John 12:20-33
There are a few accounts in the gospels that tell us Jesus came first to connect with the Jews and that Gentiles, or non-Jews, were not his concern until after his resurrection. For example, he told his disciples when he first sent them out two by two to go to their fellow Jews. Further, there’s that disturbing account when the Syrian woman asks Jesus to do something for her and Jesus says it is not right to cast pearls before the swine. Then she came back with, “Yes, master, but even the dogs get the crumbs from the master’s table.” After saying that, Jesus grants the woman’s request. I don’t want to get into what that story is about, only to say that the impression we get is that Jesus came first to minister to the Jews. And this helps us understand why Philip and Andrew act the way they do when a couple of Greeks approach them with a request to speak to Jesus.
These Greeks approached Philip with a request to speak to Jesus. For some reason, they were either unable or unwilling to go directly to Jesus himself. Philip didn’t say, “Of course, right this way.” Rather, his response was, “Wait here.” Philip went to find Andrew. “Andrew, there are some Gentiles that are wanting to speak to Jesus. What should we do?” Neither of them knowing what was appropriate, they go to Jesus to tell him there are some Gentiles over there that want to speak with him. When they pointed them out to Jesus and told him who they were and what they wanted, I can imagine the expression on Jesus’ face. It would have been a knowing look, a realization that the time for him to complete his earthly work was at hand. He knew that his crucifixion was on behalf of the whole world, and that his death and resurrection would draw all the nations to himself. Now, it was already starting.
Reflecting on his upcoming passion, suffering, abuse, crucifixion, prompted Jesus to share this paradox: “If you love your life, you will lose it, but if you hate your life in this world, you will keep it for eternal life.” What does this mean? Especially, what does it mean to hate your life in this world? Teenagers will scream it out, “I hate my life!” People who are miserable say, “I hate my life.” Surely, this is not what Jesus had in mind. He doesn’t want us to be miserable.
Jesus doesn’t seem to me like a person who was miserable, who hated his earthly life. He did know that his earthly life was something he had taken up of his own free will. He chose to be born and to walk this earth. And he chose to lay his life down by dying on the cross, and in the process, defeating the power of death. He truly died, and then took up life again in the resurrection. Jesus knew his life is eternal. And, like what we talked about last week, those who look on the cross in faith will be healed from the poison bite of the serpent, the sickness of sin, and have eternal life. And as Jesus did, so we are invited to do: to be willing to lay down our life, if called upon, knowing that we will keep it for eternal life. We know this because we have the hope of resurrection. As you know, Jesus had a tendency for hyperbole, saying things like, “If your arm causes you to sin, cut it off.” Obviously, he doesn’t mean physically cut off your arm. Just so, when Jesus says we are to hate our life in this world, he is inviting us to not be attached to our life on earth. Our time here is brief in comparison to eternity. There truly is more to life than this.
Yet, we are in love with our life on earth. And we don’t want to think about losing it, but will go to great lengths to protect our lives, especially our self-constructed islands of familiarity. It is a shock to us to hear words such as this:
Come, brothers and sisters, before the end, and let us look upon our clay, upon the infirmity and meanness of our nature. Let us see that man is dust, food for worms, and corruption; that our bones grow dry, and have no breath of life within them. Let us gaze on the tombs. Where is man’s glory? Where his outward beauty? Where is the eloquent tongue? All is dust and shadow. Why does man deceive himself and boast? Why does he trouble himself in vain? For he is earth, and soon to the earth he will return. Why does man not reflect that he is formed from clay, and cast out as rottenness and corruption? Yet though we are clay, why do we cling so closely to the earth? For if we are Christ’s kin, should we not run to Him, leaving all this mortal and fleeting life, and seeking the life incorruptible, which is Christ Himself, the illumination of our souls?
This is the issue that Christ lays before us. Where is your primary attachment? What is your primary concern? Is it to do your own thing, live your life, get all you can and protect all you got? Or is it to think nothing of what you want, or what you have, but rather have as your ultimate concern what God wants of you? Is your life driven by love of yourself or love of God? Who comes first? If our overarching concern is to do our own will, we can be assured that we will discover the vanity of this kind of life when we die, or are in the process of dying and realize we can’t do what we want. Our bodies won’t let us. Or, we can make of our life the overarching desire to run to Christ, to follow his example, to live out his teachings and do His will, sacrificing our own will for the purposes of God, seeking first the kingdom of God. Doing this, and we can be assured that all we need for a blessed life will be provided, and we have as our future reward the knowledge that we will stand in God’s presence as one who is known.
But, again, there is nothing easy about this. We live in a culture, a media-driven consumer culture, that barrages us with the message that it’s all about me, it’s my life, and I should live as I see fit. Further, it is natural to protect your life. Of course we want to avoid pain, suffering, and sacrifice. Jesus acknowledges as much. For as he thinks about the suffering he will soon endure, he says, “Now my soul is troubled.” The prospect of suffering, especially on behalf of people, some of whom hate you but most of whom don’t even know you exist, is naturally very disturbing. It is perfectly natural to want to protect yourself, defend yourself, perhaps even assert yourself. True humility, dying to self-will, of always trying to get your way or get some benefit in every situation, is very hard, an ongoing struggle.
