In 1543, the same year he died, Nicolaus Copernicus’ On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres was published. At first there was little reaction from the Catholic Church. But, years later, when Galileo began to write in support of Copernicus’ theory, he was swiftly condemned by the Catholic Church. Not only were Copernicus and his ideas ridiculed but he was also labeled a heretic by the church. The church believed the earth was the center of the universe and everything orbited around it. After all, humanity was the crowning action of God’s creation – why wouldn’t humans then be at the center of the universe? Therefore, anyone claiming that the earth was not the center of the universe was viewed as going against scripture – and therefore a heretic.

But Copernicus, like so many others before and after him, looked up at the sky and observed the movements of the celestial bodies. He then drew the conclusion that if the earth was at the center of the universe then the movement of the sun and other planets did not match up with logic. However, if the universe orbited around the sun, then the movement of the celestial bodies made perfect sense. With the sun at the center of the universe, the planets orbited in a rational, predictable path.

The church at the time was not prepared to say that the earth and the humans living on it were not the center of the universe. This reality did not match up with their theology. What they thought they knew about God did not match what Copernicus was saying. So, instead of adjusting their understanding of God and the place of humans in God’s creation, the church ignored the evidence of Copernicus and silenced him. Galileo was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. At least one other follower of Copernicus was burned at the stake as a heretic. All of this because what Copernicus said didn’t match up with what the church thought it knew about God. Rather than change their view of God, they chose to ignore the evidence surrounding them. God was working in a way different from what they expected.

We may look back on this time period and laugh a little at what was then such a controversy. With our modern minds, we think it completely rational that the earth rotates around the sun and not the other way around. But how many times have we chosen to close off our minds to something that doesn’t fit into our preconceived notions?

Isn’t it easier sometimes to simply ignore something? Isn’t it easier to pretend as though something that challenges us doesn’t really exist? Ignoring the dirty dishes doesn’t somehow make them not exist. (Believe me, I’ve tried.)

Sometimes we might want to edit the Bible or ignore some of the things that come out of Jesus’ mouth. I really like it when Jesus talks about love and the many dwelling places that await us in God’s kingdom. I don’t like it so much when he talks of suffering – his own and that of his followers.

You see, we have our own ideas of what Jesus is supposed to be like. He’s supposed to be victorious in the face of adversity. He’s supposed to be triumphant. He’s not supposed to talk about all this suffering and rejection. Peter certainly didn’t like that side of Jesus. Peter had his idea of what the Messiah was supposed to be like. In this passage Jesus isn’t talking about being the Messiah in the way Peter expected. Rather than going along with Jesus’ vision of the Messiah – God’s vision of the Messiah – Peter wants to change Jesus.

Peter had all these ideas about how God works. But Jesus is telling him that God isn’t going to work in the way he expected. So rather than adjust his understanding of how God works, Peter tries to adjust Jesus. "You see, Jesus, the Messiah is supposed to come in victory. The Messiah is supposed to defeat the powers that are oppressing us. The Messiah is not supposed to suffer. That’s not how God works, Jesus."

But how many times does God work in the way we expect? Jesus rebuked Peter because Peter had only a narrow view of how God can work. Peter had these preconceived notions about God and Jesus dismisses them completely. Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" This is a powerful rebuke! Peter thinks God has to work in the way humans expect. But God is not limited by human conceptions. God is divine and wholly unlimited. God can and does work in ways we can barely grasp or even imagine.

A train runs along a track. It cannot vary from the track laid out for it without disastrous consequences. Peter had the track of the Messiah all laid out in his mind. He had laid the track and all God had to do was drive the train down Peter’s track. But God doesn’t follow human tracks. God follows God’s own path. But when Peter hears Jesus talking about going off the track, he expects disastrous consequences.

But things don’t stop with Jesus taking his own path. Jesus tells his disciples that they must also follow him on this path – this track that God is laying out.

Don’t we all have a little bit of Peter in us? We want God to work how we want, when we want, and in the way we want. We lay out our own tracks for God but sometimes God switches the track and sends us down the track we would not choose. Sometimes we want the universe to revolve around us. But that is not what God has laid out. In God’s universe, we rotate around the glowing and life-giving Son.

The Catholic Church had to change its ideas about how God arranged the universe. Peter had to change his ideas about how the Messiah would bring salvation. What ideas do you have about how God works that might need to change? Who knows? God might throw the switch on our track and take us off-roading to areas and ministries we would never have found had we tried to get God to follow our track.