“And so I say, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Matt 16

There are some of us who probably remember radio reporter and commentator, Paul Harvey. He had a segment during which he would describe a historical event, a story of some famous person. He would always end the segment with the words; “ And now you know…the rest of the story.”

In today’s Gospel reading, we are seeing Jesus trying to learn how the crowds are describing him. And he gets various responses, various descriptions. I picture Simon, getting very antsy, he has something he has to let out. So when Jesus specifically asks the other disciples how they would would describe him, Simon blurts it out, excitedly, forcefully; “You are the Christ!” One can picture the other disciples stunned by his response, the force behind it. Then they will be stunned again when they hear Jesus’ response; he declares that from that moment on, Simon will be known as Peter, and on this “rock” Jesus will bring about a community of believers dedicated to proclaiming the Good News by word and deed.

Yet, we all know what is coming. The Gospels tell of the many times Peter seemed not to get the point of Jesus’ teachings. And when Jesus is arrested and sentenced to undergo crucifixion, Peter denies knowing Jesus, when the crowd accuses him, in order to save his own skin.
Now Jesus knew that this was coming, and he had earlier told Peter that he would be able pull himself together, and that it would be Peter’s responsibility to help the other Apostles to do likewise.

And when Christ ascended back into heaven, Peter fulfilled that role, pulling that little band of believers together. And on the day of Pentecost, empowered by the Holy Spirit; he and the others came out proclaiming the Good News about Jesus Christ. And the number of believers grew.

We are all gathered here today, as baptized believers, as believers who entered into the Body of Christ, through receiving the Eucharist. We are the spiritual descendants of the Saint Peter, of the other Apostles; of Saint Paul of Tarsus, and all of the other saints. We are all called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, by our words and our deeds.

However, we have to acknowledge that sometimes, like Peter, we may find ourselves failing to put the teachings of Jesus fully into practice, in our lives. We may find ourselves overwhelmed by the way Jesus is asking us to follow.

Again, we turn to the example that the life of Saint Peter sets before us. His recovery from his failures, is an example to all of us. His life provides us a light, which shows us the way. That we too can recover from our own failures and sins. His life, and his actions encourages us to pick ourselves up when we fall; and begin again with a renewed commitment, to follow Jesus, and by our example, to bring others along with us on that journey.

“And now you know the rest of the story!”