Gospel Lesson: Mark 8: 31-38
31Then Jesus 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. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But 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." 34He 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. 35For 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. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those 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."
Sermon Title: He Said this Openly
As I begin my sermon this morning, I would like to tell you an adaptation of our Gospel story this morning from the eighth chapter of the book of Mark. It is an adaptation specifically geared for our day and age–an age which emphasizes building up another person’s self-esteem as the most important thing and ensuring that no one gets his or her feelings hurt. After-all, if we are going to be a church that reaches out into such a culture, we must learn to adapt and make our message reach out into such a milieu.
One day one of Jesus’ closest friends made an absolutely astounding proclamation. Peter was his name, and he stated that Jesus was a very special man. Peter said that Jesus was very important in God’s eyes as a very good teacher who would show humankind what it meant to live together in peace and harmony.
Jesus was very proud of Peter, and he told Peter how good of a student he was and how God had given him this special information. But Jesus didn’t want all of his other followers to feel bad. He wanted to make sure they had special information too, so he turned to them and began to teach them.
"My BFF’s," Jesus said, "I have something important to tell you. I am going to have to go to Jerusalem, and there are going to be some bad things that will happen. You know as well as I do that there are some people in this world who are bullies. I’ve tried to teach you how not to be bullies, but I’ve got to go to talk to some of the biggest bullies around. I’ve got to try to convince them to be nice to each other. God has asked me to do this, and I’ve got to see it through even if they try to hurt me–which they probably will."
Peter listened to what Jesus had to say, and he wasn’t happy about it. Peter didn’t think it was too wise for Jesus to go around confronting bullies. They would indeed hurt him, and Peter didn’t want to see anything happen to his best friend. So, Peter took Jesus aside and tried to reason with him. He tried without being ugly to convince Jesus to continue to teach everyone how to be nice.
Jesus listened thoughtfully to what Peter had to say. He looked into Peter’s eyes with compassion and understanding. "My friend, Peter," Jesus said, "I am sorry. I can’t. I have to do what God tells me to do. You have to understand that God is the most important thing in my life, and I know He wants me to stop people from being mean to one another. I know this isn’t easy for you to understand, but one day you will. I know you may have trouble getting it, but it’s O.K. It’s not always easy to understand God. That’s why He’s God and you’re not. Try really, really hard to see things from God’s way."
To try and help everyone understand, Jesus asked the whole crowd to come around. He looked at all of them. He wanted to treat them all equally and be kind to each and every one of them.
He began to teach them, "If you want to follow me, let me tell you what to do. Now, remember, you don’t have to follow me. There are many other pathways you can go to find fulfillment. Some might even be a little easier, but here’s what it takes to follow me–call me your Lord and Savior, give up a little of your time during the year to worship me. If you have other commitments, I understand. Don’t worry about it. I know your time is important. You should also give a little bit of money when you worship me. It doesn’t have to be very much. Really, it’s just between you and God. It’s not like I’m going to check in on you or anything. And if you would rather eat out during the week instead of giving, go ahead. My work isn’t all that important considering all paths go to the same place. But I still would like you to give a little.
Now, here’s the hard part. I want you to work very hard to make everyone feel good about themselves. I want you to make sure they know that God loves them just the way they are and they do not need to change one bit. I want you to make them know they are special to God and even if they make mistakes, it’s O.K. Everyone makes mistakes. Just make them feel good and tell them to try extra hard not to do it again. That’s what it means to follow me. If everyone just does all of this, they will be very happy, and I want everyone who follows me to be happy.
Now, how does that sound? Does that make Christianity easy enough for everyone to follow? Does that make Christianity easy enough for everyone to swallow so that it doesn’t offend anyone? Does that make Christianity easy enough so that we can avoid people becoming angry with us and upset at our faith? Does that make Christianity easy enough so that our churches will now grow and thrive? Does that soften Jesus’ teaching enough so that people won’t be intimidated by His words any longer? Does that little retelling cover up the reality of what Jesus says is the true nature of following Him?
Sadly enough, oftentimes, we act like Christianity is more like that fictional account I started off with. Sadly enough we oftentimes act like Christianity is simply something we adhere to so that we feel good about ourselves, and if it suits us, to try and be nice to others. Oftentimes, we sugar coat Jesus’ teachings so that people will not be offended, and we bury deep down the reality to which Jesus calls you and I. Most of the time, we are afraid to teach as openly as Jesus does.
We’re afraid people will tune us out. We’re afraid we will offend someone. We’re afraid of coming across as arrogant or exclusive. We’re afraid that if we make Christianity too hard, people will run away from it in droves.
But that’s exactly the opposite of what happened when Jesus challenged His disciples and the crowds around. Apparently, they were intrigued by the challenge Jesus offered. And it was a challenge that cuts deeply into our culture that revolves around us feeling comfortable and building up our self esteem.
Jesus makes no excuses about what is going to happen to him. He knows when he goes to confront the scribes, the chief priests and the elders what will happen to him. He knows it will not be pretty and it will involve suffering. He knows it will involve death. Yet, Jesus is willing to entrust his followers with this information, and he does so out in the open.
But true to our human nature, we don’t like such open and frank talk. We don’t like people really being honest and truthful with us. We would rather have it sugar coated. We would rather have things toned down. Peter embodies this in his hubris as he takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Him.
Jesus’ response would make Him no friends today. "Get behind me Satan!" Jesus yells. "For you are setting your mind on human things and not on divine things!" Jesus crushes Peter’s ego by comparing him to the Father of Lies. And Jesus doesn’t apologize. He takes it even further.
Gathering around the crowd, He lays down the nature of Christianity. He tells us what true discipleship embodies, and it’s tough. "If anyone wants to be my followers, he must take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save their life must lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will find it."
Tough words. Honest words. Words spoken openly. What if we were as honest as Jesus about what it meant to be a Christian in today’s world? What would our church be like if not only we said that Christianity was difficult to practice but we actually tried to do what Jesus called His disciples to do? Would we rise to such a challenge? Could we do such a thing openly and honestly? What do you think? Amen.
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