Now when Jesus said, “My soul is troubled.” This did not mean Jesus was having second thoughts. His will and the Father’s will were one will. There is no doubt Jesus would do what His Father wants Him to do. Jesus says he made this comment for our benefit, so we can be comforted in knowing that although Jesus did what was needed, it troubled him. Jesus was not brimming with excitement and a big, goofy grin on his face when he realized his crucifixion was a matter of days away. Of course, he was troubled. But his feelings didn’t prevent Him from doing His Father’s will. We, then, can be encouraged to do what God’s will is for us in spite of the troubling of our souls, to submit to the will of God by an act of will, rather than by how we feel about it.
And this is true freedom, to love not based on feelings, or the drive to protect oneself, but a love for others that is sheer act of will, regardless of personal risk or one’s feelings at the moment. This is a high calling for us to strive toward.
However, we must beware of taking this to an extreme, where we damage our bodies, or our well-being. There is the problem of giving of yourself so much that you have nothing left to give, thus rendering yourself useless. Living for God and putting others’ needs before our own is sort of a false either/or. If we don’t take care of our own needs, or allow our needs to be cared for, then we can’t be helpful. This is an aspect of humility too. Rather than always helping other people, we need help ourselves. We also are needy. We have to allow ourselves to be the ones receiving help. We need to allow others to meet our needs, even as we meet the needs of others. This is what enables community life, mutuality, interdependence. We need each other. Humility calls for giving and receiving, of leading and being led, of helping and being helped, of sacrificing and of benefiting from the sacrifice of others.
Again, what does it mean to hate your life? One way to look at it is the relationship of teacher and disciple. You could say that you hate your own self-directed life in order to follow the life as directed by your teacher. You say to yourself, “My life was going nowhere until I fell in love with Jesus. And now my life has meaning and purpose and direction, because now I’m not chasing my dreams and fantasies but obediently following my Teacher, my Lord and Savior.” This is the kind of attitude that we can adopt for our lives. Paul criticized some people in Philipi by writing in Phil 2:21- “All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” John said it very clearly in one of his letters, 1 John 2:6- “Whoever says, ‘I live in Christ,’ ought to walk just as he walked.”
And so, whatever we do, we are to do it with the intention of serving Christ. This is the responsibility of all would identify themselves as Christians. Augustine said:
“Every one, therefore, is the servant of Christ in the same way as Christ also is a servant. And he that serves Christ in this way will be honored by His Father with the signal honor of being with His Son, and having nothing wanting to his happiness for ever. For even that noblest service of suffering has been rendered by many of your class; for many who were neither bishops nor clergy, but young men and virgins, those advanced in years with those who were not, many married persons both male and female, many fathers and mothers of families, have served Christ even to the laying down of their lives in martyrdom for His sake, and have been honored by the Father in receiving crowns of exceeding glory.”
We are to see all aspects of our life, our relationships and responsibilities and vows, within the context of being servants of Christ, with the assurance that in doing so, seeking to live out the will of God in every area of our life, that we will be honored by our Heavenly Father when we stand before Him.
There is one other benefit to dying to self and living for God. This is how we participate in the driving out of the ruler of this world, the devil. By choosing to follow Christ, as God gives us the grace to do so, we resist the devil, of whom Christ has already dethroned through the victory of the cross, that defeated the power of death and of hell. Because of what Christ accomplished on the cross, Satan, the ruler of this world, has been kicked off his throne and left out in the street. The devil, of course, is still with us. As Scripture says, Satan is like a lion, wandering about seeking who he may devour. If we were fortresses, the devil and his army of demons would be on the outside besieging the gates and trying to break in. He cannot enter unless we open our gate and let him in.
In our weakness, we do allow the devil in. But when we repent, the Holy Spirit is there to cast out the devil from our fortress again. And when the devil does wound us, with one of his fiery arrows, we have an Advocate who prays for us, a Great Physician that can heal our wounds and restore us to health. So we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We pray this because, on our own, we are too weak. We need to rely on God to help us against the onslaught of Satan, as it says in Ps. 127:1, “Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.”
But this is the good news for us. The power of Satan has been defeated. The ruler of this world has been dethroned. We can be ruled by God’s will and no longer must serve our self-will that has been corrupted by the devil. Since Adam and Eve, our self-will has been our weakness. We didn’t have a chance. Now, by God’s grace, we do.
Let this be our prayer, this prayer written many centuries ago:
“Christ is risen, releasing from bondage Adam the first-formed man and destroying the power of hell. Be of good courage, for death is slain and hell despoiled; the crucified and risen Christ is King. He has given incorruption to our flesh; He raises us and grants us resurrection, and He counts worthy of His joy and glory all who, with a faith that wavers not, have trusted fervently in Him.”
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Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Step Into the Light
John 3:14-21
Have any of you been snake bitten before? How about a spider bite? Bee sting or wasp sting? Those hurt, don’t they. The sting is painful enough, but as the venom starts working it’s way through your body, the pain gets worse and worse. And, as you know, for some, the body reacts to these stings and bites in such a harmful way that one could even die if medical attention isn’t forthcoming. Again, it’s not so much the sting itself that causes harm, but the poison that spreads through your body that hurts so much.
I mention this as a way to get to a powerful way sin is portrayed in scripture, as well as the remedy for sin, which we have for us today. Jesus compares his saving work for all humanity to when Moses lifts up a bronze serpent in the desert. Sin and the effects of a snake bite go hand in hand. Sin is more than doing something bad. Sin is more like a poison that lingers and causes great harm if the antidote is not applied. Sin is sort of like being snake bit.
