How Did This Guy Get The Keys?

On the church calendar, we celebrate the figure of St. Peter today as the “head of the church.”

Peter is someone I can relate to because he’s so human and full of contradictions.  He’s full of enthusiasm yet can be impulsive. He’s often tender and yet can have a temper. He makes big promises he can’t fully deliver on and bites off more than he can chew. He’s willing to sacrifice and yet asks, “Hey, what about me?” He has deep spiritual insights and yet can be so shallow and petty. He counsels inclusivity and yet was willing to cut someone’s ear off. He is a person of great faith and yet sinks in his doubt.

Maybe you can relate to all that too, and if that’s who is at the helm of the ship, then I think this place should welcome just about anyone!

What I love about the gospel story today is that Jesus is fully aware of all of Peter’s limitations and contradictions. Yet that does not stop him from fully welcoming him and giving him a leadership role.

Truly this is good news for all of us.

One of the ways that I think about it is that Peter’s life – with all its messiness – is not captured by a single story. No life is. We all have great parts of ourselves and all have our tougher parts. God can work with all of it, and asks us to do the same with each other.

Where most of us trip up is when we think of anyone (or a group) using only one storyline or vantage point (for a great description of this, check out Chimamanda Adichie’s amazing TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story “). Maybe pause for a minute here and think about people for whom you may have developed a ‘single story’ account of who they are. What about them or their lives might you miss because of this? What words or actions do you hold on to as the essence of who they are? Or maybe someone has used a single story account of your life. How did that feel to be known by only one aspect of your life or action?

Jesus is not a ‘cancel culture’ kind of guy. He knows that Peter has messed up and he knows that Peter will mess up again. And he gives him the keys anyway.

Jesus, however, keeps calling Peter back in, asks him to take responsibility for what he has done and invites him to expand his heart. In Luke’s gospel (chapter 5), I love how Jesus invites Peter (and the others) to set out for “deeper waters.” I see this as the constant invitation to go further on the journey and to let ourselves be stretched and changed.

This for me is part of the Lenten journey. Avoid single stories. Embrace our contradictions. Embrace the contradictions of others. Learn from our mistakes. Stay on the journey. Set out for deeper water.