Delivered at Zoar United Methodist Church in Greer, South Carolina on September 19, 2021
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Not What We Want to Hear
Audio VersionClick here to watch the entire service on Facebook.Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
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.”
Mark 8:27-38 (NRSV)
Lay down my pride
My desires, my demise
Ready now to see it your way
I'm done, I'm through
Ignoring you, now it's true
I'm kneeling at the cross of your grace
From “Lay Down My Pride” by Jeremy Camp
On an especially memorable episode of the television sitcom
Seinfeld, which was appropriately titled “The Opposite,” George Costanza, while meeting with his friends for lunch, decides to make some serious changes in his life. He does not like how his life is going, but he is self-aware enough to realize that his choices in life are what led him to where he is. Figuring that all of his choices must have been wrong, he decides to start doing
the opposite of whatever he would normally be inclined to do. He starts by ordering chicken salad on rye with potato salad and tea instead of his usual tuna on toast with coleslaw and coffee. Of course, he goes on to make choices that are much more significant. Whenever he would normally be tempted to lie about himself or flatter someone else, he chooses to be brutally honest; whenever he would normally be tempted to cower, he shows courage; and, whenever he would normally be tempted to indulge himself, he practices self-control.
1The new strategy George adopts really seems to work for him, for he begins to turn his life around – at least for the duration of the episode. He meets a woman who seems to be very interested in him; he lands a job with the New York Yankees; and he finds a nice apartment and moves out of his parents' house.
2George's unconventional life strategy made for a memorable and entertaining episode, but I wonder if maybe George actually stumbled onto something profound. If we do not like where the paths we have taken in life have led us, then the logical solution would be to turn and to start heading in a different direction. The churchy word for such a turn is
repentance. In the Gospel of Mark, the very first thing Jesus is recorded as saying is, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
3 Furthermore, there are a number of times in the Gospel story, when it seems as if Jesus instructs the Disciples to do
the opposite of what they would normally be inclined to do, as we heard in our Gospel reading this morning.
One day, Jesus asks the Disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They respond with some of the rumors that are floating around about Him, that He is John the Baptist, Elijah, or another prophet who had been raised from the dead. Jesus then asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter, who is perhaps the most outspoken of the Disciples, replies, “You are the Messiah.”
4 The word
messiah is derived from the Hebrew word
mashiach, which means “anointed one.”
5 The Jewish people, who are suffering with the boot of an evil empire on their necks, have long awaited a leader who will liberate them from their oppression and usher in an age of peace and prosperity. Peter has just declared that he believes that Jesus is that very leader.
This is a pivotal moment in the Gospel story for at least a couple of reasons. First, Jesus and the Disciples will begin traveling in a different direction geographically. They are currently near the city of Caesarea Philippi, which is north of where a majority of Jesus' ministry has taken place. From this point onward, Jesus will begin traveling south with the Disciples, through the region of Galilee, into the region of Judea, and ultimately into the city of Jerusalem, where a cross awaits Him. Second, Jesus will begin trying to convey a new message to the Disciples. Now that it is clear that they are starting to believe that He is the Messiah, He has to start teaching them
what it means that He is God's Anointed One. It will not be a message they want to hear.
Before Jesus began His public ministry, He went to the Jordan River to be baptized. As He emerged from the water, the heavens were torn open. The Spirit of God took the form of a dove and descended upon Him, and a voice from Heaven said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
6 Jesus, at His baptism, received the power of the Spirit and the blessing of the Father, both of which He would need in His ministry. He heard that God claims Him, loves Him, and delights in Him. This is a message we all need to hear and one we all claim with our own baptisms. That said, as someone who studied the Hebrew Scriptures, He might have heard another message that was meant solely for Him.
The first part of the blessing from Heaven – “You are my Son, the Beloved” – echoes the second Psalm, in which God says, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.”
7 It was thought that, in this Psalm, God is speaking to the Messiah. The second part of the blessing – “With you I am well pleased” – echoes the first of a series of songs in the Book of Isaiah which describe a certain servant of God. This song begins, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.”
8 In the fourth of these “Servant Songs” we read,
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.9
When Jesus heard, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased,” He might have also heard, “You are My Anointed One, and You are My Suffering Servant.”10
Jesus orders the Disciples not to tell anyone that they think that He is the Messiah. A recurring theme in the Gospel of Mark is what some scholars call the “Messianic Secret.” Repeatedly, Jesus orders people not to tell anyone anything that might lead people to believe that He is the Messiah.11 The reason, I suspect, is that people have certain expectations of the Messiah that Jesus does not intend to meet. They are expecting a Messiah who will drive the Roman occupation out of the land and restore autonomy to Israel. One might say that they are expecting a Messiah who will “make Israel great again.” For Jesus, to be God's Anointed One is to be a faithful servant and even to suffer for the sake of others.
Three times, Jesus will warn the Disciples that, once He reaches Jerusalem, He will be rejected by the religious leaders, suffer, die, and then be resurrected. Each time, the Disciples will respond by directly or indirectly rejecting what Jesus tells them, and then Jesus will try to set them straight.
While Jesus and the Disciples are still near Caesarea Philippi, He tells 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.” The disciple Peter responds by taking Him aside and scolding Him.12 In Matthew's version of the story, he says, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”13 Jesus then says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”14 Basically, He is saying, “Peter, you're thinking like the enemy!”
