{"id":1533,"date":"2022-04-04T08:33:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T12:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1533"},"modified":"2022-04-04T08:33:45","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T12:33:45","slug":"getting-off-the-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/04\/getting-off-the-fence\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Off the Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For the four weeks leading up to and going beyond Easter, we’re looking at the life of Peter.  Because he\u2019s so often at the center of both the brightest and darkest moments in the Gospels, he has always been a source of hope and inspiration for those endeavoring to follow Jesus.<\/em>


People who live in a consumer culture tend to be fence-sitters. 

Waiting for the next sale just makes sense.  Tomorrow might bring a better deal or a bigger coupon.  If you\u2019re really into change, you can constantly keep your eyes open for a more rewarding job or trade up for a more fascinating life partner.  Why make a final commitment when something else might show up on life\u2019s smorgasbord? 

The crowds who gathered to hear Jesus speak twenty centuries ago weren\u2019t so very different.  They were thrilled to receive his healing touch.  They were stunned by his miraculous gift of \u201cdinner for 5,000.\u201d 

But then Jesus began to get specific about spiritual commitment.  You could embrace him as the ultimate expression of God\u2019s presence on Earth, or you could walk away.  Fence-sitting was not an option.  According to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, myriads of listeners decided they had heard enough. 

\u201cOn hearing it, many of his disciples [that is, would-be disciples] said, \u2018This is a hard teaching.  Who can accept it?\u2019\u201d (John 6:60).  The word \u201chard\u201d here, by the way, doesn\u2019t mean hard to understand.  The crowd knows exactly what Jesus is claiming.  This is simply outrageously hard to accept.

These days, significance is often equated with crowd size.  Who\u2019s able to draw the most people to the next big concert, televised inauguration, or Easter service? 

The Bible doesn\u2019t flinch at reporting that no one knew how to get rid of a crowd faster than Jesus.

\u201cAt this point, many of his disciples came out from behind him and never walked around with him again\u201d (6:66).  The language is telling.  An apprentice\u2019s place is behind<\/em> the master, so he can follow in the master\u2019s footsteps.  This crowd, so recently filled up by five loaves and two fish, is now eager to find a more suitable teacher and miracle-worker \u2013 someone who won\u2019t make such heavy spiritual demands.

\u201cSo Jesus said to the Twelve, \u2018You don\u2019t want go away too, do you?\u2019\u201d (6:67)  Bible scholar Dale Bruner points out that John puts Jesus\u2019 question into a Greek grammatical form that expects a \u201cNo\u201d answer.  In other words, we could accurately translate Jesus\u2019 remark as a statement instead of a question:  \u201cYou don\u2019t want to go away too, do you<\/em>.\u201d  But the fact that Jesus even raises this issue is deeply poignant.  He\u2019s just had a crowd of 5,000 literally eating out of his hand.  But now they\u2019re gone.  Do only twelve remain?  Bruner writes, \u201cJesus wants his people.  And he wants their answer.\u201d

Peter is the one who answers.

\u201c\u2019Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of deep, lasting Life, and we have come to believe and so to know that you are the Holy One of God.\u2019\u201d  To which we can only say, \u201cWay to go, Peter!\u201d  This time when he opens his mouth, deep wisdom comes out \u2013 evidence that a miracle has indeed taken place. 

This is entirely consistent with the other Gospels, by the way.  When given the chance to jump off the fence, Peter always goes first.  He is eager to stake his present and his future on Jesus. 

Generations of disciples have resonated with his words.  To whom else shall we go? 

Without exception, every human being has to make a choice.  We all have to believe someone\u2019s words about the meaning of life.  You can believe Socrates, Aristotle or Voltaire; Buddha, Muhammad or Sun-Myung Moon; Dr. Phil, Dr. Spock or Dr. Seuss.  Or you can believe the gurus and pop psychologists who urge you to believe your own voice, since you speak with the authority of the divine spark that dwells within.  History is largely a record of the sadness and confusion that come from people listening to the words of the wrong leaders, the wrong teachers, and the wrong geniuses. 

Jesus claims to have the words of deep, lasting Life. 

Peter believes it.  Therefore he proclaims it.    

The power of getting off the fence is embodied by Henry Stanley, the American journalist who is chiefly remembered as one who, in 1871, having walked into a jungle clearing in central Africa, spotted a single, pale-skinned man and said, \u201cDr. Livingstone, I presume?\u201d

In his own right, however, he was also an explorer of uncharted territory in Africa.  Until Stanley\u2019s extraordinary 1876 expedition, it is believed that no one \u2013 either inside or outside Africa \u2013 had ever been all the way down the treacherous Congo River, with its canyons, gorges, and cannibals.  His trip took 999 days and was filled with unimaginable hardships.

One night was so difficult that Stanley realized he had to make a choice \u2013 either to keep going forward into the unknown, or to head back toward security.  That night he approached his friend and helper Frank Pocock.  “Now Frank, my son, sit down.  I am about to have a long and serious chat with you.  Life and death \u2013 yours and mine \u2013 hang on the decision I make tonight.” 

What should they do?

Pocock and Stanley decided to flip a coin \u2013 an Indian rupee.  Heads they would go forward; tails they would go home.  The coin came up tails.  Disappointed, they flipped the coin again.  Tails.  \u201cHow about three out of five?\u201d  Once again it was tails.  The coin, in fact, came up tails six times in a row.  The two men decided to draw straws \u2013 long straw to go forward, short straw to go back.  Every time they drew, however, they picked the short straw.

Stanley and Pocock quickly realized that they had already made their decision.  No matter what the coins or the straws \u201ctold them,\u201d in their hearts all they wanted to do was head down the Congo River into the Great Unknown.  And so they did, making history in the process.

Peter didn\u2019t have to flip a coin or draw straws to determine whether or not he would follow Jesus.  That was already settled in his heart. 

\u201cLord, where else could I possibly go?  The alternatives don\u2019t hold a candle to you.  Count me in.\u201d 

Way to go, Peter. <\/em>

And may we be led to make the same choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the four weeks leading up to and going beyond Easter, we’re looking at the life of Peter.  Because he\u2019s so often at the center of both the brightest and darkest moments in the Gospels, he has always been a source of hope and inspiration for those endeavoring to follow Jesus. People who live in a consumer culture tend to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93,421],"class_list":["post-1533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-commitment","tag-peter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1535,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533\/revisions\/1535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}