Listen to the story that Jesus is referring to in this conversation he has with Nicodemus. It is in Numbers 21:4-9:
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
It is clear how Jesus takes this event in the history of Israel and shows that it is a symbol of what is happening when Jesus is raised up on the cross. The serpent, which was causing the people harm, when lifted up and gazed upon in faith, brings healing. Just so, Jesus, who took on the sin of all the world, when lifted up on the cross and is gazed upon with faith, brings healing to those who are dying from the poison of sin. It is a vivid image for us, and inspires us to turn again to Christ, to dare to look at him on the cross, the Lord of life sacrificing his life on the cross so that everyone who looks on him in faith might not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the good news of the gospel, that we can be healed from the corrupting poison of sin in our lives by looking upon Jesus and believing that he is like the bronze serpent in the desert that brings healing to those who look on him in faith. Those who refuse to look upon Christ are hurting themselves. They hurt themselves by refusing to stand in the light of truth, look upon the crucified Christ, and live.
So many people refuse to do this. So many people refuse to acknowledge the depth of their sickness, and their need for healing. Or, they believe that if they just try harder, that somehow they will be able to make everything right. Many of you are familiar with the 12 step recovery program for those trapped in addiction. It is the teaching of this program that the first step toward recovery is acknowledging your need for help; that you are powerless to help yourself. Many people will acknowledge their lives are not as they should be. They know they need to change their life. But they will not admit their helplessness. This is the hardest thing, which we have to rediscover as we go through different stages of our life, that we don’t have the answers, that we don’t have the strength necessary, that we can’t make it on our own, that we need help. The first step toward healing, from addiction, from sin, is to acknowledge one’s complete powerlessness and need for help.
What scripture teaches us this morning is that those who acknowledge their powerlessness over the effects of sin, and allow themselves the vulnerability and humility of standing in the glaring light of God’s truth, to not trust in their own goodness but trust in Christ with faith, these receive the blessing of God and become healed from the poison of sin. This is the crucial step that so many people miss. John Wesley speaks of the “almost Christian.” It is one who believes that Jesus saves us from sin. They assent to it mentally. Or, caught up in the passion of the moment, they come forward and pray the sinner’s prayer. But they still refuse to acknowledge the truth of their lives, how completely poisoned and corrupt our lives are by sin. The poison of sin is so strong, to the extent that we have to turn again and again to Christ, allow the light of God’s truth to shine ever more fully into the dark corners of our lives to have the truth of our deeds exposed, so that we can humbly plead again for the mercy of God. This is the ongoing act of salvation that we live in to. Our life in Christ is one of being saved. It is a process.
It is hard to submit ourselves to the glaring light of God’s truth, especially when we are living a good life. Think of Job, who was without question a man of great piety. God was even bragging on him. But when the time of testing came, Job increasingly grew angry with God. It revealed in Job the sin of pride. He could not understand why God had done this to him. He did not deserve it. He argued with God about it and demanded of God a defense. Then, God finally answers by blowing Job away with his arrogance and presumptuousness. God impresses upon Job how insignificant he is in the great scheme of things. The light of God’s truth shines brightly on Job, and instead of being defensive or hiding from God’s truth, he makes a statement of contrition. From Job 42:1-6:
Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Dorotheus, a wise teacher from the past, taught from experience that the closer we draw to God, the more evident it becomes to us of how sinful we truly are. Nearly all of us live with blinders on, content in our self-delusions, even those of us who have given our lives to Christ. Like Job, so it is for us, that although we have heard the gospel and have responded to it positively, how many of us have seen God? And if we did, would we not realize that all our falsehoods would drop, and we, like Job, would find ourselves in need to despise ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes? When we look upon Christ, who is God in the flesh, suffering and dying on a cross, drawing out the poison of sin that has corrupted all of creation, are we not pierced to the heart, humbled, and find ourselves letting go of the façade of having ourselves all together, but rather in desperate need of healing?
This is what is involved in allowing the light of God’s truth to shine upon us. It is the painful acknowledgement of our complete infatuation with our own self-image. I think I am like many of us, to truly be confronted with my false-self, the delusions I have constructed in order to cope with my insecurities and live out my fantasies. That’s too painful, too brutally honest, too raw. Yes, I believe in Jesus. I trust Christ for my salvation. But when the searchlight of God’s truth gets flipped on, I join Adam and Eve and run for cover. Am I the only one here for whom this is the case? How many of us, with complete honesty, say to God what the psalmist said, in Ps. 26:2, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind.” How many of us request that test?
For many of us, me included, we have to go beyond believing in the name of Jesus. We have to trust completely in the power of Jesus to save us. We have to move beyond believing about Jesus, but rather believe in Jesus. We have to trust not in our own goodness, our own motives, our own will, our own desires, our own feelings, but rather trust in the mercy of God expressed in the unconditional love of Jesus, who suffered and died in order to redeem the whole of creation by drawing out the poison of sin.
This story Jesus teaches should haunt us, when he tells of how people will come to him saying, “We healed in your name, and cast out demons in your name.” But Jesus will say to them, go away from me, for I do not know you. Their fault lay in what they said. They said “we healed, we cast out the demons, in your name, of course.” Rather, we should be like Paul, who said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul did not trust his motives, his power, his strength, his moral effort, his emotions. He relied on the strength of Christ. Paul had allowed the truth of God to shine on him and reveal his complete bankruptcy and total dependency on the grace and power of God to do any good thing. The poison of sin is so great. Or, as John Wesley taught, any good we do is made possible by the grace of God.
