Text: Matthew 16:21-28
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Date: August 31, 2008 (Remake of ‘99)
Pentecost 16 A

“What did I ever do to deserve this? Why can’t I seem to get a break? Is the whole world against me?” What did I ever do to deserve this? I’ve asked that question - pretty recently too. And I am pretty sure you’ve all asked that question too at some time or another.

Many years ago, in my second parish, Joyce, a young woman with three children asked that question of me. Her first husband, and father of her two little children, was killed in a fiery explosion when the backhoe he was operating hit an unmarked gas main. Her second husband, father of her third child, died at the age of 35 from a massive heart attack, leaving her a widow for the second time and mother of three young children. Joyce asked, “What did I ever do to deserve this?”

If you’ve ever asked that question, you are in good company. It is the same question Jeremiah asked in the First Reading for today. Jeremiah said,

I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?

In other words, Jeremiah is asking, “Why me, Lord? What did I ever do to deserve this?”

It is similar to the situation that we find in the Gospel for today.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders, chief priest, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, “God forbid it, Lord!” This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. For you are not setting your mind on divine things but on human things."

I feel for Peter in these verses. Just a few verses earlier, from last week’s Gospel reading, we hear Jesus praising Peter.

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.

And now all of a sudden Jesus is calling him Satan and instead of a building block, Peter is a stumbling stone. Can’t you about imagine Peter looking around at the other disciples, shrugging his shoulders and saying, “What did I do to deserve this?”
“What did I do to deserve this?”

A common question, Jeremiah asked it. Peter no doubt asked it. And seldom is there an answer to that question. Life just isn’t that simple. But Charles Swindoll, in his book, Living Beyond The Daily Grind, gives some suggestions on how to live in those times when you feel that life has dealt you a bum hand or that you are being treated unfairly by God or by the people around you.

The first thing he says is BE OPEN AND HONEST BEFORE THE LORD. Recognize that you just might not be 100% blameless. You just might have some culpability in the situation in which you find yourself. Remember the Jeremiah reading? He lists all the good things he has done and all the bad things he has refrained from doing. I found your words and I ate them. I did not sit in the company of merrymakers. I did not rejoice. Yet God suggests that it is necessary for him to change some of his ways. Apparently, Jeremiah wasn’t doing everything right. When I do premarital counseling with people who have been divorced, it is always important to me that they realize that they too had a part in the marriage that didn’t work. Seldom are we without some responsibility for messes in which we find ourselves. Recognize that! Be honest with yourself and your God.

Secondly, Charles Swindoll reminds us, NEVER FORGET YOUR GOD LOVES YOU. I believe that the devil throws everything he has at us to make us doubt who we are and God’s love for us. I believe that the devil throws everything he has at us to make us forget and forsake our loving God. Don’t let it happen. Your God loves you. That is what the cross is all about. Your God loves you so much that he would go to the cross for you. Don’t you forget that. Don’t let anything that life hands to you allow you to question God’s love for you.

Be faithful in worship. It is here in worship that you are fed with God’s word and strengthened with Christ’s body and blood, supported by your sisters and brothers in the faith. I have seen it all too often. When things begin to get a bit messy people crawl away from the church instead of reaching out to the God and to the very people who can and will support and help us.

Finally Swindoll says, PATIENTLY STAND AND WAIT FOR RELIEF. Relief will come in one way or another. That is a statement of faith in itself. Relief will come in one way or another. To really believe that, one must believe in a God who loves us and loved us all the way to the cross.

What did I do to deserve this? Can’t answer that question. Incidentally, neither can I answer the question, “What did I do to deserve the wife who loves me? What did I do to deserve two good children? What did I do to deserve a God who would go to the cross for me?” I don’t know the answer to that either.

“What did I do to deserve this?” Can’t answer that question. But I can assure you that you are in good company when you ask it. Jeremiah asked it. David asked it. Peter asked it. I’ve asked it and so has everyone here at one time or another. There is no answer. But there is a way to live through those times.

It occurred to me as I read Charles Swindoll’s suggestions that that is exactly what Jeremiah and Peter did. They were open and honest before God. They were willing to confess their sin, to see their involvement in the mess they were in and were willing to change. They never doubted God’s love for them. Having received the tongue lashing of his life, Peter never doubted his Lord’s love for him. Peter and Jeremiah continued to live and grow and obey the word of God for their lives. They continued to be faithful in worship. We read in the book of Acts how Peter continued in the Word and continued to gather around the communion table. And they waited. They waited for deliverance and relief. Jeremiah was put in prison, thrown into a well, put in stocks. And all the while he waited. Peter too was imprisoned and persecuted. And he waited. Tradition tells us that finally Peter waited on a cross. He waited and he was vindicated. Peter and Jeremiah waited and they were delivered. And so shall we be.

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