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“And Now You Know The Rest Of The Story!” Sermon for the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Saint Peter’s Church, Plymouth MA

“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!”

Palm Sunday ~ 2022

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St. Peter Church, Plymouth MA

We are at the beginning of Holy Week; where we bring to mind the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, his agony in the garden, his arrest by Temple authorities and the Sanhedrin, his abandonment by his disciples, his trials by the members of the Sanhedrin; by the Romans; and his crucifixion!

We begin with the procession of the palms, where a crowd of people are following Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. We do not know exactly the real size of this procession, but it appears to be large enough to concern the Sanhedrin; that it may concern the Roman occupiers and bring about a forceful, violent response. And what follows is the events of our Lord’s Passion; His suffering, His death!


But I would like to look now, at a different definition of the word “passion;” with a small “p.” Merriam-Webster dictionary has as one of the definition of “passion;” “a strong liking or desire for devotion to some activity, object, or concept.” What is our everyday passions; sports, both as player and spectator; reading books, paper or digital; collecting, etc., etc., One can definitely say that Jesus had a deep passion to fulfill the will of the Father; to proclaim the Good News to the poor and those who have lost hope in world; to heal the sick, to break the power of sin in the world. He had a passion so great, that He was willing to suffer the most humiliating death.


The question I have for us this morning, do we have a passion for the Gospel life; do we have a passion to follow Jesus? How passionate is our commitment to reach out to the poor, the stranger? How is our passion as a follower of Jesus Christ Crucified?

Gaudete Sunday, “Rejoice!”

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Today is called “Gaudete Sunday;” it comes in the middle of Advent. “Gaudete” which is a Latin the that translates into “Rejoice.” The penitential season of Advent is almost over! So, Gaudete! Rejoice!


But I can almost hear the thoughts, the whispers, the outraged complaints! “Rejoice? Are you kidding me? We are in a world wide pandemic! Cases of COVID are surging again! Millions have gotten sick world wide! Over a million have died! Businesses have in this country, have closed, people have been laid off. The economy is suffering! Rejoice? There is turmoil in our government, our politics. The country is sharply divided, people cannot agree to disagree civilly; the word “secession” has been voiced! In the land of Jesus and John the Baptist, the Children of Abraham are each other’s throats! Even in our churches, there is fierce disagreements over liturgy, doctrine, pastoral approaches! How can we rejoice!?!

To which the Church responds, in the words of St. Paul; “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks,…”. Because God has been fulfilled His promises to His people. He has sent His Son, the Messiah, Jesus Christ; who showed us how we are live as children of God. By His death and resurrection, he has broken the chains of sin and death, and freed all of us. We are all now children of God, brothers and sisters, members of the Body of Christ. What the prophet Isaiah proclaimed in the first reading “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners,…!” It is a mission call for all of us, guided by the Holy Spirit!


So rejoice, because we have been given new life in Christ! Rejoice, because Christ is still with us, as the Word, in the Good News we read and hear proclaimed. Rejoice, because Christ is with us in the Eucharist. Rejoice, because Christ is with each us here and now, during these troubled times; that are in our world, and also within us, as we try come to terms with the stresses of life during a pandemic! And above all, rejoice, because Jesus has promised to come again, to bring all us into the Kingdom of his Father. So I say again, Rejoice!,