And so, this is the good news for us: that we can’t save ourselves. But God can save us. God loves us so much. God has acted. God has saved us. God has provided the remedy for the poison sting of sin that is killing us. We can look upon the cross and be healed, and believe that by looking on the cross, and trusting in the healing power of the cross, that we will have eternal life. The poison of sin is drawn out of us when we gaze upon the cross. This is the mystery of our faith. We don’t know how it works. It is what God has revealed to us. We can receive this healing and be thankful. We can trust in the saving power of God to such a degree that we can allow the truth of our lives to be in the glaring spotlight, and be able to say, “Do not look on my many sins, but have mercy on me, O God, in your loving compassion, and save me.”
That’s a scary thing. It’s scary to acknowledge that we are hopelessly messed up. It’s scary to confront the painful truth of ourselves. It is scary to acknowledge that our lives, which may last seventy, eighty, even ninety years or longer, are but a puff of wind, a flower that blossoms during the day, but dries up and withers away at night. It is scary to acknowledge that all our hopes and dreams, our successes and disappointments, our goals and plans, are but a flash in a pan. And the years of pain, rejection, and abuse we have been inflicted with, and the wearing out of our bodies over time, to face our mortality, it is a fearful thing.
Sarah Foulger offers a powerful perspective on this. She points out how interesting it is that God has Moses make a bronze serpent, that which the people feared most. The people did not want to see snakes. They were frightening and the source of so much death. But, if they could muster up the courage to gaze upon what they feared, the snake, then they would be healed. If they could confront their fear, and realize that the power of God can overcome what they fear, then they will be healed.
Foulger makes the connection for us. We fear rejection. Christ was rejected. We fear pain. Christ suffered. We fear being abused. Christ was abused. We fear death. Christ died. And as we gaze upon Christ on the cross, we can realize that our fears of abuse, pain, suffering, rejection, even death, can be overcome because we can know that God does not condemn us. God does not condemn us, He loves us. God does not reject us, He forgives us and claims us as His own, by His own choice. We come to realize that God’s love is so steadfast that nothing but our own choice can separate us from God’s love. We begin to discover that the poison of abuse, suffering, rejection, and death, has lost its sting in Christ who conquers, and that we need not fear anything, for perfect love casts out all fear. And to live without fear is to live an abundant life.
This is the gospel. We can stand in the glaring spotlight of God’s truth, and allow our life, our thoughts, our deeds be tried by God. And we can be assured that they will be found wanting. Yet, God loves us anyway, for He knows of what we are made. He knows we are but dust. We can be assured that God still loves us, in spite of our many shortcomings; because God loves us, not because of our purity, but because of God’s mercy.
I invite you to pray this psalm with me. Psalm 62:
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
From him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My fortress; I shall never be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
My mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Those of low estate are but a breath,
Those of high estate are a delusion;
In the balances they go up;
They are together lighter than a breath.
Put no confidence in extortion,
And set no vain hopes on robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
Once God has spoken;
Twice have I heard this:
That power belongs to God,
And steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay to all according to their work.
Have any of you been snake bitten before? How about a spider bite? Bee sting or wasp sting? Those hurt, don’t they. The sting is painful enough, but as the venom starts working it’s way through your body, the pain gets worse and worse. And, as you know, for some, the body reacts to these stings and bites in such a harmful way that one could even die if medical attention isn’t forthcoming. Again, it’s not so much the sting itself that causes harm, but the poison that spreads through your body that hurts so much.
I mention this as a way to get to a powerful way sin is portrayed in scripture, as well as the remedy for sin, which we have for us today. Jesus compares his saving work for all humanity to when Moses lifts up a bronze serpent in the desert. Sin and the effects of a snake bite go hand in hand. Sin is more than doing something bad. Sin is more like a poison that lingers and causes great harm if the antidote is not applied. Sin is sort of like being snake bit.
Listen to the story that Jesus is referring to in this conversation he has with Nicodemus. It is in Numbers 21:4-9:
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
It is clear how Jesus takes this event in the history of Israel and shows that it is a symbol of what is happening when Jesus is raised up on the cross. The serpent, which was causing the people harm, when lifted up and gazed upon in faith, brings healing. Just so, Jesus, who took on the sin of all the world, when lifted up on the cross and is gazed upon with faith, brings healing to those who are dying from the poison of sin. It is a vivid image for us, and inspires us to turn again to Christ, to dare to look at him on the cross, the Lord of life sacrificing his life on the cross so that everyone who looks on him in faith might not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the good news of the gospel, that we can be healed from the corrupting poison of sin in our lives by looking upon Jesus and believing that he is like the bronze serpent in the desert that brings healing to those who look on him in faith. Those who refuse to look upon Christ are hurting themselves. They hurt themselves by refusing to stand in the light of truth, look upon the crucified Christ, and live.
So many people refuse to do this. So many people refuse to acknowledge the depth of their sickness, and their need for healing. Or, they believe that if they just try harder, that somehow they will be able to make everything right. Many of you are familiar with the 12 step recovery program for those trapped in addiction. It is the teaching of this program that the first step toward recovery is acknowledging your need for help; that you are powerless to help yourself. Many people will acknowledge their lives are not as they should be. They know they need to change their life. But they will not admit their helplessness. This is the hardest thing, which we have to rediscover as we go through different stages of our life, that we don’t have the answers, that we don’t have the strength necessary, that we can’t make it on our own, that we need help. The first step toward healing, from addiction, from sin, is to acknowledge one’s complete powerlessness and need for help.
