of the law has chipped away at his sin-filled impetuousness,

and the gift of grace has been poured onto him so that his rough form can rest on Christ and in turn be strong enough to support others through Christ.

And Christ carried out this transformation.

In a sense, we are rather like shale that has been laid down over the years of experience, made up of this and that.

We can all too easily be broken up and our strength washed away.

But the Good News of the day is that Jesus can see that there is more to us than that.

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

Jesus see things from the perspective of what they will yet become.

Where we can only see mud and mess,

he sees the transformed person!

A German philosopher once said;

“What does not kill me makes me stronger.”

In our context, that's not quite right.

Paul reminds us that we have already faced the first death in the waters of Baptism, and have come through that death to take part in a new life that begins now and continues into the fullness of the kingdom of heaven.

Any strength that we have now is the gift of God on the other side of that first death.

It is the strength that does not diminish with age or infirmity; it is the strength of God's promises.

A bit more of the metamorphosis occurs each time that we gather here around Word and Sacrament.

It involves both the heat and pressure to re-form us, and also the joy-filled confidence that the Lord Jesus is with us throughout the process.

Knowing and receiving this, we can face whatever troubles come our way.

The process of metamorphosis may be brief or it may take a very long lifetime;

the process may be gradual or intense.

I read that it was estimated that in 1985, 330,000 persons were killed because of their faith in the Lord Jesus, and I am assuming that the toll is considerably higher in the violence and misery of more recent years.

Note: That figure is 10x more than in the year 1900.

Nevertheless, the true outcome is assured for those who have suffered for the name of the Lord Jesus.

On my desk I have a tube that is filled with colored grains and bits of foil in glycerin or some other liquid, a little like a snow globe.

One holds the tube and turns it this way and that, and the bits inside rearrange themselves according to the force of gravity.

There is lots of variety but no real change. It is a sealed system.

The Good News to Peter and to all of us is that God has broken into what we thought was this sealed system of our life,

has done a genuinely new thing,

and has set us off on a new direction.

Several years ago we made an interesting cover for our Annual Report booklet.

It featured a stone wall with Christ the cornerstone at its base.

Then beside and atop it were many other stones of different sizes, and each one bearing a name of a member of the congregation.

Each one depends for its place in the wall upon all of the others, and the cornerstone set the shape and configuration of the entire structure called “church.”

We don't fit together naturally; we have to be selected, and shaped, and placed, and learn how to be the support and Good News bearer to someone else.

That is the process we reviewed in all of those Bible-references to Peter; and that is the process we too are undergoing.

Weak and crumbly rocks we may have been;

strong and enduring blocks we are becoming, by God's gracious gift.

So we celebrate Peter,

one with us in weakness,

one with us in promised strength. 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.