Mark 8:27-38

• PowerPoint Slide 1: Opening Slide — Who do you say that I am?

• PowerPoint Slide 2: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the night before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech in which he mentioned the threats that had been made against him and, in that context, offered a brief look backward over the meaning of his life. Because we now know that he would die the next day, his words sound almost prophetic. Here’s what he said:

• PowerPoint Slide 3: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with text

“[…] I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.

• PowerPoint Slide 4: Washington Monument

“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.

• PowerPoint Slide 5: Reflecting Pool

“And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you.

• PowerPoint Slide 6: Marchers

“But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.

• PowerPoint Slide 7: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with black border

“And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man.

• PowerPoint Slide 8: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with text

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

• PowerPoint Slide 9: Shadow of the Cross

In our gospel lesson this morning, Jesus has come to a similar point in his life. He has been preaching and teaching and healing for several years and it is becoming clear to him that his time in this life has become extremely limited.

• PowerPoint Slide 10: Christ on the Cross

He needs to begin preparing the disciples for his inevitable arrest and execution, so that they will have a context in which to understand a suffering Messiah and so that they will have some hope in the face of his impending death.

• PowerPoint Slide 11: Opening the Tomb

Without some sort of explanation and some time for the disciples to think things over, how could they possibly anticipate the redemptive power of Jesus’ death for the world or the incredible joy that lay on the other side of his death? But to make that point, Jesus needed to take the disciples away from the crowds.

• PowerPoint Slide 12: Map of Israel Movie

So he led them north, out of the Galilee region and into the area around Caesarea Philippi.

• PowerPoint Slide 13: Map of Caesarea Philippi

It was a site that was carefully chosen for its cultural and religious importance.

• PowerPoint Slide 14: Source of the Jordan

Caesarea Philippi was home to one of the sources of the Jordan…

• PowerPoint Slide 15: Joshua and Caleb

…the river that the people of Israel had crossed to enter the Promised Land under Joshua.

• PowerPoint Slide 16: John the Baptist and Jesus

The Jordan River was also the place where John the Baptist took his followers to have the people recommit themselves to following God — in effect, having them re-enter the Promised Land once again as devoted followers of the Messiah who was to come. It was also the river in which John would baptize Jesus.

• PowerPoint Slide 17: Banias cave and water

In this story, Jesus took his disciples to the source of the Jordan River to see if they recognized him as the Messiah who had been promised by John the Baptist. But there was more to the setting than just that.

• PowerPoint Slide 18: Ba’al

The region around Caesarea Philippi was, in essence, a microcosm of world religions. The city of Balinas near Caesarea Philippi was named that because it used to be a center for the worship of the nature god Ba’al…

• PowerPoint Slide 19: Asherah

…and his wife Asherah, the goddess of fertility — the very gods whose worship was such a temptation for the people of the Old Testament.

• PowerPoint Slide 20: Cave entrance

Next to the source of the Jordan was a cave that was said to be the entrance to Hades, the land of the dead.

• PowerPoint Slide 21: Cave Niches

And carved into the rock wall next to that cave entrance were a series of niches that once held statues of Pan…

• PowerPoint Slide 22: Pan

…the god of nature, who was worshipped by the Greeks and Romans…

• PowerPoint Slide 23: Pan Red

…in ways that would remind modern Americans more of a wild college spring break party than a religious experience.

• PowerPoint Slide 24: Temple

Further up the hillside was a temple built by Philip Herod to honor his protector, the Emperor Tiberius. This temple was designed for worship of the emperor as a god.

• PowerPoint Slide 25: Tiberius

That was the politically expedient thing to do, in spite of the fact that Tiberius had a decidedly nasty habit of indulging in rape and murder. But, then, he was the emperor and that’s what emperors did in those days, if they chose to.

• PowerPoint Slide 26: Mall of America

It was as if Jesus had deliberately taken the disciples to a vast marketplace for religions of the ancient world — the ancient equivalent of the Mall of America for various faiths — to see what they believed about him.

• PowerPoint Slide 27: Waterfall

And so, there in the quiet and beauty of nature…

• PowerPoint Slide 28: Head of Jesus

Jesus asks the disciples a very pointed question:

• PowerPoint Slide 29: Head of Jesus with text

“Who do you say that I am?” Peter answers correctly, “You are the Christ,” and then Jesus begins to teach the disciples that, as the Christ, he had to suffer and die.