What scripture teaches us this morning is that those who acknowledge their powerlessness over the effects of sin, and allow themselves the vulnerability and humility of standing in the glaring light of God’s truth, to not trust in their own goodness but trust in Christ with faith, these receive the blessing of God and become healed from the poison of sin. This is the crucial step that so many people miss. John Wesley speaks of the “almost Christian.” It is one who believes that Jesus saves us from sin. They assent to it mentally. Or, caught up in the passion of the moment, they come forward and pray the sinner’s prayer. But they still refuse to acknowledge the truth of their lives, how completely poisoned and corrupt our lives are by sin. The poison of sin is so strong, to the extent that we have to turn again and again to Christ, allow the light of God’s truth to shine ever more fully into the dark corners of our lives to have the truth of our deeds exposed, so that we can humbly plead again for the mercy of God. This is the ongoing act of salvation that we live in to. Our life in Christ is one of being saved. It is a process.
It is hard to submit ourselves to the glaring light of God’s truth, especially when we are living a good life. Think of Job, who was without question a man of great piety. God was even bragging on him. But when the time of testing came, Job increasingly grew angry with God. It revealed in Job the sin of pride. He could not understand why God had done this to him. He did not deserve it. He argued with God about it and demanded of God a defense. Then, God finally answers by blowing Job away with his arrogance and presumptuousness. God impresses upon Job how insignificant he is in the great scheme of things. The light of God’s truth shines brightly on Job, and instead of being defensive or hiding from God’s truth, he makes a statement of contrition. From Job 42:1-6:
Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Dorotheus, a wise teacher from the past, taught from experience that the closer we draw to God, the more evident it becomes to us of how sinful we truly are. Nearly all of us live with blinders on, content in our self-delusions, even those of us who have given our lives to Christ. Like Job, so it is for us, that although we have heard the gospel and have responded to it positively, how many of us have seen God? And if we did, would we not realize that all our falsehoods would drop, and we, like Job, would find ourselves in need to despise ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes? When we look upon Christ, who is God in the flesh, suffering and dying on a cross, drawing out the poison of sin that has corrupted all of creation, are we not pierced to the heart, humbled, and find ourselves letting go of the façade of having ourselves all together, but rather in desperate need of healing?
This is what is involved in allowing the light of God’s truth to shine upon us. It is the painful acknowledgement of our complete infatuation with our own self-image. I think I am like many of us, to truly be confronted with my false-self, the delusions I have constructed in order to cope with my insecurities and live out my fantasies. That’s too painful, too brutally honest, too raw. Yes, I believe in Jesus. I trust Christ for my salvation. But when the searchlight of God’s truth gets flipped on, I join Adam and Eve and run for cover. Am I the only one here for whom this is the case? How many of us, with complete honesty, say to God what the psalmist said, in Ps. 26:2, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind.” How many of us request that test?
For many of us, me included, we have to go beyond believing in the name of Jesus. We have to trust completely in the power of Jesus to save us. We have to move beyond believing about Jesus, but rather believe in Jesus. We have to trust not in our own goodness, our own motives, our own will, our own desires, our own feelings, but rather trust in the mercy of God expressed in the unconditional love of Jesus, who suffered and died in order to redeem the whole of creation by drawing out the poison of sin.
This story Jesus teaches should haunt us, when he tells of how people will come to him saying, “We healed in your name, and cast out demons in your name.” But Jesus will say to them, go away from me, for I do not know you. Their fault lay in what they said. They said “we healed, we cast out the demons, in your name, of course.” Rather, we should be like Paul, who said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul did not trust his motives, his power, his strength, his moral effort, his emotions. He relied on the strength of Christ. Paul had allowed the truth of God to shine on him and reveal his complete bankruptcy and total dependency on the grace and power of God to do any good thing. The poison of sin is so great. Or, as John Wesley taught, any good we do is made possible by the grace of God.
And so, this is the good news for us: that we can’t save ourselves. But God can save us. God loves us so much. God has acted. God has saved us. God has provided the remedy for the poison sting of sin that is killing us. We can look upon the cross and be healed, and believe that by looking on the cross, and trusting in the healing power of the cross, that we will have eternal life. The poison of sin is drawn out of us when we gaze upon the cross. This is the mystery of our faith. We don’t know how it works. It is what God has revealed to us. We can receive this healing and be thankful. We can trust in the saving power of God to such a degree that we can allow the truth of our lives to be in the glaring spotlight, and be able to say, “Do not look on my many sins, but have mercy on me, O God, in your loving compassion, and save me.”
That’s a scary thing. It’s scary to acknowledge that we are hopelessly messed up. It’s scary to confront the painful truth of ourselves. It is scary to acknowledge that our lives, which may last seventy, eighty, even ninety years or longer, are but a puff of wind, a flower that blossoms during the day, but dries up and withers away at night. It is scary to acknowledge that all our hopes and dreams, our successes and disappointments, our goals and plans, are but a flash in a pan. And the years of pain, rejection, and abuse we have been inflicted with, and the wearing out of our bodies over time, to face our mortality, it is a fearful thing.
Sarah Foulger offers a powerful perspective on this. She points out how interesting it is that God has Moses make a bronze serpent, that which the people feared most. The people did not want to see snakes. They were frightening and the source of so much death. But, if they could muster up the courage to gaze upon what they feared, the snake, then they would be healed. If they could confront their fear, and realize that the power of God can overcome what they fear, then they will be healed.
