February 25 2024

Grace to you and peace form God  our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Are you familiar with the term “simul Justus et peccator?”

It is phrase coined by Martin Luther in the 16^th century to describe the human condition.

Translated from the Latin into English it reads “simultaneously saint and sinner.”  Or, to use mathematical language, we are 100% saint and 100% sinful.

This is an example of what I call “God math” in that it does not compute in the way we think about math. God math recognizes that God’s ways are higher than our own and may not make sense to us.

In God Math, God is both 3 and 1 in the same moment.

In God math, Jesus is 100% human and 100% divine.

And in God math, we are 100% sinner and 100% saint.

And our Gospel this morning gives us a perfect example of simul Justus et peccator…

Just before our reading begins, Jesus asks the disciples:

“Who do you say that I am..”

Mark 8:28-30

²⁸And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” ³⁰And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

In the first three Gospels, Peter shines in this moment. He is the first to declare Jesus the Messiah.

But when Jesus begins to talk about what is coming, his arrest, trial, and crucifixion, followed by the resurrection on the third day, Peter objects.

As I read a few minutes ago:

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, …and be killed, and after three days rise again. ^… And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

 In a span of a few verses, Peter goes from calling Jesus “the Messiah” to being called “Satan.”

In one moment, we see St. Peter, but in the next, we see the sinner. One person, yet both saint and sinner at the same time.

This is one reason I love scripture; the Bible shows us human begins behaving like human beings.

Listen to verse 32 again:

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him..

That takes some real hutzpah,

Or is it impudence? Cheekiness?

Peter forgot his place and tries to tell God what not to do.

In other words, Peter is a human being, in bondage to sin just like we are…

Fortunately, his salvation does not depend on his correct theology,

The Bible shows us repeatedly that all the disciples fail Jesus. But it seems to me that Peter fails more often than the others, always bumbling in his attempts to be a good student.

One of the primary messages Jesus bring into the world is the deep love God has for all his creation.

We are saints, not because we are pious, or because we do a certain number of good works each day.

We have been made holy, declared saints because God himself has willed it.

And we cannot earn our sainthood through a prescribed criteria to prove ourselves worthy.

The point is, we are not worthy.

We are justified by faith, not by works.

(pause 1.2.3.4.5)

In our second reading today, Paul tells us:

No distrust made [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore [Abraham’s] faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

In Romans 4:22, Paul is actually quoting Genesis 15.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, … ⁵He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶And [Abraham] believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.

And yet, even as Abraham believed God, he still didn’t fully trust God. And in the following chapter, Genesis 16, Hagar is summoned to assist Sarah and Abraham in having a child.

Even in the Old Testament, we see that God’s people are saint and sinner. Abraham is declared righteous by God, even when God knows that they will try and make God’s promise come to fruition on their own terms.

And then in chapter 17, God again comes to Abraham and announces that their long wait for a child is over:

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

In both the Gospel reading and in the story of Abraham, both Abe and Peter forgot who was in charge…

They sinned, despite their desires to be good and faithful people, despite their past successes as servant of the one God.

We, like them are saints and sinners,

Simil Justus et pecccator

Declared righteous, made holy, justified not by own our works, but through the love of God, who sent his son Jesus to die for us.

We are saved through the cross and resurrection.

Can you imagine if Jesus had listened to Peter?

Would we still be lost and wandering in sin?

Thankfully we don’t have to answer that question.

Jesus died on the cross on a Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday, to save us from ourselves and our sin.

Amen.