Gospel for February 25, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 8:31-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In this passage Jesus “takes the gloves off” and issues a clear call to discipleship.  Although in the previous chapters he has certainly stirred up controversy with the Pharisees by forgiving sin and healing on the Sabbath, much of his ministry has been a positive display of his power — healing, casting out demons, teaching the way of the kingdom of God, feeding the multitudes, even walking on water!

It might have been understandable if the disciples had concluded that they would all ride into Jerusalem on the shoulders of the crowds and Jesus would be crowned king.

Right before this passage in which Jesus addresses the reality of the cross he has asked the disciples the famous questions “Who do men say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?” Peter’s declaration that “You are the Christ” certainly seemed to fit all the data that he had observed.

But now Jesus will disclose the hard truth — that his role as Messiah is to be the Suffering Servant.  The only road to glory is through the cross.

His disclosure that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem is not welcome news.  Peter, the very one who “discovers” the Messianic nature of Jesus, is the one who rebukes him for saying such scandalous things.  And Jesus must sharply rebuke Peter for failing to see things from God’s perspective.  How that must have stung, to have been praised one moment for his insight, and compared to Satan in the next!

And Jesus isn’t finished.  If there is a cross for him, there is also a cross for his followers.  Note that this message of the cross isn’t merely for the “inner circle” of the twelve — Jesus calls the crowd to him as well, and shares with them:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

This is a difficult paradox, that in order to find life there must be death, and only those who lose their life will gain it. Yes, Jesus will come in glory with the holy angels, but only after following the way of the cross.

Becoming a disciple requires self-denial, taking up the cross and following Jesus — not only in the feasts and the glory, but to the death.

APPLY:  

What does self-denial, the cross, and following Jesus look like in the life of the Christian?  Before Martin Luther’s breakthrough with the doctrine of justification by faith, he thought it meant severe asceticism, hair shirts and self-flagellation with whips.  His discovery of God’s grace set him free from such works of the flesh.

Still, there is a demand that comes with the Gospel. Dietrich Bonhoeffer declared in his book The Cost of Discipleship:

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

The death required is a death to sin and self-preoccupation.  Self-denial doesn’t mean merely giving up some luxury (like chocolate) during Lent, but saying no to self-centeredness so that we may say yes to Christ.

Taking up the cross doesn’t mean putting up with some physical affliction, or some difficult situation that is a part of one’s normal life — like diabetes or a cranky family member that one has to tolerate.  Taking up one’s cross is a decision to do the hard thing that may be required in order to obey Christ.  It is a choice.

Following Jesus means not only focusing on the good stuff — the healings and the glory — but obeying even when it costs us something.

As Bonhoeffer said:

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

RESPOND: 

I confess I prefer self-indulgence to self-denial, comfort to the cross, and the Risen Christ to the Suffering Servant.

Oh, the meditation on the cross of Christ brings tears of grief and gratitude to my eyes, when I think of what my salvation cost Jesus.  But I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit that the thought of witnessing to a member of ISIS terrifies me; and reading about the hardships of a John Wesley or a Francis Asbury in spreading the Gospel in the face of stiff persecution or adversity make me realize how soft I really am!

Yes, I can fast on Wednesday and Friday; and visit the sick; and even occasionally go the extra mile for the transient or the homeless person who crosses my path. But if not for the sheer grace of Jesus Christ, I would be lost and pathetic.

I am now, and suspect will continue to be, a work in progress.  As my father used to say, “Please be patient.  God isn’t finished with me yet.”

Lord, I hear your clear call to self-denial, the cross, and what it means to follow you, and I confess that I am intimidated.  Dying to self doesn’t come easy.  I guess I will just have to admit that the only way that will happen is if you do it for me and in me.  And that is also a ministry of your grace.  Amen. 

 

PHOTOS:

“Take Up Your Cross” by Godly Sheep is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for September 12, 2021

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 8:27-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The reading under consideration is pivotal to understanding who Jesus is, what he intends to do, and what it means to be his follower.

Jesus returns to non-Jewish territory near Caesara Philippi, which is a Roman colony in modern day Syria east of Mt. Hermon.  We remember that he had ventured north into Gentile territory earlier when he led his disciples north near Tyre and Sidon (in modern day Lebanon), and then returned south to the Decapolis (the ten Greek cities east of Galilee), before returning to the region of Galilee.

Here, near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his critical question of the disciples:

“Who do people say that I am?”

