Day 9: Church Building

2nd Friday in Lent

Scripture: Matthew 16:17-19

^{NRS 16} 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. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ 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."

Devotional: One of the beautiful things about the different Gospel accounts is the diversity they bring to the story. In John, we get Simon’s name change at his calling, but Matthew places it with his messianic confessions and adds not only why Jesus was changing Simon’s name but also His bestowal to Peter of the authority of the kingdom of heaven. Regardless of which Gospel account we read, it is difficult to believe that Peter has what it takes to build the Church. He can’t even catch a night’s worth of fish; how is he going to catch a church full of people? The first fifteen chapters of the Gospel of Matthew have given us some conflicting pictures of Peter. He has been bold, but he has continued to demonstrate a failure to understand. His faith has failed him, and in just a little while He is going to deny Jesus, not once, but three times. When we get to this moment in chapter sixteen we are not inspired with Peter’s ability to lead. We cannot help but be a bit shocked when Jesus announces that Peter is the man upon whom Jesus is going to build His church. Had Jesus asked our opinion, almost certainly the answer would have been a resounding, “NO!” Fortunately, we are not Jesus. Where we see an obnoxious, loud-mouthed fisherman, Jesus sees so much more. He sees the Pentecost Preacher, the temple gate healer, a prison escaper, and a leader who sees thousands added daily to the Church. Where all we see is a shepherd boy, God sees a king. Do we look in the mirror with the same eyes with which we looked at Peter? Do we wonder why God would care about someone like us? God has good news for each of us. He sees someone in our mirror totally different than who we see. He sees the lives we are going to change, the hope we are going to bring, and the joy we are going to spread. He sees someone of worth, value and importance that He can use to change the world. In Peter, Jesus saw a church builder. What does He see in us?

Prayer: God of originals and God of reflections. God who transforms things right before our very eyes. We come to You today to ask for Your eyes as we look in the mirror. We ask you to open our eyes to be able to see in the mirror what You see in us. Give us a glimpse of why we are important to You and how we can change this world, Amen.

Song of praise:            Remind Me Who I Am by Jason Gray

                                                

Spiritual discipline challenge: Sometimes the best place to see what God sees in us is through the eyes of someone we are serving. Our challenge today involves the discipline of service. Find a way to serve someone today that is out of our ordinary routine. Pay for the person behind us in line, go to a soup kitchen to serve, or visit a nursing home. Bring unexpected joy through the love of Christ to someone today so we can see God’s love for us in their eyes.