• PowerPoint Slide 30: Take up their cross daily…

Then Jesus added that to be a Christian means being willing to follow Jesus wherever he may go, even into the unpredictable and dangerous areas of life.

• PowerPoint Slide 31: Carter Nelson’s Baptism

In essence, every time we do a baptism, we are faced with the same question Jesus posed to his disciples…

• PowerPoint Slide 32: Carter Nelson’s Baptism with text

“Who do you say that I am?” And the way we answer that question has vast implications for the way we live our lives.

• PowerPoint Slide 33: Main Street Galena

Just as Jesus led his disciples into the heart of the world’s culture and religions to pose his question to the first disciples, so he comes to us in the midst of everyday life and asks us also to think about the meaning of our faith.

• PowerPoint Slide 34: Rubens’ Divine Love painting

Gayle Bach-Watson writes, “There is nothing God will hold back if it will open up a relationship between God and us. There is no price too high for God to pay so that we can know God and love God.

• PowerPoint Slide 35: Manger scene

“There is no place God won’t go — to the manger of poverty,

• PowerPoint Slide 36: The Temptation of Jesus

“to the wilderness of despair,

• PowerPoint Slide 37: The Crucifixion

“to the cross of shame,

• PowerPoint Slide 38: The Harrowing of Hell

“to the depths of hell — no place God won’t go to save us from sin, death and evil. God becomes one of us to save you and me.

• PowerPoint Slide 39: Blake’s Ancient of Days painting

“The greatest lesson a soul has to learn is that God, and God alone, is enough for all its needs. This is the lesson that all God’s dealings with us are meant to teach, and this is the crowning discovery of our entire Christian life. GOD IS ENOUGH!”

• PowerPoint Slide 40: Come near to God…

Although we can do nothing to either earn or evade God’s love, surely a love so completely without limits demands a response of love in return from us.

• PowerPoint Slide 41: Fortress picture

But we tend to put up walls, focusing on ourselves and our own needs and protecting ourselves with a barrier of casual interest and mild faith. Yet, Jesus persistently calls us to a deeper level of faith:

• PowerPoint Slide 42: Fortress picture with text

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.”

• PowerPoint Slide 43: John Calvin

Or, as John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian Church, put it:

• PowerPoint Slide 44: John Calvin — “We are not our own”

We are not our own;

therefore neither our reason nor our will should predominate

in our deliberations and actions.

We are not on our own;

therefore let us not propose it as our end,

to seek what may be expedient for us according to the flesh.

We are not our own

therefore let us, as far as possible, forget ourselves

and all things that are ours.

• PowerPoint Slide 45: John Calvin — “We are God’s…”

On the contrary, we are God’s;

to him, therefore, let us live and die.

We are God’s;

therefore let his wisdom and will preside in all our actions.

We are God’s;

towards him, therefore, as our only legitimate end,

let every part of our lives be directed.

• PowerPoint Slide 46: Rainbow colored picture

We are called to have concern for those things that affect any of God’s children, for we are called to create community throughout God’s creation with all of God’s beloved children. Is that an easy thing to do? No. Of course not. Only with God’s help is it even possible.

• PowerPoint Slide 47: Jesus teaching in synagogue

Jesus himself described the work of God’s kingdom with these words:

• PowerPoint Slide 48: Jesus teaching in synagogue with text

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

• PowerPoint Slide 49: Multi-hands picture

That is the work we are now called to do in Christ’s name. As Evan Pederick writes, “[…]in Jesus, God is redefining what success means. Success is not about competition any longer. Success isn’t any longer about having more, or better, or shinier. Success is choosing to live from a wider perspective than the narrow, self-serving point of view that our society teaches us to adopt. Success is choosing to be Christ-like, to live the way of self-giving love even when that leads to unpopularity or financial insecurity.

“At the very least, this way of life is one that the world as we know it rejects. If you live this way, you’ll find yourself — sooner or later — having to make the choice between the world’s priorities and the priorities of God’s kingdom. Jesus is inviting us to live with realism and courage. ‘If you follow me,’ he assures us, ‘you will have to carry a cross of some description.’ There will be sorrow and there will be failure. The impossible miracle of God’s love is that from this improbable soil will grow resurrection, and celebration and joy.”

• PowerPoint Slide 50: Head of Jesus with text

Amen.

(Comments to Jim at jmccrea@galenalink.com.)