I preached this sermon at St. Paul's Sacramento on September 16, 2012.
Sunday closest to September 14
Proper 19B RCL
Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
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."
Who do you say that I am?
There are a lot of powerful images in out readings this
week. I could pick any of them and have
more than enough material for a sermon.
Of course the reading from James contains an admonition that would keep
almost any preacher or teacher from getting up in front of a group to teach or
to preach. What does he mean that the
preachers and teachers are held to a higher standard by God? Yikes.
Perhaps I should just go sit down now before I get into any more
trouble. But for better or worse I am
not stopping because the reading from Mark just reached out a grabbed me and I
need to say some things about it.
First it is helpful to put this reading into the context of
the whole of Mark. The reading today is
right in the middle of Marks Gospel and marks a turning point. Before this reading we have seen Jesus gather
up the disciples and do a number of wondrous healings and miracles. But there is nothing that would really point
to him being a messiah. Oh it is easy
for us to see it because we know the end of the story. But for those who were following him at the
time he was a great teacher, healer and one fine miracle worker. But everything changes today.
Jesus
and his disciples are in Caesarea Philippi, which is a very Roman City at the
time and once the limit of ancient
Israel's northward extension (Luther Seminary 2009). So here in the midst of a Roman City Jesus
pops the question. Who do you say that I
am? So far all we have heard is that the demons Jesus cast out identify him as
the Son of God. The disciples come up
with a reasonable laundry list given the healings and feedings that they have
witnessed and then we have Peter. Brash.
Wonderful Peter. Who blurts our “You are
the Christ”. Peter’s confession is
startling. And Jesus then does something
equally startling and for the first time details that he will suffer and
die. What! How can this be says Peter. After all the messiah is going to issue in a
new reign of the Jewish people. The long
awaited messiah is going to throw off the oppressive Roman occupation and lead
the Jewish people once again into a place of peace and prosperity. What do you mean Jesus is going to die
first. Jesus turns the expectations of
God’s Messiah on its head. As Dr.
Matthew Skinner from Luther Seminary said says “We can forgive
Peter if all of Jesus’ new talk about suffering, rejection, and death does not
sound right to him. Thus far he and Jesus’ other companions have heard the kingdom
of God announced and inaugurated only in victorious tones. In fact, they have
participated in the same liberating ministry, having been appointed to preach
and given authority over satanic forces and diseases (3:13-15; 6:7-13), just
like Jesus.” (Skinner 2003) When Peter objects Jesus tells Peter in no uncertain terms that
all Peter is worried about is the worldly aspects of a messiah and to get out
of the way. Jesus is going to turn the
worlds expectations upside down.
----------------------------
So who do we say that Jesus is today? Is Jesus the God of wealth and
prosperity? He is if you read any of the
“prosperity gospel authors.” Just pray
for that Rolls and it will come. Or is
Jesus the God of the self made man. OR
is Jesus the God and protector of our society to the exclusion of others? I don’t know about you but I don’t remember
any parables or teaching of Jesus where he said “Come on now – just pull
yourself up by the bootstraps. You don’t
need any help. Be a self made
person.” Nope. Jesus said to Love God and Love our
neighbors. Jesus said that when we are
able to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the prisoner we are taking
care of God. This is not what our
society expects.
If you have a strong stomach you can see some of the
societal views in the comment section of the on-line Sacramento Bee, or any
other paper. The commenters blame the
homeless and the immigrants for everything that they view as wrong with this
world. If you would believe what some of
the commenters say that the homeless are nothing but a bunch of lazy no-nothings. The homeless could live in a home if they only
worked as hard as they did. Really? Wow.
Whenever I read those comments I wonder what Shangri-La they think they
live in. When we have a society that
does not want to lend a hand to the down and out. When we have a health care system that will
bankrupt anyone without insurance. When
we have a society that believes that names don’t hurt –and believe me words can
kill - and that mental illness is an excuse.
It’s just not that easy. We can’t
blame societal ills on the people society has discarded. That is not what we are called to do. And that gets us to the part about being disciples.
Jesus
says that if we follow him we too have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and
follow him. It is easy to read this as a
call to personal denial. Dr. Skinner
said “denying oneself suggests a posture that does not easily find
models today within a culture that prefers jargon of self-actualization,
self-discovery, or self-potential” (Skinner 2003). Dr. Skinner goes on to say that in Jesus’
time that denying oneself and taking up your cross meant redefining self from
the way the dominant society would have you behave. “To take up a cross is to
recognize that the dominant currents of society stand opposed to one’s manner
of life and identity. It symbolizes the world’s denial of oneself.” (Skinner 2003, 329).
Seen in this light we should not be surprised that if we follow Jesus,
even today, we will be acting against a dominant society.
Our confession of Jesus as Messiah can
have a surprising effect on us. It can
turn us from an inward person to one who sees God’s hand in all of
creation. When we see God’s creation as
good how can we not treat everyone with respect? Just look at our Baptismal Covenant. When we are baptized or renew our baptism we
promise to take action. We are asked in
part: “Will you proclaim by word and
example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as
yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect
the dignity of every human being?” And
there is no asterisk that days “just the people who look like us” in our
baptismal promises! And our answer to
these questions is “I will, with God’s help.”
In our baptism we recognize that we are not promising to extend God’s
Reign on earth by ourselves. We are
promising as a community and with God’s help to turn society on its head.
Our promises will surprise us. They will lead us to follow Jesus, the
Christ. Not the Christ/Messiah that will
usher in a capitalistic society of me first and wealth. But a Christ who calls us to recognize the
good in all creation. To continue to
welcome all into God’s world. To work to
turn society on its head as we preach and work to usher in a community and
kingdom of love for all of creation. So. Just who do you personally, and who do we as
church say that Jesus is? And are we really willing to follow him?
Works Cited
Luther
Seminary. Preaching this Week. 12 20, 2009.
http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/20/2009 (accessed
09 15, 2012).
Skinner, Matthew L. "Denying Self, Bearing a Cross, and
Following Jesus: Unpacking the Imperatives of Mark 8:34." Word and
WOrld 23, no. 3 (2003): 324.