Foulger makes the connection for us. We fear rejection. Christ was rejected. We fear pain. Christ suffered. We fear being abused. Christ was abused. We fear death. Christ died. And as we gaze upon Christ on the cross, we can realize that our fears of abuse, pain, suffering, rejection, even death, can be overcome because we can know that God does not condemn us. God does not condemn us, He loves us. God does not reject us, He forgives us and claims us as His own, by His own choice. We come to realize that God’s love is so steadfast that nothing but our own choice can separate us from God’s love. We begin to discover that the poison of abuse, suffering, rejection, and death, has lost its sting in Christ who conquers, and that we need not fear anything, for perfect love casts out all fear. And to live without fear is to live an abundant life.
This is the gospel. We can stand in the glaring spotlight of God’s truth, and allow our life, our thoughts, our deeds be tried by God. And we can be assured that they will be found wanting. Yet, God loves us anyway, for He knows of what we are made. He knows we are but dust. We can be assured that God still loves us, in spite of our many shortcomings; because God loves us, not because of our purity, but because of God’s mercy.
I invite you to pray this psalm with me. Psalm 62:
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
From him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My fortress; I shall never be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
My mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Those of low estate are but a breath,
Those of high estate are a delusion;
In the balances they go up;
They are together lighter than a breath.
Put no confidence in extortion,
And set no vain hopes on robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
Once God has spoken;
Twice have I heard this:
That power belongs to God,
And steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay to all according to their work.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
amazing words
I was listening to Ancient Faith Radio (ancientfaith.com) and heard these words from St. Silouan that blew me away. Read this and be inspired! http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/willofgod.aspx
The best thing of all is to surrender to God's will and bear affliction having confidence in God. The Lord, seeing our affliction, will never give us too much to bear. If we seem to ourselves to be greatly afflicted, it means that we have not surrendered to the will of God.
The soul that is in all things devoted to the will of God rests quiet in Him, for she knows of experience and from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord loves us much and watches over our souls, quickening all things by His grace in peace and love.
Nothing troubles the man who is given over to the will of God, be it illness, poverty or persecution. He knows that the Lord in His mercy is solicitous for us. The Holy Spirit, whom the soul knows, is witness therefore. But the proud and the self-willed do not want to surrender to God's will because they like their own way, and that is harmful for the soul.
The best thing of all is to surrender to God's will and bear affliction having confidence in God. The Lord, seeing our affliction, will never give us too much to bear. If we seem to ourselves to be greatly afflicted, it means that we have not surrendered to the will of God.
The soul that is in all things devoted to the will of God rests quiet in Him, for she knows of experience and from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord loves us much and watches over our souls, quickening all things by His grace in peace and love.
Nothing troubles the man who is given over to the will of God, be it illness, poverty or persecution. He knows that the Lord in His mercy is solicitous for us. The Holy Spirit, whom the soul knows, is witness therefore. But the proud and the self-willed do not want to surrender to God's will because they like their own way, and that is harmful for the soul.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
recommendation
I stumbled upon this blog of a classmate of mine in seminary. Jan Richardson is an accomplished artist. I just came across her blog this morning, but my first impression was very strong. Check it out. http://paintedprayerbook.com/
Monday, March 16, 2009
Clean it Up
Sermon
Mar. 15, 2009
Third Sunday in Lent – Year B
John 2:13-22
On the surface, the story read for us this morning is about Jesus chasing merchants and moneychangers out of the temple and, when questioned as to why he thought he could do this, makes a cloaked prediction of his death and resurrection, which his disciples did not catch until after the fact.
The merchants and moneychangers were trying to provide a legitimate service. It was the time before the Passover and animal sacrifices had to be offered. For many people, bringing their own animal along to sacrifice was too much trouble. So it was convenient to have priest-approved animals available for purchase. And the moneychangers had their job to do. All kinds of currency circulated through the empire, all of them stamped with the head of the emperor. This money would not be appropriate on the temple grounds, because of the graven image. That broke the first and second of the Ten Commandments. So, the money had to be changed into temple currency that would not have the head of the emperor stamped on it, for a small fee of course. So, this was all legitimate business, meeting specific religious needs of the people.
But this was holy ground, this temple. All of this activity could easily have been done at the market. The only reason it was going on at the temple was so that the priests could make sure they got their cut. For the priests, as well as for these merchants and moneychangers, Passover had become less about piety and more about profit. So Jesus had to send them out. He didn’t confiscate the money, or the animals, or set the birds free. The moneychangers were free to pick up the spilled money. The merchants could follow their animals to the market. Jesus told the merchants with the doves and pigeons to take them and go. Nothing wrong with the service they were providing. It’s just that it was taking place in an improper manner, and with the wrong spirit, an impure spirit.
However, we can go deeper into this story.
One way to go deeper is to remember who Jesus is. Remember, back at Christmas, we sing the song about Jesus being Emmanuel – God with us. Jesus is God. As Jesus says, “I and my Father are one.” And the Holy Spirit rests upon Jesus. So, just as the Temple is where the presence of God can be located for the Jews in Jesus’ day, so it is with Jesus. Where Jesus is, God is present. Jesus is the temple. He essentially says so himself when he tells his questioners, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days.” Obviously he is not talking about the bricks and mortar temple. He is talking about his physical body. His body is the temple in which the presence of God can be found. The body of Jesus is a temple.
