{"id":1541,"date":"2022-04-06T08:37:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2022-04-06T08:37:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:37:48","slug":"a-new-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/06\/a-new-name\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Name"},"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>


Some people get special nicknames.

In the world of sports, George Hermann Ruth became \u201cBabe.\u201d  Slugger Ted Williams was \u201cthe Splendid Splinter.\u201d  Kobe Bryant dubbed himself \u201cBlack Mamba.\u201d

In the realm of artists and celebrities, rock guitarist Gordon Sumner became \u201cSting\u201d after he wore a black-and-yellow striped shirt to a recording session.  When Michael Lee Aday was short of cash as a college student, he bet someone $100 that he could survive letting a VW Beetle drive over his head.  He not only survived and collected the money, but also got a new nickname.  \u201cMan, you must have meatloaf for brains,\u201d said one bystander.  \u201cMeatloaf\u201d went on to become an A-list singer-songwriter.  Carole Penelope Marsciarelli, as a little girl, tried to save as many pennies as she could to buy a horse.  The actress and director ultimately became known as \u201cPenny\u201d Marshall. 

Lovers are famous for bestowing intimate names on each other.  Love monikers are often associated with food (\u201cPeaches,\u201d \u201cSugar\u201d), body parts (\u201cAngel Face,\u201d \u201cBlue Eyes\u201d), and animals (\u201cTiger,\u201d \u201cKitten,\u201d \u201cHoney Bear\u201d).  I know of one husband who calls his wife \u201cHoney Pie Dew Melon Face,\u201d which appears to defy classification. 

Some nicknames signal unique accomplishments.  Revolutionary War general Francis Marion became \u201cSwamp Fox\u201d after routinely evading British troops in the backwoods of the Carolinas.  Harriett Tubman earned the name \u201cMoses\u201d for leading fugitive slaves to freedom in the North. 

Then there are the changes of name that signify a transformation in character or role. 

In The Man of La Mancha<\/em>, the musical adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes\u2019 famous tale of Don Quixote, the would-be knight showers his love on Aldonza, an ordinary peasant girl.  In his mind she becomes the beautiful and virtuous Dulcinea.  Gradually she \u201clives into\u201d and \u201clives up to\u201d her new name, which becomes her new identity. 

On the pages of Scripture, Abram becomes Abraham (\u201cfather of a multitude\u201d).  Sarai his wife becomes Sarah (\u201cmother of nations\u201d).  Jacob their grandson becomes Israel (\u201che wrestles with God\u201d). 

And in one of the most head-scratching, analyzed, preached-on, wondered-at, and argued-about texts in all the Bible, Jesus forever changes the identity of his most outspoken disciple. 

\u201cWho do you say that I am?\u201d he asks the Twelve.  Peter unhesitatingly replies, \u201cYou are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.\u201d 

\u201cJesus replied, \u2018Blessed are you, Simon son of John, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter [petros <\/em>in Greek] and on this rock [petra<\/em>] I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it\u2019\u201d (Matthew 16:17-18).  Jesus renames his friend.  He is now \u201cRocky.\u201d  Or as Clarence Jordan identifies him in his Cotton Patch<\/em> version of the Gospel (a paraphrase of Matthew in the language of the American South), \u201cRock Johnson.\u201d 

What does it mean?

In this signature moment, Jesus first affirms that Peter has answered his question correctly.  He is indeed the long-awaited Messiah spoken of by the prophets, the fulfillment of Israel\u2019s ancient yearnings.  And he is more than just another human descendant of King David.  Unlike the fake deities whose temples stand before them in Caesarea Philippi, he is the Son of the Living God \u2013 the God who is really there. 

For the first time in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses the word \u201cchurch.\u201d  The Greek word is ekklesia<\/em>, \u201cthose who are called out.\u201d  Jesus\u2019 mission as the Messiah is to call out and call together those who are ready and willing to follow him.  They will become a new kind of family, a new sort of community that will begin, by God\u2019s grace and power, to help heal this broken world \u2013 one heart at a time. 

Notice the first person pronouns: \u201c\u2026I<\/strong><\/em> will build my<\/strong><\/em> church\u2026\u201d Jesus is not forecasting a new organization that will be launched by Peter or Paul or Thomas Aquinas or Martin Luther or Joel Osteen.  The church belongs to Jesus.  It always has.  It always will. 

And it will succeed.  \u201cThe gates of Hell will not overcome it.\u201d  At this point Jesus may have gestured toward the yawning cavern in the high rock wall behind him.  The pagans who inhabited the area had long believed that at the back of that cave there was a portal to Hades.  It was a place fraught with terror.  But hell will be no match for Jesus\u2019 called-out ones.  It\u2019s worth noting that this verse is frequently misunderstood, as if Satan has the initiative and the church is forever fighting for its life.  Just the opposite is true.  The church of the Messiah isn\u2019t on the run.  It\u2019s storming the gates of Hell.

Besides, when was the last time you were chased by a gate? 

All of this has been enthusiastically embraced by Bible scholars over the years.  The points of disagreement concern the role of Peter.

Catholics point to this text in Matthew 16 as proof-positive that Jesus ordained Peter as the first pope.  If Peter became the first bishop of Rome (certainly a possibility, according to tradition), and if being the Rock means Jesus was granting him a permanent office (also a possibility), and if every succeeding bishop of Rome is supposed to inherit that office (that’s quite a stretch), then Jesus\u2019 statement about building his church on the Rock means that the Vatican should have ecclesiastical and spiritual authority over every follower of Jesus.    

Protestants have a different take.  Even though Peter is renamed \u201cRock,\u201d Jesus\u2019 expression \u201cupon this rock\u201d refers not to Peter himself but to the bedrock of his faith.  On this view, Peter\u2019s powerful declaration of trust in Christ is a kind of first deposit \u2013 the first of many such expressions of loyalty to Jesus that will deepen and extend the reign of God on Earth. 

After more than 500 years of exegetical disagreement \u2013 sometimes resulting, tragically, in pitched battles with actual weapons of war \u2013 the two sides have not yet arrived at common ground. 

If it seems that Catholics have overstated the role of Peter, it certainly seems that Protestants have understated it.  Granted his new name and unique role, Peter appears to be far more than \u201cjust another disciple.\u201d 

Peter is the Rock<\/em>. Now he gets to live into and live up to his new identity.  

This is the high-water mark of his discipleship.

Unfortunately, as we\u2019ll see tomorrow, things change in a hurry.    <\/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. Some people get special nicknames. In the world of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93,421],"class_list":["post-1541","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\/1541","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=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1543,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}