Jesus then says to all who are following Him, “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.”15 Jesus has come not to take up a sword as the Disciples expect. He has come to take up a cross, and He calls anyone who wants to follow Him to do the same. Nobody takes up a cross, even a figurative one, without being crucified on it in some way. In the words of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”16 We might not have to literally lay down our lives as Jesus did, but we will surely have to let go of some of our plans, proclivities, comfort, desires, and expectations.
Later on, while Jesus and the Disciples are traveling through Galilee and are heading toward Capernaum, He once again tells them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” The Disciples respond, not by asking Jesus what He meant but by arguing with each other about which one of them is the greatest. Once they reach Capernaum, Jesus confronts the Disciples about their self-centered bickering and says to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” He then takes a little child in His arms and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”17 The Disciples are clamoring for the place at the top, but Jesus identifies Himself with a little child, who would be one of the most needy and helpless people in their midst.18
Later still, while Jesus and the Disciples are traveling in Judea toward Jericho, which is near their destination, He says to them yet again,
See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.
The disciples James and John respond with a request; they ask Jesus for the privilege to sit at His right- and left-hand sides after He is crowned king.19 In other words, the two brothers want to be His second- and third-in-command.20
Jesus says to James and John, “You do not know what you are asking.”21 They do not know what they are asking, because they have repeatedly refused to listen to what He has been saying to them. When Jesus enters Jerusalem, He will not be crowned with gold and jewels but will instead be crowned with thorns. He will not be seated on a royal throne but will instead be enthroned on a cross. The two people seated to His left and to His right will not be James and John or any of the Disciples but will instead be two criminals who will be crucified alongside Him.
Naturally, the other disciples become angry with James and John over their attempted power grab, so Jesus says to them,
You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.22
For followers of Jesus, one's greatness is measured by one's willingness to serve, and even leadership is to be seen as a form of service. Once again, Jesus tries to get the Disciples to understand exactly what it means that He is their Anointed One. He says, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”23
Like Peter, we want to be winners and to have our own way, but Christ calls us to deny ourselves. Like James and John, we desire power and authority, but Christ calls us to servanthood. Like the Disciples, we aspire to greatness, but Christ calls us to humility. Christ came to take up a cross, and He calls all who want to follow Him to do the same. This is not what the Disciples wanted to hear; this is not what I want to hear; and I suspect that this is not what you want to hear either; but this is what Christ is saying to all who would dare to take His name and call themselves Christians.
So why would we want to follow Jesus if it means taking up a cross? Why would we want to give up our desires for things like fame, power, and wealth in favor of things like self-denial, service, and humility?
G.K. Chesterton writes in his book What's Wrong with the World, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”24 The way of Christ is indeed difficult. In fact, we might say that it is the opposite of the way of the world, or we might say that it is the opposite of what we are inclined to do as people who are formed by the world around us. That said, we need to remember that the way of the world is what made the world the way it is. I think we all intuitively know what was articulated so well by those prophets in the rock band Aerosmith,
There's something wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes
We're seein' things in a different way
And God knows it ain't His25
We need not only a different way of seeing the world but also a different way of living in the world. Perhaps we should try the way of the One who was sent to save the world.
In Jesus' day, the Jewish people awaited a Messiah who would liberate them from their Roman oppressors and restore the Kingdom of Israel to its former glory. Jesus came to save not only His own people but all the people of the world from the oppression of sin and death, and the Kingdom He came to establish would not topple the Roman Empire but would instead outlive it. He also came to show us a better way of living in the world, a way of self-sacrificial love. Jesus' story did not end with a cross, for Jesus rose from the grave victorious over death and ascended to Heaven to take His place as the Lord of this world. We, His followers, have an important job to do while we wait for Him to return and set all things right. By following the way Christ showed us, we can give the people around us a foretaste of what the world will be like when God's Kingdom comes and when God's will is done on Earth as in Heaven.
May we heed Christ's words, even when they are not what we want to hear, and may we follow Christ's way, even when it is difficult.
Amen.
Notes:
- Wikipedia: “The Opposite”
- ibid.
- Mark 1:15 (NRSV)
- Mark 8:27-29 (NRSV)
- Wikipedia: “Messiah”
- Mark 1:9-11 (NRSV)
- Psalm 2:7 (NRSV)
- Isaiah 42:1 (NRSV)
- Isaiah 53:3-5 (NRSV)
- William Barclay. The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke. 2001, Saint Andrew Press. p. 46
- Wikipedia: “Messianic Secret”
- Mark 8:31-32 (NRSV)
- Matthew 16:22 (NRSV)
- Mark 8:33 (NRSV)
- Mark 8:34-35 (NRSV)
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Cost of Discipleship (translated by R.H. Fuller and Irmgard Booth). ch. 4
- Mark 9:30-37 (NRSV)
- William Barclay. The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark. 2001, Saint Andrew Press. pp. 260-261
- Mark 10:32-37 (NRSV)
- Barclay (Mark), p. 295
- Mark 10:38 (NRSV)
- Mark 10:41-44 (NRSV)
- Mark 10:45 (NRSV)
- G.K. Chesterton. What's Wrong with the World. pt. 1, ch. 5
- From the song “Livin' on the Edge” by Aerosmith
Jesus Discourses with His Disciples was painted by James Tissot in the late 1800s.
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