Pentecost 14 (NL1) John B. Valentine
Matthew 26:26-35; 69-75 September 3, 2023

“SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER”

Okay ... class. It’s the final week of our walk through “Smart Messages from Dumb Animals” or whatever it is that we’ve been calling this Summer Sermon Series of ours.

And I hope it’s not too too difficult to figure out which animal is the one that the Scriptures would invite us to heed today!

It’s a rooster ... THE rooster in the Passion Narrative ... right???

Actually ... here’s a fascinating thing.

There are four gospels that made it into the New Testament ... right?

• Matthew ...
• Mark ...
• Luke ... and
• John.

And each of those four gospel-writers tells the story of Jesus in a slightly different way.

And there’s not a lot that all four of them agree on ... or at least choose to highlight.

So ... for instance ... only two of the gospel writers ... Matthew and Luke ... tell us anything about the story of Christmas.

And only three of the gospel writers ... Matthew, Mark and Luke ... tell us how Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it ... and said “This is me, given for you.”

And so one recounts a particular parable ... and another a miraculous healing ... and yet another a confrontation with the Pharisees ... and so on.

But ALL of the gospel writers ... Matthew, Mark, Luke AND John ... ALL of them relate the story of this rooster ... and its place in the Passion Narrative ... and its message to Peter ... and maybe its message to us all.

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But what IS this rooster’s message?

It’s actually pretty simple ... is it not? It’s what all roosters say ...

• “It’s time to get up!” ...
• “It’s time to greet the dawn!” ...
• “A new day is coming” ...

Something like that.

You see ... in the ancient world ... ‘cock crow’ was understood to be one of the four basic subdivisions of ‘nighttime’ ...

• Nightfall ...
• Midnight ...
• Cock crow ... and
• Dawn.

So you COULD argue that when the rooster delivers its message ... it’s just saying “It’s 4am” ... kind of like a grandfather clock just striking four.

But in the context of this event ... this rooster’s message was more than just that ... was it not???

You see ... to the rest of the world ... that cock-crow may have been an objective message about time ...

But to Peter ... that cock-crow was a subjective message about his guilt ... his pride ... his short-comings ...

A pointed reminder that Peter was ... depending on what part of the country you may be from ...

• “All icing and no cake” ... or
• “All hat and no cattle” ... or
• “All bark and no bite”.

That Peter was long on talk and short on action.

You see ... what the rooster did at that particular moment ... without even knowing it probably ... was speak truth to power.

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You know that phrase ... “Speaking truth to power”???

It’s actually a phrase that has become something of darling among progressive folks in our society in recent years.

So ... for example ... Mahatma Gandhi and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King Jr. have all been described as being people who spoke truth to power.

To the end that now countless individuals ... when speaking an uncomfortable ... or maybe discomforting .. truth about the society in which we live ... have referenced their action as ‘speaking truth to power.’

But at its core ... ‘speaking truth to power’ is NOT something that just those on the political left might do.

Rather ... it is something that was originally something that the Biblical prophets did ... and seemed to do on regular occasion .

• Speaking truth to power is what Moses did before the Pharaoh ... when he went into the royal palace ... saying “The Lord God sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’”

• Speaking truth to power is what Nathan did before King David ... when he called the King to accountability over the rape of Bathsheba ... saying “You are the man.”

• Speaking truth to power is what Daniel did before King Nebuchadnezzar ... when he said “Therefore, O king, may my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for your sins with righteousness and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed.”

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Speaking truth to power can be a bit uncomfortable. Trust me. I know a little something about that.

It was a year ago this past May ...

And this Sierra Pacific Synod thing of which we are a part ... the ELCA congregations in Northern California and Northern Nevada ... was meeting in assembly in Reno ...

And there’d been a whole hullabaloo about the bishop removing a pastor from the clergy roster without due process ...

And we found the Synod bitterly divided about who was in the right and who was in the wrong and who was to blame ...

And everyone was WAY too emotionally invested ...

And it was just a mess.

Anyhow ...

There was this one lone pastor from this church in Orinda who dared to name what was going on in the Assembly ...

And dared to put forward a motion intended to offer a path forward that was more about light and less about heat ...

And ... in so doing ... dared to formally ask for the resignation of the bishop.

It was terrifying ......

Trust me ... an awareness of the gravity of what I was doing ... asking for the resignation of the bishop ... was probably the most disconcerting experience of my life ... bar none.

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But as difficult as it is to speak truth to power ... I suspect it is even more difficult to be the one on the receiving end of such speech ... is it not?

To be in a position wherein someone calls your bluff ... as it were???

I mean ... isn’t that where Peter was in the context of this morning’s lesson?

It was there ... on the Mount of Olives ... on the night in which Jesus was betrayed ...

And Jesus says ... "You will all fall away because of me this night” ...

And Peter retorts ... "Even if all fall away because of you, I will never fall away" ...

“I’m steadfast, Jesus. I’ve got your back. I’m trustworthy ... even if no one else is ....”

And Jesus replies “Trust ME, Peter ... this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times" ...

To which Peter doubles down his boast, saying "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you."

AND THEN THE COCK CROWED ......

• and spoke truth to Peter’s prideful boast ...

• and spoke truth to Peter’s pride ...

• and spoke truth to Peter’s presumptions of power ...

• and revealed Peter to be a fraud ...

• and Peter “went out and wept .... bitterly.”

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Has the rooster ever crowed for you ... folks?

Have you ever heard a truth that has called your bluff and disclosed your bluster and brought you back down to earth?

Part of me would love to know that that has never happened to you ...

Because it is so painful to hear ... and I honestly don’t want for any of you to have to experience such pain.

But ... then again ... part of me would be disheartened to know that you have never heard that rooster crow ...

Because if you haven’t heard that rooster crow ... then you’re still living with the same self-delusion that Peter was living with earlier that night.

You see ... as my buddy Robert Capon used to say:

“Jesus came for the last and the lost and the little and the least and the dead ... and if you’re not one of those, then maybe he didn’t come for you.”

In other words ... the good news of Jesus ... the GOOD news that IS Jesus ...

Is really only good for people who need good news ... and who know they need good news.

Because the Gospel is just the cherry on top of an already amazing sundae ...

It’s a cup of water to those who are dying of thirst ...

It’s the bread of life to those who are truly hungry ...

It’s hope in the face of hopelessness and life in the face of death.

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You see ... there’s one quirky little detail in the story that is this morning’s lesson that often gets overlooked.

When Jesus tells Peter "You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'” ...

He also says "But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee."

“I know that you’re going to betray me, Peter ... but I’ve got you covered ... I love you anyway”

Peter doesn’t hear it and know it and see it at the time ...

But the promise of resurrection and restoration and hope is already there.

Don’t get me wrong ... folks.

The rooster will crow.

And all of our pride and pretension and pomposity will be revealed for what it is.

But Jesus has got us covered already.

For which we can only every say ... “Thanks be to God!”