2 Lent B Mark 8:31-38 16 March 2003
Rev. Roger Haugen
Just verses before we have Peter declaring, You are the Christ, the son of the living God! Jesus is the Messiah, the one who has come to save his people, to lift them above the oppressors rod, to bring about the Kingdom of God where the people of God will be safe, secure and vindicated from all their enemies. Peter and his brother Andrew had left a thriving fishing business and the security of their home to follow this man. They staked their future on the assumption that this truly was the Messiah who would restore the fortunes of Israel. Finally all the laments and hopes of the Psalms will come true.
We share
Peters hope. The world is a mess, we
need leaders who will vindicate us, who will put all things right. People who will take charge, Tell it like
it is. A Messiah. Someone who can
bring peace and security to our world.
Someone chosen by God to bring peace to the Middle East, someone to
provide stability and justice in Iraq.
Someone to put oppressors in their place and set the captives free. Should not religious faith, after all,
protect us from suffering, bring security and give us victory?
Some
years ago, one of our Synods hired a consultant to administer psychological evaluations
of all seminary students and candidates for ordination. The profiles showed that almost all of the
candidates were independent, self-starters, strong egos who liked being up
front. How were these candidates going
to fit into an organization which required humility and obedience, he asked
the Synod committee? The committee
answered that these were just the kind of leaders our Church needs.
We know
how Peter feels. Peter wants to be a
leader, not a follower, he knew exactly how Jesus should act, what his goals
ought to be, what was acceptable and what was not. We want a leader who will save his people, but do it in a way of
which we approve. We want a Messiah who
will put evil in its place once and for all. We want it done with style. We make big plans for Easter worship, when
lots of people show up, but Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are far less
attractive.
The human
standards of leadership cannot be applied to Gods action in the world. Gods idea of leadership is not to be
confused with Peters or ours. Peter
had assumed the normal expectations associated with a Messiah. For Peter he is a figure of hope, not a
figure of failure but of success and power.
We know these hopes and dreams.
To these
assumptions, Jesus says, Get behind me Satan. It is possible to have the words and devotion and yet miss what
Jesus is all about. Peter and the
disciples are always on the other side of the page when Jesus talks about
suffering and death. They do not
understand, and neither do we. Peter
attempts to force Jesus to avoid the suffering, and is scolded.
The
leader we are given, the leader that leads to new life is one who suffers, one
who is rejected and one who will be killed.
He is a leader who will rise from the dead, and in that is our hope, our
salvation. Power does not win over evil
and death, victory is won through submission, suffering and death. Peter and the disciples shake their heads in
confusion and so do we. Jesus presents
for us an alternate way of living, an alternate way of being that is defined by
God and not by anything else. Instead
of thinking only of ourselves and believing it is good to collect wealth and
avoid any path which leads to suffering, we are being challenged to be
generous, giving of ourselves, even when it might mean suffering.
What are we to do? Jesus states it rather bluntly. If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. In response to Jesus suffering, rejection, and death our response is to be no less clear. To quote that great theologian Mark Twain: "Many people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."
To deny
oneself is to give up our sense of self that we have created with the help of
the culture in which we live. The self
which says our importance and value comes from the wealth we generate, the
wealth we collect. This is the self
which seeks to define our value against someone else. To deny oneself opens us to live the self that God created us to
live. Free from all those forces which
seek to shape us in their image. As an
old Confirmation curriculum states it, we are Free to Be.
We are to
take up our cross. Sometimes people
speak about the cross they have to bear.
This usually refers to a handicap, a difficulty that circumstances have
dealt them. This is not the cross that
Jesus asks us to pick up. Jesus asks us
to pick up the cross that comes with being a part of the Kingdom of God, the
cross that we consciously take up because not to do so would be to deny our
identity as a child of God.
Accepting
the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, former President Jimmy Carter said, In
order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of
war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself
a violation of the beliefs of all religions.
Once we characterize our adversaries as beyond the scope of Gods mercy
and grace, their lives lose all value.
President Carter publicly took up his cross flying in the face of much
public opinion, certainly the official position of his government and did it
very publicly. To take up our cross is
done consciously, despite the repercussions.
Many
young people today are taking up their cross in defense of child labour in poor
countries. Many refuse to wear the
popular labels and instead, shop at Thrift shops, because to wear the labels,
to choose popular fashion is to contribute to the unfair labour practices in
other countries that forces children to work rather than go to school or simply
be children. The result can be
ostracism for these young people or ridicule, yet they choose to take up their
cross. Some are very passionate about
fair labour chocolate. Fair labour
chocolate is chocolate for which the growers are paid a fair dollar. Most chocolate which we enjoy comes from
similar child labour, giving us cheap chocolate but on the backs of children. To take up our cross may simply mean being
willing to publicly display our faith and suffer the consequences that such a
display may produce. It may be as simple as the decisions we make as we shop. Often a refusal to publicly display our
faith is out of a desire to protect ourselves, even if only from a strange
look.
Jesus
asks us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow. We are to be true to the person God created
us to be, willingly get involved in the life around us in a way in keeping with
our identity as a child of God. We
are to follow. We are not to lead
but are to follow. This means being
willing to go where Jesus would lead us.
This may mean that we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations,
situations where we feel ill-prepared to be.
To be willing to follow is to trust Jesus completely and take his lead
certain that we will not be abandoned but given the skills and words
needed. A willingness to follow is to
be always watching for opportunities of service, not concerned about the cross
that might be left in front of us. A
willingness to follow leaves us open to be molded by God into our true
self. It leaves us open to address
injustices that confront us. In
response to a leader who suffered, was rejected, killed but rose again, we are
free to act, given power to act, are expected to act.
This is
to lose our lives for Jesus sake. We
lose what we think is true life only to discover the life God has for
us. For what will it profit them to
gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
Gods measure of worth is not in gold.
Job 22 says it this way, if you treat gold as dust . . .then you will
delight yourself in the Almighty.
We do not
take up our crosses and follow in order that God would love us, that is already
assured, we take up our crosses and follow in response to that love. We will be held accountable for the life we
choose. To be ashamed of God, to refuse
to live a life of loving response, refusing to take up the crosses we find in
our way, will result in the Son of Man being ashamed of us when he comes in his
glory. For those who want to save
their life will lose it.
We
worship Jesus, we follow Jesus because he is the one who showed us that only he
has power over death and suffering. He
rose from the dead. To choose to follow
anything or anyone else is to give ourselves over to evil. We journey through Lent to remind us of the
true self God has created us to be, we journey through Lent to remind us of the
path that leads to life. A path that
may have suffering and rejection along the way, but the only true path because
this is the path our Saviour chose to walk.
He is the one who is our leader, we ask for strength to follow where he
would lead us.