He is asking about the gossip and the rumors that the disciples have heard.  Predictably, the answers are diverse:

“John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

These are honorable answers — each would have been respectable. John the Baptist, of course had already been beheaded by Herod (Mark 6:14-29), but even Herod superstitiously believed that Jesus must be his nemesis come back to life!

The rumor that he might be Elijah might be taken more seriously.  The belief was current that Elijah would come as a forerunner of the Messiah near the end of the age:

before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. (Malachi 4:4-5)

This, by the way, ties in with the belief that John the Baptist had come in the spirit of Elijah.

The third rumor, that Jesus was one of the prophets, may simply be that he had come like the Hebrew prophets of old to proclaim the Word of the Lord for their time.

And then Jesus pivots his attention to the disciples and makes it personal:

“But who do you say that I am?”

In other words, those at a distance might not have enough information to discern his true identity.  But the disciples had seen him up close as he preached the Good News, healed, exorcised demons, fed the five thousand, and even walked on water.  What conclusion had they drawn?

It is Peter who becomes the spokesman for all of the disciples:

“You are the Messiah.”

The Messiah, i.e.,  the Anointed One, was the long anticipated Son of David who would usher in the Golden Age of the Lord, and restore Israel — at least in conventional understanding.

But Jesus does here in Mark’s Gospel what he does with the demons who identify him as the Messiah:

he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

This is not to suggest that Peter was wrong.  On the contrary, he was exactly right!  Jesus is the Messiah!  But a) this was premature and b) Jesus seems to want to control the narrative about what it means for him to be Messiah.

This is why he explains very clearly for the first time what is about to happen, and what it means to follow 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.

This was the essential kerygma or proclamation that would be given about his ministry in the early church.

But at this point, this explanation shocks and dismays his followers:

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Jesus had made his statement quite openly, for all to hear; Peter was trying to be “discreet” as he “corrected” his leader.

And Jesus doubles down on his announcement.  He sees the disciples watching nearby, and he publicly rebukes Peter:

“Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Peter has shifted from the one who recognizes the Messianic nature of Jesus to one representing Satan!  Quite a fall!

This is not at all the scenario that the disciples had been taught to expect about the Messiah. They were taught that the Messiah would come on a white horse, leading a mighty army, conquering the Romans and establishing a shining kingdom on earth.

But now Jesus makes clear that not only is he to suffer and die, but only those who were willing to suffer and die with him and for him could qualify as his disciples!  

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

The follower of Jesus is called to the way of self-denial and the cross.

And in one of the great paradoxes of the Gospel, Jesus says the way to gain one’s life is to lose it:

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?

And if those statements aren’t strong enough, Jesus makes clear that if anyone chooses to follow him, they must honor this teaching of sacrifice and the cross:  

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.”

APPLY:  

This would have to be one of the least favorite teachings of Jesus in today’s self-indulgent, self-centered culture, even among Christians.  We want to focus on the blessings and rewards of the Gospel.  And yet this teaching of self-denial, dying to self, and losing oneself is at the core of his message.

Sometimes we Christians have tried to “water down” Jesus’ teaching of self-denial and taking up our cross.  We rationalize that Jesus was speaking only to the elite — the disciples, the martyrs, and the monastics. But Jesus doesn’t leave that option open to us:  

He called the crowd with his disciples.

In other words, he gave the disciples and the crowd all the same message!

If this makes us uncomfortable, it should.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred for his opposition to the Nazi dogma of Hitler, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship:

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

We prefer to stick with the first two sections of this passage.  Like Peter, we want to proclaim our Orthodox, Biblical faith — that Jesus is the Messiah.  That is certainly doctrinally true. So far so good.

And we want to claim Jesus’ saving death and resurrection for our sake, which is the core of the Christian message.

But self-denial and dying to self means we must reorient our focus.  The orbit of our lives must no longer be around self, but around Christ.  His goals must become our goals.

The truth is, we do see this every day, if we’re paying attention.  A mother who sacrifices rest and leisure for her kids.  A dad who gives up the promotion that feeds his ego because it will require more time away from the family.  The firefighter who risks his life for others.

Jesus is telling us that real fulfillment in life is found not in grasping, keeping, clinging — but in letting go.  There is freedom there, and there is love there, and there is Christ-likeness there.

Ultimately, we keep nothing in this life.  Everything we have will be lost anyway — except the investment of ourselves in the Kingdom of God; and the only relationship that ultimately remains at the end is our relationship with God.