And we can go deeper still. We, as Christians, are members of the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ. When two or three gather in his name, Jesus is present, which means God is in our midst. We, the church, the body of Christ, are a temple.
Further, as Paul teaches, our individual bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. When we are baptized, the Holy Spirit descends upon us and rests upon us. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. If we open the door, then he enters in and dwells in us, individually. Each of us, physically, are temples.
Holding on to this truth, that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, that Christ dwells within us, let’s recall what Passover is all about. The time in which the story read from scripture this morning takes place is a period of preparation before the Passover. Passover is when the Jews remember how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. The angel of death went through the land to kill the first born of every family in Egypt. But when the angel came to the house of a Jewish family, and blood from a lamb was found smeared on the doorpost, the angel would pass over the house, and the family inside the house would be safe.
Now in the days leading up to the Passover, no yeast was to be used in bread, just as God had instructed Israel, when it was time for them to leave Egypt, not to take time for bread to rise but to make their bread hurriedly. It became the practice among the Jews to do a little spring cleaning of their homes. Specifically, they were to get all the leaven out of their house. To sweep their house clean of old leaven. It was an opportunity to purify their homes. To start a new batch of dough.
As Jesus entered his Father’s house, he took the opportunity to do a little spring cleaning himself, not with a broom, but with a handful of small cords. He swept out the old leaven that was the moneymaking taking place inside his Father’s house. It was in the spirit of Passover that Jesus took this action of purifying his house.
This also is our time of purification, as we prepare ourselves for the celebration of our Passover, our deliverance from slavery to sin and death, the great celebration of Easter. Now is our time to sweep out the old leaven and put our houses in order, to make something new out of our life.
Since we are trying to follow Christ’s example, we should also share in his same zeal for his Father’s house. Our temple is the church. And we should protect the church, purify it, make sure the church is in order. We should love, honor, and care for the church, which is the body of Christ. Jesus refers to his church as the bride of Christ. So we should care about the church. We are the church. We are the bride of Christ. We should look out for one another and make sure we are about the Father’s business, to make sure that this house is a house of prayer. It’s certainly not a moneymaking venture! Far from it. We’re not in the black around here! But that’s another sermon. I did hear someone say that God has given us all the money that is needed to pay our bills and provide for all the ministry God has for us to do. The problem is that the money is in our pockets. But that’s another sermon.
Our first priority is to deal with our own individual impurity. What housecleaning do we need to take care of in this season of Lent, this season of preparation? This is what that prayer I shared last week from St. Ephraim of Syria is pointing us toward. Let me repeat the prayer: O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, meddling, lust for power, and idle chatter. Rather, grant me a spirit of soberness, humility, patience, and love. O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother; for blessed are You to the ages of ages. Amen.
This is what Lent is about. It is about focusing on the log in our own eye rather than the speck in our neighbor’s. It is about purifying ourselves from vice; to get rid of laziness, especially laziness regarding our relationship with God. We need to get rid of our tendency to meddle in other people’s business, of being a busybody or always striving to be “in the know” or get sucked in to the gossip that passes for news and entertainment in the media. We need to get rid of the need to assert ourselves and be in control all the time. We need to get rid of chattiness, which opens ourselves up to spreading gossip and talking behind the backs of others. Like we find in James 3, “The tongue is itself set on fire by hell. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” Or like this other saint said, “You fast from meat, but you devour your brother!” Our tongues need to be tamed. We need to rid ourselves of all this, so that we become more pure: body, mind, and soul. We are made in the image and likeness of God. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We need to purify our bodies.
But, let us not forget the story Jesus told of the man who had a demon cast out of him. He says in Matt. 12:
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but if finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.
The man was free from the demon. But then he failed to fill that void with good works and scripture reading and prayer. There was a void in his life. And the demon came back with seven other demons. And they filled the void the man had failed to fill, leaving him much worse off than before. So, we have to rid ourselves of our vices, but we also have to fill ourselves with virtues. And that’s what the second half of this prayer is about. We need for God to give us a spirit of soberness, which means to take life seriously, and to take others seriously. We need for God to give us a spirit of humility, to not be prideful, demanding of our rights, or feeling entitled. We need for God to give us a spirit of patience, because we know that being a Christian is hard, and there are a lot of setbacks and we fail all the time. We need to be patient with ourselves. And, we need from God a spirit of love, for God is love. This is why we are Christians in the first place: because we have been loved, and we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. So we need a spirit of love.
And that leads to the last line of the prayer: O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother and sister. Of course, we see the faults of others. That’s easy. This prayer does not ask God to prevent us from seeing the faults of others. That’s not realistic. In fact, it is necessary for us to be mindful of other’s faults. We have to look out for one another and hold each other accountable. No, we are to ask for God to help us not to condemn others. We can’t condemn others because we have faults of our own. And so, as Paul writes, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” When it comes to purifying the church, we all need to focus on our own troubles. It’s just like when scouts go camping, and you have to police the grounds. You know what that means? It means you line up and then walk across the campground, and whatever trash you see in front of you, you are responsible to pick up. And if everyone is diligent to pick up the trash in front of them, one walk across the campground and all the trash is picked up.
This is our task. We are preparing for Easter. It is time for us to look at our lives, what lies in front of us, and pick up our trash and dispose of it, and in the process leave behind a life that is clean and in good order. This is our challenge. And we all need a lot of trash bags, for we all have made a big mess of things. It will take more than one pass through the campground. In fact, the cleanup won’t end until we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” So, let us keep working at it. God will help us all along the way.
