James Tissot, French, 1836-1902
Brooklyn Museum

Second Sunday of Lent

Both Sides of Peter

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On one hand:
“But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:29b-30)

On the other hand:
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Mark 8: 31-33)
I'm glad Peter is human. Actually, I'm glad they all are in their own ways, but as preachers have been saying for years, it is in Peter that we can probably most often see ourselves.

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
Ive looked at life that way

He stands and sees the awesome truth that Jesus is the Messiah. He can say it out loud even in the midst of uncertainty. Great insight. Great hope. Great faith.

Ah yes...

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say Ive changed
Well somethings lost, but somethings gained
In living ev'ry day

He also has his opinions and expectations. And when this guy he called The Messiah doesn't live up to them, well, he is willing to express them.

Ive looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
Its lifes illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all

In the end even with knowing and experiencing "both sides" of life we realize that we don't know "life" or better, The Life, at all. We glimpse it as a reminder that it exists and then move on waiting for the next experience. Peter himself will have many of them, but in the end, amen, hallelujah, it's not about him and his "getting it." It will be, like for all of us, realizing that our understandings will often only get in the way of God's expectations.

I really don't know life at all. But I can trust and follow God.

Which is about all there is.

(Lyrics from Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell)