Scripture: Matthew 26:26-35 & Matthew 26:47-75
Dear Church,
We choose to follow Jesus because we want to know God more fully and intimately. And so it is a gift, but not a surprise, that as our faith in Jesus grows, our knowledge of God grows as well. We learn some things about God that amaze us, other things that astonish us, and more than we’d like that confuses and unsettles us. Still, learning more about God is what we expect when we put our faith in Jesus.
What we don’t expect, however, is to learn so much about ourselves.
We sign on for God-knowledge. We also get self-knowledge, whether we like it or not.
Peter didn’t sign on for self-discovery. Like most of us, he thought he already knew everything there was to know about his own soul. Being Peter, he reasonably assumed that he was the expert on Peter.
He wasn’t.
Very few of us would dare to argue with Jesus about who God is. But most of us should be able to identify with Peter when he argued with Jesus about who he was.
We come to Jesus wanting to see and know God. Part of that revelation is Jesus showing us our own sacred souls.
For good and for ill, we are not who we believe we are.
We do not know ourselves best.
Jesus does.
Part of deciding to follow Jesus requires believing what he shows us about ourselves.
It’s not always comfortable to let go of our self-illusions and believe Jesus when he shows us who we are. But accepting that Jesus knows us best is what allows him to lead us.
Peace,
Pastor Kate
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