We have reached the halfway point of
Mark’s narrative, and our journey with Jesus continues toward Caesarea
Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was renowned
for its temples. In particular, there
was a magnificent temple to Pan and, after Herod had finished with his efforts,
a wonderful marble temple to Caesar, the son of a god. A God of nature and a self-proclaimed god
serve as the background to Jesus’ questions and instruction right smack dab in
the middle of Mark’s Gospel.
The scene starts out innocently
enough. Jesus asks those following Him
who people say that He is. The disciples
throw all kinds of answers at Him. Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah returned. Still others say You are one of the prophets. The answers all make sense in light of
what Jesus had done and what people expected of the Messiah. Since Jesus had come with no army at His
back, no doubt some thought He could be the one announcing the coming of the
Messiah. Plus, given the possible family
resemblance, some may have even argued that John had not been killed, but saved
by God for this wonderful ministry. Even
the proclamations that Jesus was Elijah make sense. Only Moses and Elijah lacked graves. Elijah, in particular, we are told, was
carried up into heaven by the chariots of fire in full view of Elisha and the
company of prophets. Jesus miracles of
raising the dead would certainly call to mind the idea that Elijah would come
again.
Jesus then asks that important question: But who do you say that I am? These
men and women have followed Jesus around as He has taught and performed various
miracles. Better still, they have had
the parables explained. In Mark’s
Gospel, Jesus exerts power over nature and the supernatural. He casts out demons with nary any
difficulty. He walks on water. He even meets with Moses and Elijah in His
transformed glory. Peter, of course,
takes the plunge. You are the Messiah!
For Peter and the disciples, this was
quite the leap. Thus far in Mark’s Gospel,
the disciples have only called Jesus, Teacher.
Sure, they have wondered who He is, but they have been unwilling or
unable to account for Jesus. He has cast
out demons, He has walked on water, He has fed the 5000 men besides women and
children, and He has performed any other number of miracles. But, until this point, none of His disciples
have been willing to voice the answer all no doubt wondered. To be sure messiah was a loaded word in
Jewish culture. Depending upon whose
school of thought one belonged, the Messiah could be a prophet like Elijah, a
military leader like David, a wise teacher like Solomon, and a few other
exemplars of their history. Certainly
others had claimed to be God’s messiah, or had the title thrust upon them, only
to be crushed by those who had conquered the Jews. Nobody, of course, thought of the Messiah as
the Suffering Servant. Yet, right here
in the middle of Mark’s Gospel, the point at which Jesus will demonstrate His
faithfulness and His power by being obedient to the Father’s will and suffering
the indignity and horror of the Cross, and right after all the works and signs
of power and the Transfiguration, Peter makes His famous confession.
The answer is important not just to Peter
and the disciples, but to all of us. Who
do you say that He is? A hippie teacher
from Nazareth? Someone who tapped into
the eternal consciousness of the divine in nature? Someone else?
It is an important question to ponder because, in the end, if He is
someone other than Messiah, then His words can be ignored, shrugged off, as
captive of His time. But if He is the
Messiah, as Peter confesses, then we are all like Lucy with a lot of explaining
to do.
Jesus, after ordering them to tell no one
sternly, begins to teach them about His impending suffering and death. Mark’s Gospel will take a dramatic turn, not
just in the sense that Jesus will now head to Jerusalem, but also in the sense
that we will be focused more upon His suffering than His works of power from
here until His glorification. Notice
that Jesus no longer teaches them in parable.
Mark says that He began to teach them plainly. Peter’s response, of course, makes sense from
a human perspective. Mel Brooks may have
made a small fortune off “It’s good to be the king,” but we laugh because we
understand the joke. What good is it to
have all power if one cannot do as one wishes?
If Jesus is Messiah, from Peter’s perspective, then He should be glorified
even more than the greatest king, the greatest prophets, the greatest of the
men and women who have served God. And
Peter is right. In God’s economy, Jesus
ranks number 1. Everything in the end
will be placed at His feet, precisely because He walked the way set out by the
Father. But it is the path to that
glorification that will scandalize and shock so many people along the way and
those of us who hear of it centuries and millennia later.
Fortunately, you and I live on this side
of the Cross and Empty Tomb. We know
that Jesus has walked obediently the path set before Him. Unlike Peter and John and all the disciples
and the crowds and those who opposed Him, we know He is the Messiah that Peter
claims. He is God’s anointed. And He will accomplish for Jew and Gentile
far greater than anyone could possibly have imagined.
