March
4, 2012
MARK 8:31-38 NRSV
Then he began
to teach them that the Son of Man
must undergo great suffering,
and be rejected by the elders, the chief
priests, and the scribes,
and be killed,
and after three days rise again.
He said all
this quite openly.
And Peter took
him aside and began to rebuke him.
But turning and
looking at his disciples,
he
rebuked Peter and said,
“Get behind me,
Satan!
For you are
setting your mind not on divine things
but
on human things.”
He called the
crowd with his disciples, and said to them,
“If any want to
become my followers,
let
them deny themselves
and
take up their cross and follow me.
For those who
want to save their life will lose it,
and
those who lose their life for my sake,
and
for the sake of the gospel,
will
save it.
For what will
it profit them to gain the whole world
and
forfeit their life?
Indeed, what
can they give in return for their life?
Those who are
ashamed of me and of my words
in
this adulterous and sinful generation,
of
them the Son of Man will also be ashamed
when
he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
***
I,
your pastor, am Peter. After three years of seminary, and listening to who
knows how many sermons, after umpteenth theology books and lectures, and
countless discussions, I too do not know why Jesus had to suffer.
I
am fan of the resurrection, and don’t like the crucifixion. I don’t like to
look at the Catholic cross with Jesus’ hanging body. Our own empty cross
resonates with me because it is empty, not because it is a cross. If I got to
pick my symbol, I would pick the empty tomb. I like this image of Jesus Christ.
I like the glory part. I, like Peter, don’t get the suffering part. In Galilee, the Jews expected the Messiah to overthrow the
Romans. Peter knows Jesus is the Messiah, but Peter expects a king, not a
cross. I too want a king, not a cross. I want Easter without Lent.
I
want Jesus in all his power. I want him to come and take away the suffering of
this world. I want Jesus to bring peace. I want the miracles of healing and of
feeding. I want him to resurrect without even dying. I want a king, not a
cross.
Yet,
to Peter and to me, Jesus says,
“Get behind me Satan, for you are setting your mind not on divine
things, but on human things.”
The
glory it seems is in the cross; the power is in carrying it. The glory it seems
is in the cross; the power is in carrying it. Peter and I should know this
dynamic of the power and glory of our Lord coming from the least likely places:
a bastard child born in a manger, a man riding into town on a donkey, a king
crowned with thorns. Power and glory are not as Peter and I imagine. Power and
glory reside in giving up human power and glory to carry a cross. Power and
glory come from Lent.
Lent,
this time where we are to give up our own power, and set our mind on the
divine. Lent, where in order to pick up the cross, we must put down the human
things we carry.
Jesus
goes on to say,
“If
any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their
cross and follow me.”
I
do want to become a follower of Jesus Christ. I know Peter did too. We both
name Jesus the Messiah. But we imagined the Messiah differently. We imagined a
God of power and glory, the power and glory of this world. Therefore, I am not
sure how ready I am to deny myself and pick up the cross. I will be honest. I
don’t want to suffer for Christ. I
want Christ just to take away the suffering. I don’t enjoy having to stand up for what I believe. I wish Jesus would
just make all our minds clear. I am scared
of living the nomadic impoverished life he did. I’d feel more comfortable if
Christ alone fought for economic and social justice for all. I’d like to be able to name the Messiah and
sit back and let Jesus do all the work. Because what Jesus is asking me, and
Peter, and the disciples, and you is hard. This journey to the cross, this
carrying the cross, makes you suffer in this world. If you think being a
follower is easy then you need to pick up a heavier cross. For Jesus did not
call us to a life of ease in this world.
He
asks us,
“For
what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”
What are the treasures of this world
compared to the life of Jesus? This question I can start to wrap my head
around. I look at the life and legacy of Jesus. I look at how he upheld women
and crossed barriers of race, how he fed the hungry, how he cared for poor and
questioned the rich, how he healed the sick and cured the lame, how he
comforted the troubled and showed peace to the busy, and grace to the sinful.
For what in this whole world is worth forfeiting that grace? Nothing. It is to
that grace I respond, and it because of the grace I can begin to understand the
cross.
For, how dare I look at Jesus’ life, and
don’t try to live the same way. How dare I respond to Jesus’ life with anything
but my own life. How dare I respond to the grace of Jesus’ in my life, with
anything other than opening up to Jesus into my life? How dare I respond to the
cross, with anything other than carrying my own cross? I can no longer respond
to the grace of crucifixion by looking merely to the resurrection. I can no
longer respond to the journey of lent, by jumping forward to the celebration of
Easter. Carrying our cross is the only right response to Lent. Carrying our
cross makes Jesus King of our lives. Carrying the cross is the crown. Carrying
the cross is the power and the glory.
