"But who do you say that I am?"

Acts 12: 1-11. I suppose the essential message here is that God works for the good of anyone who has the gospel in his or her heart and that (just as were readings a few weeks ago) freedom from either mental or physical chains is a central gospel message. An angel (or messenger – the word is the same in Greek) frees St. Peter from his chains to do God’s work.

1Peter 2:19 – 25. Suffering, as we know is part and parcel of life. Buddhism says that explicitly, but Christians imply it by having the cross as our most important symbol. Though for most protestants the cross is empty which speaks of suffering transcended. Peter says here that bearing suffering for doing right we are allied with Christ himself who walked that walk first.

Matthew 16: 13-19. Jesus commends Peter’s insight as pivotal, and such faith is the rock on which the church will be built. Armed with such faith we are given responsibility for deciding what is acceptable and what is not acceptable and the yardstick we will use is love.

Jesus said to them “But who do you say that I am?” and Simon Peter answered,

“You are the Messiah, the son of the living God”.

This is the rock on which the entire Christian church has been built, the insight of Peter revealed to him by God’s Spirit.

But as well as having this great insight, Peter himself was also very human and famously demonstrated fear and betrayal when Jesus was eventually arrested and denied even knowing Jesus three times when he was challenged and put to the test. Peter had a great fall out with St. Paul because he came under the influence of Jewish Christians who said he shouldn’t eat with gentiles so he started avoided them.

That combination of human frailty and great faith coexisting in St. Peter speaks to the vast majority of us I’m sure as describing ourselves in our lives.

We are only here at all because at some level we agree with Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God but we are also aware of our shortcomings, our capacity to sell Jesus short, and in worst case scenarios to deny Jesus as Peter did, perhaps not so much in our words but perhaps most frequently in our actions.

Our goal is to try and make sure that however often we miss the mark we are also continually strengthened by the knowledge that if God is for us, who can be against us, and that ultimately the divine insight is stronger than our human frailty and reveals itself in our life more fully.

We can identify with Peter and gain some  solace in that even after he denied Jesus three times he was reinstated on the beach after Jesus was raised from the dead – and in the book of Acts we are assured that God in Christ will always be batting for him in the remarkable story of him being released from his prison chains in a way attributed to divine intervention.

In his own contribution to the New Testament via his first letter today he writes about overcoming our fear and frailty and facing up to the consequences of doing so as being a reflection of the sacrifice of Jesus who bore all the suffering and pain as a direct consequence of following God’s will.

Jesus sets us an example for how we face life itself. Into every life comes pain, torment, unjust suffering and situations we find it hard to deal with.

We have a choice. One of the most influential books I've ever read is "Man's search for meaning" by Viktor Frankl who notes that none of us have any control over what life throws at us. The only control is over how we react to what life throws at us.

We can wilt and become bitter, and lose any sense that life is worth living at all, or like Jesus we can face up to all that life throws at us, battle against injustice to the best of our ability, knowing that life is a gift and innately worthwhile no matter what happens. Do good and live well even when the consequences are dire.

Peter writes that by following the example of Jesus in our own lives we return to the way of God, the way of Jesus, the shepherd and guardian of our souls.

Following the way of Jesus is what Peter and most of the disciples did in the end in that as prophesied by Jesus on the beach when he was reinstated he was eventually led where he did not want to go and by tradition was executed in Rome by being crucified upside down.

Peter was weak, fearful of his own safety, and easily led. But aren’t we all?

But he simultaneously showed great insight, showed instances of great bravery when preaching the word, and followed the way of Jesus literally in the end.

In the end, following the way of Christ won out over his very human failings, and as such is a great and honest example for everyone who has tried to follow Christ ever since.

Peter was truly one of us and using his life as an example we know it is possible to overcome all the failings that inhabit our souls , know like Peter that we have been set free from the mental chains that bind us, and like Peter can follow the better angels of our nature.