RESPOND: 

I am deeply challenged by this passage.  I am doctrinally orthodox.  I acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, the Divine Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Incarnate God-Man.

I have proclaimed my faith in him, and stake my hope for salvation in his life, death and resurrection.  That is at the core of the Christian Gospel as I understand it.

But do I live as one who practices self-denial, taking up my cross, losing myself for Christ’s sake?  I don’t understand this to mean practicing asceticism for the sake of “earning” God’s favor.  When I fast, for example, I do so for the sake of identifying with Christ and reminding myself of my dependence on him — not as a means of gaining his favor.  I understand that he already loves me and accepts me.

But there is something deeper.  It is this. I must realize that I am not at the center of the universe. I must learn to live for others, not for myself.

Do I do this?  Not consistently.  But I take seriously Paul’s declaration about following Christ:

I die every day! (1 Corinthians 15:31)

This is a daily decision.

I think we have to understand what Paul says there in context with Galatians 2:19-20:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And even Saint Paul recognizes that this is a process:

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own;  but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Our Lord, I acknowledge that you are the Messiah, and you are my Messiah; that you died for my sins, and were raised to give me new life. But following you, denying myself, dying to self?  That requires that I ask you to live in me and make this possible.  I can’t do it by myself.  I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Take Up Your Cross” by Godly Sheep is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for February 28, 2021

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 8:31-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

In this passage Jesus “takes the gloves off” and issues a clear call to discipleship.  Although in the previous chapters he has certainly stirred up controversy with the Pharisees by forgiving sin and healing on the Sabbath, much of his ministry has been a positive display of his power — healing, casting out demons, teaching the way of the kingdom of God, feeding the multitudes, even walking on water!

It might have been understandable if the disciples had concluded that they would all ride into Jerusalem on the shoulders of the crowds and Jesus would be crowned king.

Right before this passage in which Jesus addresses the reality of the cross he has asked the disciples the famous questions “Who do men say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?” Peter’s declaration that “You are the Christ” certainly seemed to fit all the data that he had observed.

But now Jesus will disclose the hard truth — that his role as Messiah is to be the Suffering Servant.  The only road to glory is through the cross.

His disclosure that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem is not welcome news.  Peter, the very one who “discovers” the Messianic nature of Jesus, is the one who rebukes him for saying such scandalous things.  And Jesus must sharply rebuke Peter for failing to see things from God’s perspective.  How that must have stung, to have been praised one moment for his insight, and compared to Satan in the next!

And Jesus isn’t finished.  If there is a cross for him, there is also a cross for his followers.  Note that this message of the cross isn’t merely for the “inner circle” of the twelve — Jesus calls the crowd to him as well, and shares with them:

Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

This is a difficult paradox, that in order to find life there must be death, and only those who lose their life will gain it. Yes, Jesus will come in glory with the holy angels, but only after following the way of the cross.

Becoming a disciple requires self-denial, taking up the cross and following Jesus — not only in the feasts and the glory, but to the death.

APPLY:  

What does self-denial, the cross, and following Jesus look like in the life of the Christian?  Before Martin Luther’s breakthrough with the doctrine of justification by faith, he thought it meant severe asceticism, hair shirts and self-flagellation with whips.  His discovery of God’s grace set him free from such works of the flesh.

Still, there is a demand that comes with the Gospel. Dietrich Bonhoeffer declared in his book The Cost of Discipleship:

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

The death required is a death to sin and self-preoccupation.  Self-denial doesn’t mean merely giving up some luxury (like chocolate) during Lent, but saying no to self-centeredness so that we may say yes to Christ.

Taking up the cross doesn’t mean putting up with some physical affliction, or some difficult situation that is a part of one’s normal life — like diabetes or a cranky family member that one has to tolerate.  Taking up one’s cross is a decision to do the hard thing that may be required in order to obey Christ.  It is a choice.

Following Jesus means not only focusing on the good stuff — the healings and the glory — but obeying even when it costs us something.

As Bonhoeffer said:

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

RESPOND: 

I confess I prefer self-indulgence to self-denial, comfort to the cross, and the Risen Christ to the Suffering Servant.

Oh, the meditation on the cross of Christ brings tears of grief and gratitude to my eyes, when I think of what my salvation cost Jesus.  But I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit that the thought of witnessing to a member of ISIS terrifies me; and reading about the hardships of a John Wesley or a Francis Asbury in spreading the Gospel in the face of stiff persecution or adversity make me realize how soft I really am!

