When I think of Eddie
Hardesty back when we were growing up in Rhodelia, I think of the word
“feisty.” I looked it up to be sure. “Feisty” means “energetic, gutsy, scrappy,
frisky and free-spirited.” That was our beloved Eddie Hardesty alright! He reminds me so much of the Apostle, Peter, who
is called by Jesus in the gospel reading today. I find it quite coincidental
that his funeral Mass took place out in Saint Peter Church out on Johnsontown
Road! I am not absolutely sure, but I am pretty sure Eddie’s “feisty” side
comes from his Flaherty genes. Those “feisty” genes drove him to always say
things like – “I dare you!” “Watch this!”
“I can beat that!” Maybe he outgrew it, but I seriously doubt it! As kids
I think we all admired his “I’ll try anything once” attitude! I guess that is
why one of his favorite names for us was “scaredy cats.” “Scaredy cats! Scaredy
cats!”
I remember three childhood
events in particular that were typical of my friend Eddie. (1) One day, he made
a parachute out of a white handkerchief and tied it to a cat, bragging that the
cat would float from the barn loft where we were standing and slowly hit the
ground. It didn’t! The cat dropped straight down to the ground like a rock. The
poor cat survived the fall and ran away with the handkerchief dragging behind
it. I don’t think we ever saw that cat again! (2) Another day, we were
exploring Rocky Branch, a small stream where we lived, when one of us found a
fish about the size of a minnow. Of course, he couldn’t just leave it
alone! He picked it up and asked if
anyone would dare him to eat it raw! Of course, we dared him, never thinking he
would actually do it! We should have known better! He took a big bite out of
it, swallowed it and threw the rest away! All of us, looking on, were simply
awed by his bravery! (3) Another day, I
told him that I was going to be a priest! He was not impressed! He blurted out
as loud as he could in front of the other kids, ‘Ha! If you become a priest,
I’ll become a nun!” He lost that bet, but he never paid up! So, I recommended to
his wife, Judy, that he be buried in a black dress and a veil!”
In today’s gospel, Jesus
calls a man by the name of “Simon son of John” to follow him and gives him the nickname,
Cephus or Peter, meaning a “rock.” That name had to be
tongue-in-cheek because Peter was anything but “solid like a rock.” “Marshmallow
Man” was more like it! The stories of feisty Saint Peter boldly rushing in and thoughtlessly
pushing ahead are numerous. There are at least six stories in the gospels about
him bragging one minute, sticking his foot in his mouth the other and ultimately
having to eat his own words. Let me share a couple of examples with you.
One day, caught in a storm
while he was out a sea, Peter sees Jesus walking on the water toward the
storm-tossed boat he was in. Not really believing it was Jesus, he rushed to
get out of the boat and to try walking on water toward him to check it out.
Once out on the water, he looks down and sees how deep it is and looks around
at how strong the wind was blowing. Realizing what he had done, he begins to
drown. He cries out for help and has to be helped back into the boat.
At another time, at the Last
Supper, Jesus get up from table and begins to wash the feet of the apostles.
When he gets to Peter, Peter resists. “No way, Jose! I won’t let you wash my
feet!” When Jesus tells him that if he
doesn’t allow it, he can have not part what was to come. Peter quickly throws
it in reverse and back-paddles. “Ok, then, wash my feet, my hands and my
head while you’re at it!” For Peter, “anything
worth doing is worth over-doing!”
At yet another time, Jesus
had just told his disciples that they must forgive one another. When
Jesus finishes speaking, imagining that another chance to impress Jesus had
presented itself, good old Saint Peter springs into action. Peter knows well
that the rabbis had always taught that people needed to forgive three times.
Peter gets out his little mental adding machine and multiplies three by two and
adds one for good measure. Then he asks his question while answering it at the
same time. “How many times must we forgive? Seven times?” He obviously expected
Jesus to say, “Wow, Peter, how generous of you! You are better than the best!
Seven times is beyond the call of duty! It is even more than is required!” You can
almost see his big eager grin slowly melt away when Jesus told him to forgive,
not seven times, but seventy times seven times - that is, forgiving without
counting the times.
Still, in another story,
after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter and some of the others while
they were fishing. Having caught nothing, they were about to give up. Jesus
told them to lower their nets on the other side of the boat. They caught so many fish that
their nets were about to break. Then after the catch, Jesus asks for a couple
of their fish to cook for breakfast on the grill he had set up on the beach.
Good old Peter runs to the boat and drags the whole net to Jesus and dumps 153
fish at his feet! Again, with Peter, anything worth doing is worth
overdoing!
What was it about Peter that Jesus
found so attractive? It certainly wasn’t his impressive list of successes. It
was his willingness to get in there and try something new, to get in there and
risk success in the face of possible failure, to keep coming back to the task
and trying again and again. Peter was passionate about everything he
tried.
My friends, we can learn a lot from Saint Peter. God does not demand perfection of us, he simply wants a serious relationship, a passionate effort and heartfelt fidelity! No one’s relationship with Jesus was more enduring than Peter, the Apostle. No one tried harder than Peter, the Apostle. I am sure, when Saint Peter opens the gates of heaven for my friend Eddie Hardesty, he will burst into laughter and tease him a bit saying, “Come on in! I dare you! I double-dog dare you!” I hope, when Saint Peter opens the gates of heaven to people like me, he will say, “Ron, you weren’t perfect, but because you really tried, you are good enough for God! Come on in!”
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