Will You Finish Well?

Good Morning Friends,

In the Roman Catholic tradition, today is the day for honoring the martyred lives of the Apostles Peter and Paul. They are important characters in the Christian faith for Protestants too because they show us how very different people might work in the tension of relationships for a common objective. They had some miraculous experiences that mirrored each other, that may be of interest to you, and both their deaths though shrouded in some mystery, are traditionally thought to been in Roman. Paul beheaded and Peter crucified upside-down. But instead I thought I would summarize a few thoughts about their lives that prepared them to be reconciled with each other and in the end finish well. Their relationship teaches us something important. Friends, we all must choose how we live with our desires to assert ourselves, belong, reflect and actively engage in the world but if we are ashamed of the Gospel we will be short of the goal. Will You Finish Well?

Scripture: About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

Acts 12:1-11 (NRSV)

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 (NRSV)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am? “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:13-19 (NRSV)

Message: Peter and Paul are amazing when they harmonize with the Gospel of Christ. First Peter is the one that makes a great confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah. It has got to be one of the most glorious moments in Peter’s life. He did want to get it right and be first to share it. He had a special relationship with Jesus and his name was always first on every list of apostles. Peter was at the Transfiguration. His mother-in-law was cured by Jesus. There is no doubt that Jesus blessed Peter but also allowed scripture to present him in an unflattering light as well for Peter is the one who denied Christ and was called Satan by Jesus. So here is a person warts and all with human weaknesses. Thankfully Peter show us what it means to be forgiven. He walks on the water in faith, but sinks in doubt. He refuses to let Jesus wash his feet, then wants his whole body cleansed. He swears at the Last Supper that he will never deny Jesus, and then swears to a servant maid that he has never known the man. He loyally resists the first attempt to arrest Jesus by cutting off the High Priest’s servant’s ear, but then, he runs away with the others. In the depth of his sorrow, Jesus looks on him and forgives him. Then the Risen Christ reconciles Peter so that he might return not to his nets along the Sea of Galilee but to become a fisher of men for God. Friends, if you wanted to talk to someone about the sins in your life you would probably want to talk to someone like Peter. Someone chosen by Jesus.

Paul’s experience of the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus was the driving force that made him one of the most zealous, dynamic, and courageous ambassadors of Christ ever. He was a thinker. But persecution, humiliation, and weakness became his day-by-day carrying of the cross. The dying Christ was in him as well as the living Christ transforming him. Paul had been the most legalistic of Pharisees. Then he suddenly appears to the Jewish religious leaders after his conversion as a heretical welcomer of Gentiles. Paul’s central conviction was simple that only God can save humanity. And to be saved from itself Jews as well as all of humanity must open itself completely to the saving power of Jesus and be grafted on to the parent stock of God’s chosen people.

Pray we be reconciled in our lives with people who are very different from us. Pray we be willing to offer forgiveness and be willing to change. Pray we are never ashamed of the Gospel. Pray we end well. Pray we stay in the stream of Holy History. Pray we end well.

Blessings,

John Lawson