It was great to have Victor Austin preaching last Sunday. And I think many of us felt that the end of his sermon was particularly evocative. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind sharing it with us.
So, here is the last section of his sermon. Enjoy.
“It is hard to resist temptation, and it slithers up beside us very subtly. Let me close by pointing out a careful parallel that Saint Matthew draws. When Peter learns that Jesus is going to suffer death, he bursts out with the prayer that such a fate not befall Jesus. Be it far from thee, Lord, that this betrayal and dying should happen to thee! Jesus recognizes the temptation, and he calls Peter “Satan.” Get thee behind me, Satan! he says to Peter, in words that must have stung horribly [Mt 16:23]. But he did not say, as he said to Satan himself, Begone! In fact, saying to Peter Get thee behind me, Jesus is telling Peter to return to his proper place, to be his disciple, to follow him and get rid of all temptation to separate himself from God and to go his own way. It is Jesus’ answer to Adam and Eve, and indeed to every one of us. When we veer into disobedience, we are participating in the sin of the world, we are continuing it. But Jesus has completely resisted all disobedience, completely resisted all evil, completely and decisively for all time overcome everything that is wrong with this world. We have a choice, we can make the true human choice of obeying God! Jesus offers us the way forward. It is to get behind him, to walk in his path, to take up our cross and follow him. This is the path to Easter, the path to salvation, the path to the vanquishment of all evil that has happened from the very beginning of things to the end.”
Tom+