Although this Sunday is also the feast day of St Bartholomew, one of the apostles of Jesus - and I shall be saying a little more about him later - I’ve chosen in fact to preach on the set readings for this Sunday in ordinary time, and on the Gospel reading in particular, eight quite significant verses (I think) from Matthew, chapter sixteen.
One of the reasons I’ve chosen to do this is that I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for St Peter. St Peter’s was my home church back in Stafford where I grew up, but not only that - I find in Peter a combination of reckless enthusiasm and all too human fallibility that’s rather appealing, and I feel I can relate to.
Yet in this morning’s Gospel reading he’s given the name Peter, which means rock. And, says Jesus, “on this rock I will build my church.” What was it about Peter - or Simon, to call him by his real name - what was it that made him such a rock? At the same time, by the way, it might be worth thinking about what Jesus means when he talks about “his church”.
There’s lots about Peter that’s admirable. Together with James and John, Peter was one of the ‘inner three’ of the disciples of Jesus, so he always had start a sort of leading position among them. He and his brother Andrew had been quick to follow Jesus as soon as he called them, and that eager readiness was just how Peter was, all the way through. He was impetuous, and so, I suppose, were James and John - after all, their nicknames were ‘the Sons of Thunder’. But Jesus wasn’t looking for booklearning or paper qualifications when he called his disciples: enthusiasm and boldness were the things that counted. And Peter had enthusiasm and boldness in spades.
Think back two weeks, when our set reading was the story of Peter walking across the water to Jesus. And he almost made it, too, though in the end Jesus had to rescue him and bring him safely to the boat. How typical that was of Peter: eager to have a go, but then discovering he’d bitten off more than he could chew. The time would come when he’d come to despair at that side of himself: this is the man who disowned Jesus a matter of hours after pledging never to leave him. But later still, he discovered in the light of Easter that his Lord had not disowned him.
Today’s reading shows us Peter with a long way still to go, before he can become the rock on which the church will be built. But Jesus has singled out Peter now because of Peter’s answer when he asked, “Who do you say I am?” The answer to that question had been forming for some time in Peter’s mind, perhaps especially in the events of that night when he walked to Jesus on the water, and the fierce storm was so suddenly stilled. Maybe they were all beginning to think the same thought, but was impetuous Peter who put it into words: “You are the Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the living God.”
Maybe what Jesus said to Peter could be understood like this: “Now someone has recognised me as the Messiah, the work of building the new fellowship of believers can begin.” It’s the Greek word ‘ekklesia’ that we translate as “church”, by the way. The problem for me is that when we use that word church the image that forms in our minds is coloured by all we know about church as an organisation - with all its buildings and officers and synods and organizations and activities. Peter would in time become the leader of the Christians in Rome, so we may even think specifically of the Roman Church. But by ekklesia Jesus means just the fellowship of those who have union with him, and faith in him.
Having said that, we can’t escape thinking of buildings, because that’s an image that crops up again and again in New Testament scripture. Christ himself is the chief cornerstone, we discover, and only when we build on him can our building stand. We ourselves should be living stones built into a spiritual temple, and though Peter may have a special role as a foundation stone, the church finds its firm foundation in the witness of all the apostles. And they must themselves rest in, and speak for, our Lord Jesus Christ; he’s the one corner stone, who suffices for the whole building.
Thinking about the special honour that is given to Peter in today’s Gospel reading, we might reflect that still today, if we call someone a rock, we’re saying something very positive about them. “You’ve been a real rock,” we might say to a friend whose stood by us at some difficult time. I hope there’ve been times I’ve been able to be that rock for others, someone to provide a bit of shelter and firm ground to stand on. I can certainly think of some special people who have been rocks for me as I look back, and I thank God for them.
For a Jew, ‘rock’ would have been a really strong term of praise and approval. After all, Abraham himself was the rock on which the nation itself was founded under God and by his good purpose. And ‘rock’ is a word used of God himself, not least in the psalms. Psalm 28, a psalm of supplication, begins with the words “To you, Lord, I call; my rock, do not be deaf to my cry.” In Psalm 18 we read, “The Lord lives! Blessed is my rock! High above all is God, my safe refuge.” That image is repeated in other Psalms, like Psalm 94: “My God is my rock and my refuge.” It’s hard to imagine a Jew using the word ‘rock’ without thinking of those verses and many others from scripture. So whatever else is praised in Simon when he’s called Peter, the rock, his firmness of faith comes first.
Jesus praises Peter for his faith, including that impetuous readiness of his to speak what the others maybe hardly dared think. And Jesus makes clear that Peter’s faithful recognition of Jesus as the Christ is the first spark of a flame of faith that will kindle throughout the world.
I mentioned that St Peter’s was my home church as a child; as a minister the first church of which I was given charge was St Bartholomew’s, and it’s his day today. I did say I’d say a bit about him and so I shall. But not much: Bartholomew is a shadowy figure among the disciples, and we don’t know much about him. His name, Bartholomew is a surname, meaning ‘Son of Tolmai’, so perhaps Bartholomew is the same man as Nathaniel, who’s named in St John’s Gospel, and we are told just a little bit more about him.
Back when I was Rector of St Bartholomew’s, the only hymn appointed for St Bartholomew’s Day basically just took four verses to say that we don’t know much about him. Legend has it that he died a martyr’s death by being flayed alive with a butcher’s knife, probably in Persia, but that’s not a story told in scripture, although it was graphically illustrated in a stained glass window in the church, as I recall.
But maybe it’s no surprise that we know so little about Bartholomew or most of the other apostles on whom, with Peter, the church was founded. Their stories don’t matter, and they weren’t in the business of self-promotion. The sure foundation of the church is found in nothing to do with those people themselves, except this: that they belonged to Jesus, and the light of his love shone in their lives. We don’t know about them, but because of them we know about Jesus. And each person as he or she grasps the truth about Jesus is called to be a rock, a building stone; that’s true for us as well, as we take our place as part of the building, the spiritual temple.
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