I remind us of that simple truth because
the answer to the question, if we agree with Peter, has a claim on our lives
unlike any other claim. There are lots
of claims on our lives, claims by families, by friends, by workers, by
political parties, by sports teams. Only
one person, though, died for our sins and rose again. Only one person paid the cost so that you and
I might be made worthy to stand before God, that the chasm created by our sin
might be bridged. That gives His claim
priority in our lives. Or at least it
should. Far too often we let everything
and anything get in the way of His claim on our lives. So often we pay lip service to the fact that
He was Messiah, rather than living as if we believed His claims were true.
And what is His instruction to those of us
who would be His disciple? Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow
Me. It is a well known imperative
from the Gospel. Non-Christians could
probably cite the verse as well as Christians, which seems fair since so many
Christians do as good of job of cross-bearing as our non-believing
friends. Sounds harsh? Listen to Jesus’ words again.
First, He makes three demands upon all of
us who would claim Him Lord. The first
is that we deny ourselves. Jesus, of
course, set this ultimatre example. Though
He could have come with angels and chariots and theophanies, He chose to enter
the world through the womb of a virgin.
He chose to be born into the blue-collar family of a carpenter. He was laid in a manger instead of a
crib. He seems to have had no house to
call His own. He wandered about from
place to place teaching, healing, and heralding the kingdom. Those who should have recognized Him did not. If anyone ever had reason to promote
themselves, it was Him.
Yet how many of us are into
self-aggrandizement or self-promotion?
Ambition is a two-edged sword, is it not. Yes, we need some drive, but do we need the
accolades that stroke our ego? Jesus
says no. In fact, Jesus makes this the
first of His demands of discipleship. How
often do we expect God to be happy that we gave him 80 or 90 minutes of our
lives each week, as if we were doing Him a favor? How many of us want to take the selfie or
create the perfect tweet that shows our humility. Mac Davis wrote a funny song about the
difficulties of being humble, but we tend to live as if He were speaking the
truth of the messiah rather than Jesus.
And, do not hear this as a specific attack on anyone in the pews, it
happens to those of us in collars or behind the pulpits. My guess is, now that election season is upon
us, there will be a huge fight for some to become the next Billy Graham or next
kingmaker.
Jesus’ second demand of His disciples is
that we take up a cross. You and I
understand the context far better than His disciples gathered in Caesarea
Philippi. We know that the path to glory
passes through Golgotha. Nevertheless,
how loathe are we to accept danger, to be willing to sacrifice, to be counted
among the ranks of the enslaved and despised.
To Jesus’ contemporary audience, these words would have sounded
nuts. Rome excelled in putting people to
death. Crucifixion was just considered
one of the more, if not most, shameful ways to die. Generally, one died of exposure rather than
blood loss or anything else. And while
you hung there, in pain and thirsting, passerbys could hurl insults or worse at
you. The historian Appian recounts how the people of Rome responded to
the thousands of slaves and gladiators that were crucified by Pompey after the
insurrection of Spartacus. And Jesus
wants me to carry my instrument of execution willingly?
Jesus’ last demand of His followers is that
the cross must carried to the destination He chooses. Sometimes we forget, I think, that our lives
really are not our own. I’ll pick up my cross Jesus and head that
way, the way of my own choosing.
Jesus reminds us that He will choose our direction. We might think we are unqualified or not
educated enough, but Jesus does not care.
He understands that His power and His grace are sufficient for each one
of us. Besides, when we know we are
totally unqualified, the egos cannot really be stroked at the successes!
Why do we follow these three
commands? Jesus points out that the way
we seek to ensure our safety, to shield our lives, are all doomed to fail. The translation misses the Greek at play
here, but Jesus is instruction His disciples, you and me, that to enliven our psyche,
we must be willing to give up our lives.
We have a hard time understanding what Jesus is proposing, but it makes
sense. The psyche is what makes Leslie,
Leslie, Dick, Dick, Jerry, Jerry, Brian, Brian, and so on. One of the unique claims of Scripture is that
you and I will be known as ourselves throughout eternity, if we declare Jesus
as Lord. The psyche, of course, was that
identity God gave to us at our creation.
It was that image of Him stamped into these fleshy bodies. And to get life for that psyche, we need to
be willing to give us our lives.
How many of us, though, plot and plan as
if this life is the reward? Know anyone
who saves and saves and saves, so that they never have to worry about
anything? They are like the man who
built bigger barns. Know anyone who eats
just so and exercises just so and is super-fastidious about everything related
to their body so that they might avoid sickness or death? How does that work out for them? Know anybody who chases titles and accolades
as if those are the real measures of life?
