The Apostle Peter could very easily be considered the Humpty Dumpty of the New Testament. Few characters reach heights as high as his, but few fall as far as he does. (Though thankfully for him, and us, Jesus is able to put him back together again.) Today’s Gospel reading features one of Peter’s greatest misses. It’s a story that is all about motivation — why we do or say what we do. And that in turn ties into another of my favourite stories from the Desert Fathers. So today let’s think through these two stories and how they connect.
The Gospel reading, from Mark 8, starts with Jesus speaking openly about where his mission is going to lead him: into conflict with the authorities and ultimately to death. Peter, surprised by this turn in how Jesus was speaking, rebukes him. But Jesus pushes back in memorable fashion:
“Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8.33-38)
Peter isn’t wrong for being concerned for Jesus. But he is wrong for being focused on human things, things like safety and security, politics, and his desire for success. Jesus then makes it clear to everyone listening that these are not the concerns one can have while being his disciple. His way sets such things aside for the sake of doing the right thing — a path which is rarely rewarded in this world. If you are motivated by fear — even, like Peter, fear of losing the ones closest to you — or desire for wealth and power, like it or not, you will find yourself a stumbling block to the way of Jesus.
The monks who fled into the desert took this lesson of self-denial literally, dropping their businesses, connections, and often even very legitimate responsibilities to their families, to follow Jesus with all their hearts, minds, and strength. But even here, poor motivations found a way in. We say this yesterday with Abba Eulogius, who had become obsessed with becoming ever more extreme in his fasting, and who needed a lesson in balance. Today’s story likewise shows some monks whose motivations were off:
Some brothers found life difficult where they were living. Wanting to leave, they came to find Abba Ammonas. He was out on the river. Seeing them walking along the bank of the river, he asked the sailors to put him ashore. Then he called the brothers, saying to them, ‘I am Ammonas, to whose dwelling you are wanting to go.’ But having comforted their hearts, he sent them back whence they had come, for the matter did not involve damage of the soul, but arose simply from human troubles. (Ammonas 5)
Stability, remaining in a place until one was moved, was an important monastic value. And I think there’s a lot of value in it. Too often we grow restless and dissatisfied out of boredom more than anything wrong in our circumstances. Yet, there are also times when it is beneficial to move on, for example, if we’ve learned all we can from a given situation, or if a situation is legitimately harmful for us to be in. Abba Ammonas clearly had a powerful gift of discernment, because he saw that these monks who wanted to come live with him were not leaving where they were out of any real need, but because of ‘human troubles’. It was not necessarily wrong for them to want to move, but they were not being motivated by the right things. The thing about human troubles is that they will never go away. As long as there are humans there will be human troubles. It’s just the nature of who we are as a species. If we leave a situation whenever we get frustrated, we’ll never be able to learn how to deal with these problems, or our frustration with them. But if it’s not someone who snores too loudly or takes too long in the shower or talks with their mouth full, it’s going to be something else. Yes, there are times when staying is damaging to the soul, and then we should move on, but most of the time, it’s just ‘human troubles’.
The same can be said for Peter’s concerns from today’s Gospel. If we are motivated by ‘human things’, we’ll never be satisfied. If we are motivated by fear, there will always be some new threat lurking around the corner. We can never be truly safe or secure in this world. That doesn’t mean we act recklessly, or that there isn’t room for caution, but it does mean that we can’t let fear stand in the way of living. (And as Christians, of living in the welcoming, gracious, and empathetic way Jesus lived.) Likewise, if we are motivated by personal gain, there will always be something else we want to have or achieve, no matter how much we already have. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take care that our basic needs are looked after, but it does mean that wanting ‘more’ is not a path to happiness or growth — and it certainly isn’t representative of the way of Jesus.
So both of these stories, different as they are, remind us to check ourselves and our motivations. Are we being motivated by the Gospel — by showing up ever more faithfully in our relationships with God, our communities, our families, ourselves — or are we being motivated by ‘human troubles’, which is nothing less than being caught up in ‘the passions’, those appetites that confuse us and distract us away from God?
Matthew Root 