Yes, I can fast on Wednesday and Friday; and visit the sick; and even occasionally go the extra mile for the transient or the homeless person who crosses my path. But if not for the sheer grace of Jesus Christ, I would be lost and pathetic.

I am now, and suspect will continue to be, a work in progress.  As my father used to say, “Please be patient.  God isn’t finished with me yet.”

Lord, I hear your clear call to self-denial, the cross, and what it means to follow you, and I confess that I am intimidated.  Dying to self doesn’t come easy.  I guess I will just have to admit that the only way that will happen is if you do it for me and in me.  And that is also a ministry of your grace.  Amen. 

 

PHOTOS:

“Take Up Your Cross” by Godly Sheep is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for September 16, 2018

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 8:27-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The reading under consideration is pivotal to understanding who Jesus is, what he intends to do, and what it means to be his follower.

Jesus returns to non-Jewish territory near Caesara Philippi, which is a Roman colony in modern day Syria east of Mt. Hermon.  We remember that he had ventured north into Gentile territory earlier when he led his disciples north near Tyre and Sidon (in modern day Lebanon), and then returned south to the Decapolis (the ten Greek cities east of Galilee), before returning to the region of Galilee.

Here, near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his critical question of the disciples:

“Who do people say that I am?”

He is asking about the  gossip and the rumors that the disciples have heard.  Predictably, the answers are diverse:

“John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

These are honorable answers — each would have been respectable. John the Baptist, of course had already been beheaded by Herod (Mark 6:14-29), but even Herod superstitiously believed that Jesus must be his nemesis come back to life!

The rumor that he might be Elijah might be taken more seriously.  The belief was current that Elijah would come as a forerunner of the Messiah near the end of the age (Malachi 4:4-5):

before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

This, by the way, ties in with the belief that John the Baptist had come in the spirit of Elijah.

The third rumor, that Jesus was one of the prophets, may simply be that he had come like the Hebrew prophets of old to proclaim the Word of the Lord for their time.

And then Jesus pivots his attention  to the disciples and makes it personal:

“But who do you say that I am?”

In other words, those at a distance might not have enough information to discern his true identity.  But the disciples had seen him up close as he preached the Good News, healed, exorcised demons, fed the five thousand, and even walked on water.  What conclusion had they drawn?

It is Peter who becomes the spokesmen for all of the disciples:

“You are the Messiah.”

The Messiah, i.e.,  the Anointed One, was the long anticipated Son of David who would usher in the Golden Age of the Lord, and restore Israel — at least in conventional understanding.

But Jesus does here in Mark’s Gospel what he does with the demons who identify him as the Messiah:

he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

This is not to suggest that Peter was wrong.  On the contrary, he was exactly right!  Jesus is the Messiah!  But a) this was premature and b) Jesus seems to want to control the narrative about what it means for him to be Messiah.

This is why he explains very clearly for the first time what is about to happen, and what it means to follow 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.

This was the essential kerygma or proclamation that would be given about his ministry in the early church.

But at this point, this explanation shocks and dismays his followers:

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Jesus had made his statement quite openly, for all to hear; Peter was trying to be “discreet” as he “corrected” his leader.

And Jesus doubles down on his announcement.  He sees the disciples watching nearby, and he publicly rebukes Peter:

“Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Peter has shifted from the one who recognizes the Messianic nature of Jesus to one representing Satan!  Quite a fall!

This is not at all the scenario that the disciples had been taught to expect about the Messiah.  They were taught that the Messiah would come on a white horse, leading a mighty army, conquering the Romans and establishing a shining kingdom on earth.

But now Jesus makes clear that not only is he to suffer and die, but only those who were willing to suffer and die with him and for him could qualify as his disciples!  

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

The follower of Jesus is called to the way of self-denial and the cross.

And in one of the great paradoxes of the Gospel, Jesus says the way to gain one’s life is to lose it:

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?

And if those statements aren’t strong enough, Jesus makes clear that if anyone chooses to follow him, they must honor this teaching of sacrifice and the cross:  

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.”

APPLY:  

This would have to be one of the least favorite teachings of Jesus in today’s self-indulgent, self-centered culture, even among Christians.  We want to focus on the blessings and rewards of the Gospel.  And yet this teaching of self-denial, dying to self, and losing oneself is at the core of his message.

Sometimes we Christians have tried to “water down” Jesus’ teaching of self-denial and taking up our cross.  We rationalize that Jesus was speaking only to the elite — the disciples, the martyrs, and the monastics.    But Jesus doesn’t leave that option  open to us:  

He called the crowd with his disciples.