I do. Heck, I was one who really
used to. The problem, as some figure
out, is that we cannot take our health, our riches, or our titles with us. We may become so enslaved to chasing after
our security blankets that we sacrifice family, reputation, friends, and who
knows what else. Some may even chase
them to the point of rejecting Jesus and His claim and demand on each one of
our lives. Yes, we know some who live as
if they do not agree with Peter’s insight that He is the messiah.
All this instruction and demand serves as
a precursor to Jesus’ promise to His disciples and His enemies. Deny
Me, and I will deny you before My Father and the angels. Claim Me, and I will claim you as My own before
My Father and the angles. The stakes
for which we are playing, brothers and sisters, is far greater than you and I
can ever ask or imagine. It is so easy
to forget who Jesus was and what He did and what He has promised to do. Yet His instructions, His demands, are meant
to help us make decisions in our lives with an eternal perspective. If we are going to be glorified for all
eternity in Him, how self-effacing is it for us to deny ourselves for the few
years we walk the earth? Really? If we are going to be raised, in part, for
our willingness to walk with the despised and the condemned, how dangerous is
the path in this life that we are walking?
Really? And if we know He is the
Messiah, why should we ever be stressed out about the route He has chosen for
us? Really?
I told the 8am congregation that I lacked
specific Advent examples of cross-bearing to share. There I talked of how we in Nashville might
be asked to help refugees of Syria assimilate in the community in the months
ahead. In a country coming off 9-11,
such is nearly unthinkable. Yet, who
better to minister to the outcasts than those who have picked up a cross and
willingly born whatever shame the world has chosen to give us. And for those among us who are really loathe
to help Muslims precisely because they are Muslims, how will they hear the
Gospel if disciples like you and like me do not make the effort to be Christ’s crucified
hands and Christ’s crucified feet in the world for them? We might serve and serve and never once get
ask to account for our accounts of service.
But given the cost that He bore for your souls and mine, when is our
labor ever really hopeless or wasted? I
talked a bit about the difficulties of being faithful witnesses and winsome
teachers in this era of the new sexual ethic that is morphing in our midst
daily. We will seem to be out of step
with the world and even with other Christians.
But for some, this will be the cross born and the direction in which it
will be carried.
Then Gregg gave me a great sermon
illustration of cross-bearing discipleship for Advent between the services. As most of you all know, we have opened our
doors to another group of Christians on the weekends and to a homeschool group
on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Both pay us,
so this is not just an “out of the kindness of our hearts” endeavor. But even a simple gesture of welcoming 80+ youth
and maybe 100-150 other Christians each week can be challenging. I laugh now, but earlier this was a consuming
problem. The Brides’ Room was locked up
tight, and no one knew where to find a key!
We wanted to make sure that the room was left unsullied by those who
pass through our doors each week, and yet we left the room unusable to us! Where were we going to hold Lectio Divina
this morning? I hear the laughter. Yes, God does sometimes speak in sarcasm or
irony.
While that scramble was occurring, someone
had put away the cutting boards in a drawer wrong. Andrea, while getting ready for snacks, could
not open the door. Poor Gregg was trying
to help her. I don’t know how many
splinters he picked up from that labor this morning. I am glad that he did not stab himself with
that screwdriver he was using to wedge the kitchen drawer open. Plus, it meant I could look for the key to
the Brides’ Room. I see the nods. You get the idea. You should have been here Wednesday when I
was on the floor trying to light the oven pilot with Ron and Peter directing!
No doubt our willingness to open our doors
has other nagging consequences. No doubt
some of those consequences cost us a bit in terms of convenience or finances;
some, like poor Gregg’s ministry this morning, might actually cost splinters or
some blood. How big are those crosses,
though? Take a pause from the laughter
and from your knowing winks and ask yourself how heavy these issues really
are. Do the really rise to the level of
shaming and death, or are they merely inconvenient? My suspicion is that most of us will come
down on the side that they are inconveniences rather than true
cross-bearing. Yet, how important are
those born inconveniences in the lives of those whom we try hard to serve? The parents of 80+ youth understand that we
really do value education and youth, just like Jesus said we should. The members of another congregation saw us in
deed trying to help them honor a spiritual matriarch who had passed. Yes, it was quite the service, but so was
ours. While they mourned with those who
see her no longer and celebrated that she had gone to her reward, we were on
the floor like slaves, making sure all could come to that shadowy party of the
feast that is to come! And it is those
images, of the youth of no account and the immigrants among us being served,
that testify to heart of Advent. Do we
fail? You better believe it. But it in failure where God’s power is most
made manifest in our lives, for only in failure do we often find the humility
and need for redemption. Who do you say
that He is? More importantly, where has
He asked you to be a cross-bearer in the lives of others?
Peace,
Brian†
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