Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/74

Contributor - Eric J. Schulze

Title - A Stumbling Block Or a Building Block?

Topic - Jesus Christ

"Simon, son of John, you are happy indeed!" answered Jesus . . . "I tell you: you are a rock, Peter, and on this rock I will build my church . . .

From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples: "I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, and on the third day I will be raised to life." Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "This must never happen to you!" Jesus turned around and said to Peter: Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, for these thoughts of yours are men's thoughts, not God's!" Matthew 16:17-13, 21-23 (T.E.V.).

A trap in which you may catch a mouse, a gopher, or a fox, has on it what is often called a "pan", which releases a spring when the animal touches it. The spring then snaps its claws around the animal and it is trapped. Sometimes the "trap" is called a "trigger". The Greeks had a word skandalon, which could refer to the pan or trigger of a trap, but they also used the word to describe a stone over which one might stumble while walking in a field, "a stumbling block". Such a stumbling block was usually something movable, so that it could be taken from one place to another. The Greeks had another word for a stone or rock that was firm, such as one which would form a cliff. Such a stone or rock was called petros.

In Matthew 16: 18 Jesus told Peter, his prominent disciple, "you are a petros". In verse 23 Jesus told Peter "you are a skandalon". As the petros Peter made a proclamation that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus saw here the foundation of His body, the Church a rock foundation which would not be moved easily. But when Peter stood in the way of God's plan for the death of His Son, he then spoke as a skandalon because he was not thinking the thoughts which God was thinking, or helping the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ.

As we go on and read the rest of the Gospels and the book of Acts we find Peter being more a petros than a skandalon because of what Jesus could do with his life. Even though Peter denied Jesus when faced with the possibility of death with the Master, he went on to again declare his firm and obedient love to the Saviour after the resurrection as we read in John 21, and became the initial preacher for the, early Church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), which was followed by a host of miraculous and kingdom building experiences in which Peter was involved.

Maybe we don't like to be compared to Peter, because we cannot picture ourselves being such an outstanding apostle we are only "ordinary" persons struggling to be God's persons in our little worlds. Maybe we are not great stumbling blocks (skandalon) standing in the way of God's great plan and purpose, nor will we become such great rocks (petros) that our proclamation is as significant as Peter's. But all of us want to experience a happy fulfillment of our lives, for which God needs to change us from the little skandalon we may be to a little but useful petros which we can become, by the grace of God.

Most of us don't make too much of a conscious effort to examine ourselves in a special way during the season of Lent, before our celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter time. Yet every once in a while we become aware of the need we have of experiencing the reality of the Spirit of God within us to help us to know Him as Saviour and Lord. Or we become somewhat dissatisfied with our spiritual life and realize that we need to grow, or some kind of change must take place.

There was once a girl who was quite attractive in appearance, but she wanted to be really beautiful. She convinced her father to permit an artist to paint a beautifying portrait, one which would bring out more beauty in her features. She sat patiently in the artist's studio, whose skillful work was eventually done. The artist considered the portrait as among his finest, and waited with the girl for the father's response. The father looked at the portrait, frowned and shouted "Take the picture away. This is not my daughter. You have made her too beautiful!" He took his daughter in his arms and kissed her, saying "I love you as you are."

It is not the outward appearance which can change, nor ought to change. God "looks upon the heart" (I Sam. 16: 7) and the change he wants to bring about is from the insider that's where real beauty can appear. The death of Jesus not only provided the redemption from our sins which we need, but also symbolized our death to sin and evil. The old nature dies, the old self is removed, and a new self emerges as Christ takes over my life.

But this is only the first step, when Jesus becomes my Saviour and yours. There is a second step in which he becomes Lord of my life as well. In the life of Peter it was his complete submission to Jesus Christ, making Him lord of life, that really changed him from being the skadaton (stumbling block) to the petros (rock). He responded to what Jesus said in Matthew 16 :24-25 "if anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, carry his cross, and follow me. For the man who wants to save his own life will lose it; but the man who loses his life for my sake will find it." Growth comes in the abandonment of self and the obedience to Jesus Christ. The obedience leads us to new experiences, daring opportunities and strange adventures. But the thrill is to see God taking our hands and leading us.

We need this so much in our Churches, but we need it most within ourselves. We do not want to be part of a snare or trap, or a stumbling block which causes others to fall. "Go O, make me rather a stepping stone and a rock, on which a small part of the Kingdom of God can be built."

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