In other words, he gave the disciples and the crowd all the same message!

If this makes us uncomfortable, it should.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred for his opposition to the Nazi dogma of Hitler, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship:

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

We prefer to stick with the first two sections of this passage.  Like Peter, we want to proclaim our Orthodox, Biblical faith — that Jesus is the Messiah.  That is certainly doctrinally true. So far so good.

And we want to claim Jesus’ saving death and resurrection for our sake, which is the core of the Christian message.

But self-denial and dying to self means we must reorient our focus.  The orbit of our lives must no longer be around self, but around Christ.  His goals must become our goals.

The truth is, we do see this every day, if we’re paying attention.  A mother who sacrifices rest and leisure for her kids.  A dad who gives up the promotion that feeds his ego because it will require more time away from the family.  The firefighter who risks his life for others.

Jesus is telling us that real fulfillment in life is found not in grasping, keeping, clinging — but in letting go.  There is freedom there, and there is love there, and there is Christ-likeness there.

Ultimately, we keep nothing in this life.  Everything we have will be lost anyway — except the investment of ourselves in the Kingdom of God; and the only relationship that ultimately remains at the end is our relationship with God.

RESPOND: 

I am deeply challenged by this passage.  I am doctrinally orthodox.  I acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, the Divine Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Incarnate God-Man.

I have proclaimed my faith in him, and stake my hope for salvation in his life, death and resurrection.  That is at the core of the Christian Gospel as I understand it.

But do I live as one who practices self-denial, taking up my cross, losing myself for Christ’s sake?  I don’t understand this to mean practicing asceticism for the sake of “earning” God’s favor.  When I fast, for example, I do so for the sake of identifying with Christ and reminding myself of my dependence on him — not as a means of gaining his favor.  I understand that he already loves me and accepts me.

But there is something deeper.  It is this: I must realize that I am not at the center of the universe; I must learn to live for others, not for myself.

Do I do this?  Not consistently.  But I take seriously Paul’s declaration about following Christ:

I die every day (1 Corinthians 15:31)!

This is a daily decision.

I think we have to understand what Paul says there in context with Galatians 2:19-20:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And even Saint Paul recognizes that this is a process:

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own;  but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Our Lord, I acknowledge that you are the Messiah, and you are my Messiah; that you died for my sins, and were raised to give me new life. But following you, denying myself, dying to self?  That requires that I ask you to live in me and make this possible.  I can’t do it by myself.  I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Take Up Your Cross” by Godly Sheep is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for September 13, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Mark 8:27-38

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The reading under consideration is pivotal to understanding who Jesus is, what he intends to do, and what it means to be his follower.

Jesus returns to non-Jewish territory near Caesara Philippi, which is a Roman colony in modern day Syria east of Mt. Hermon.  We remember that he had ventured north into Gentile territory earlier when he led his disciples north near Tyre and Sidon (in modern day Lebanon), and then returned south to the Decapolis (the ten Greek cities east of Galilee), before returning to the region of Galilee.

Here, near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his critical question of the disciples:“Who do people say that I am?”  He is asking about the  gossip and the rumors that the disciples have heard.  Predictably, the answers are diverse: “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

These are honorable answers — each would have been respectable. John the Baptist, of course had already been beheaded by Herod (Mark 6:14-29), but even Herod superstitiously believed that Jesus must be his nemesis come back to life!

The rumor that he might be Elijah might be taken more seriously.  The belief was current that Elijah would come as a forerunner of the Messiah near the end of the age (Malachi 4:4-5), before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. This, by the way, ties in with the belief that John the Baptist had come in the spirit of Elijah.

The third rumor, that Jesus was one of the prophets, may simply be that he had come like the Hebrew prophets of old to proclaim the Word of the Lord for their time.

And then Jesus pivots his attention  to the disciples and makes it personal: “But who do you say that I am?”  In other words, those at a distance might not have enough information to discern his true identity.  But the disciples had seen him up close as he preached the Good News, healed, exorcised demons, fed the five thousand, and even walked on water.  What conclusion had they drawn?

It is Peter who becomes the spokesmen for all of the disciples: “You are the Messiah.” The Messiah, i.e.,  the Anointed One, was the long anticipated Son of David who would usher in the Golden Age of the Lord, and restore Israel — at least in conventional understanding.

But Jesus does here in Mark’s Gospel what he does with the demons who identify him as the Messiah:  he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

This is not to suggest that Peter was wrong.  On the contrary, he was exactly right!  Jesus is the Messiah!  But a) this was premature and b) Jesus seems to want to control the narrative about what it means for him to be Messiah.

This is why he explains very clearly for the first time what is about to happen, and what it means to follow 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.  This was the essential kerygma or proclamation that would be given about his ministry in the early church.

But at this point, this explanation shocks and dismays his followers: Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Jesus had made his statement quite openly, for all to hear; Peter was trying to be “discreet” as he “corrected” his leader.

And Jesus doubles down on his announcement.  He sees the disciples watching nearby, and he publicly rebukes Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Peter has shifted from the one who recognizes the Messianic nature of Jesus to one representing Satan!  Quite a fall!

This is not at all the scenario that the disciples had been taught to expect about the Messiah.  They were taught that the Messiah would come on a white horse, leading a mighty army, conquering the Romans and establishing a shining kingdom on earth.

But now Jesus makes clear that not only is he to suffer and die, but only those who were willing to suffer and die with him and for him could qualify as his disciples!  “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 

The follower of Jesus is called to the way of self-denial and the cross.

And in one of the great paradoxes of the Gospel, Jesus says the way to gain one’s life is to lose it: 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?

And if those statements aren’t strong enough, Jesus makes clear that if anyone chooses to follow him, they must honor this teaching of sacrifice and the cross:  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.”

APPLY:  

This would have to be one of the least favorite teachings of Jesus in today’s self-indulgent, self-centered culture, even among Christians.  We want to focus on the blessings and rewards of the Gospel.  And yet this teaching of self-denial, dying to self, and losing oneself is at the core of his message.

Sometimes we Christians have tried to “water down” Jesus’ teaching of self-denial and taking up our cross.  We rationalize that Jesus was speaking only to the elite — the disciples, the martyrs, and the monastics.    But Jesus doesn’t leave that option  open to us:  He called the crowd with his disciples.  In other words, he gave the disciples and the crowd all the same message!

If this makes us uncomfortable, it should.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred for his opposition to the Nazi dogma of Hitler, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship:  When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

We prefer to stick with the first two sections of this passage.  Like Peter, we want to proclaim our Orthodox, Biblical faith — that Jesus is the Messiah.  That is certainly doctrinally true. So far so good.

And we want to claim Jesus’ saving death and resurrection for our sake, which is the core of the Christian message.

But self-denial and dying to self means we must reorient our focus.  The orbit of our lives must no longer be around self, but around Christ.  His goals must become our goals.

The truth is, we do see this every day, if we’re paying attention.  A mother who sacrifices rest and leisure for her kids.  A dad who gives up the promotion that feeds his ego because it will require more time away from the family.  The firefighter who risks his life for others.

Jesus is telling us that real fulfillment in life is found not in grasping, keeping, clinging — but in letting go.  There is freedom there, and there is love there, and there is Christ-likeness there.

Ultimately, we keep nothing in this life.  Everything we have will be lost anyway — except the investment of ourselves in the Kingdom of God; and the only relationship that ultimately remains at the end is our relationship with God.

RESPOND: 

I am deeply challenged by this passage.  I am doctrinally orthodox.  I acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, the Divine Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Incarnate God-Man.

I have proclaimed my faith in him, and stake my hope for salvation in his life, death and resurrection.  That is at the core of the Christian Gospel as I understand it.

But do I live as one who practices self-denial, taking up my cross, losing myself for Christ’s sake?  I don’t understand this to mean practicing asceticism for the sake of “earning” God’s favor.  When I fast, for example, I do so for the sake of identifying with Christ and reminding myself of my dependence on him — not as a means of gaining his favor.  I understand that he already loves me and accepts me.

But there is something deeper.  It is this: I must realize that I am not at the center of the universe; I must learn to live for others, not for myself.

Do I do this?  Not consistently.  But I take seriously Paul’s declaration about following Christ: I die every day (1 Corinthians 15:31)!  This is a daily decision.

I think we have to understand what Paul says there in context with Galatians 2:19-20: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And even Saint Paul recognizes that this is a process: Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own;  but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).

Our Lord, I acknowledge that you are the Messiah, and you are my Messiah; that you died for my sins, and were raised to give me new life. But following you, denying myself, dying to self?  That requires that I ask you to live in me and make this possible.  I can’t do it by myself.  I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Take Up Your Cross” by Godly Sheep is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.