Mar. 15, 2009
Third Sunday in Lent – Year B
John 2:13-22
On the surface, the story read for us this morning is about Jesus chasing merchants and moneychangers out of the temple and, when questioned as to why he thought he could do this, makes a cloaked prediction of his death and resurrection, which his disciples did not catch until after the fact.
The merchants and moneychangers were trying to provide a legitimate service. It was the time before the Passover and animal sacrifices had to be offered. For many people, bringing their own animal along to sacrifice was too much trouble. So it was convenient to have priest-approved animals available for purchase. And the moneychangers had their job to do. All kinds of currency circulated through the empire, all of them stamped with the head of the emperor. This money would not be appropriate on the temple grounds, because of the graven image. That broke the first and second of the Ten Commandments. So, the money had to be changed into temple currency that would not have the head of the emperor stamped on it, for a small fee of course. So, this was all legitimate business, meeting specific religious needs of the people.
But this was holy ground, this temple. All of this activity could easily have been done at the market. The only reason it was going on at the temple was so that the priests could make sure they got their cut. For the priests, as well as for these merchants and moneychangers, Passover had become less about piety and more about profit. So Jesus had to send them out. He didn’t confiscate the money, or the animals, or set the birds free. The moneychangers were free to pick up the spilled money. The merchants could follow their animals to the market. Jesus told the merchants with the doves and pigeons to take them and go. Nothing wrong with the service they were providing. It’s just that it was taking place in an improper manner, and with the wrong spirit, an impure spirit.
However, we can go deeper into this story.
One way to go deeper is to remember who Jesus is. Remember, back at Christmas, we sing the song about Jesus being Emmanuel – God with us. Jesus is God. As Jesus says, “I and my Father are one.” And the Holy Spirit rests upon Jesus. So, just as the Temple is where the presence of God can be located for the Jews in Jesus’ day, so it is with Jesus. Where Jesus is, God is present. Jesus is the temple. He essentially says so himself when he tells his questioners, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days.” Obviously he is not talking about the bricks and mortar temple. He is talking about his physical body. His body is the temple in which the presence of God can be found. The body of Jesus is a temple.
And we can go deeper still. We, as Christians, are members of the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ. When two or three gather in his name, Jesus is present, which means God is in our midst. We, the church, the body of Christ, are a temple.
Further, as Paul teaches, our individual bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. When we are baptized, the Holy Spirit descends upon us and rests upon us. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. If we open the door, then he enters in and dwells in us, individually. Each of us, physically, are temples.
Holding on to this truth, that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, that Christ dwells within us, let’s recall what Passover is all about. The time in which the story read from scripture this morning takes place is a period of preparation before the Passover. Passover is when the Jews remember how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. The angel of death went through the land to kill the first born of every family in Egypt. But when the angel came to the house of a Jewish family, and blood from a lamb was found smeared on the doorpost, the angel would pass over the house, and the family inside the house would be safe.
Now in the days leading up to the Passover, no yeast was to be used in bread, just as God had instructed Israel, when it was time for them to leave Egypt, not to take time for bread to rise but to make their bread hurriedly. It became the practice among the Jews to do a little spring cleaning of their homes. Specifically, they were to get all the leaven out of their house. To sweep their house clean of old leaven. It was an opportunity to purify their homes. To start a new batch of dough.
As Jesus entered his Father’s house, he took the opportunity to do a little spring cleaning himself, not with a broom, but with a handful of small cords. He swept out the old leaven that was the moneymaking taking place inside his Father’s house. It was in the spirit of Passover that Jesus took this action of purifying his house.
This also is our time of purification, as we prepare ourselves for the celebration of our Passover, our deliverance from slavery to sin and death, the great celebration of Easter. Now is our time to sweep out the old leaven and put our houses in order, to make something new out of our life.
Since we are trying to follow Christ’s example, we should also share in his same zeal for his Father’s house. Our temple is the church. And we should protect the church, purify it, make sure the church is in order. We should love, honor, and care for the church, which is the body of Christ. Jesus refers to his church as the bride of Christ. So we should care about the church. We are the church. We are the bride of Christ. We should look out for one another and make sure we are about the Father’s business, to make sure that this house is a house of prayer. It’s certainly not a moneymaking venture! Far from it. We’re not in the black around here! But that’s another sermon. I did hear someone say that God has given us all the money that is needed to pay our bills and provide for all the ministry God has for us to do. The problem is that the money is in our pockets. But that’s another sermon.
Our first priority is to deal with our own individual impurity. What housecleaning do we need to take care of in this season of Lent, this season of preparation? This is what that prayer I shared last week from St. Ephraim of Syria is pointing us toward. Let me repeat the prayer: O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, meddling, lust for power, and idle chatter. Rather, grant me a spirit of soberness, humility, patience, and love. O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother; for blessed are You to the ages of ages. Amen.
This is what Lent is about. It is about focusing on the log in our own eye rather than the speck in our neighbor’s. It is about purifying ourselves from vice; to get rid of laziness, especially laziness regarding our relationship with God. We need to get rid of our tendency to meddle in other people’s business, of being a busybody or always striving to be “in the know” or get sucked in to the gossip that passes for news and entertainment in the media. We need to get rid of the need to assert ourselves and be in control all the time. We need to get rid of chattiness, which opens ourselves up to spreading gossip and talking behind the backs of others. Like we find in James 3, “The tongue is itself set on fire by hell. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” Or like this other saint said, “You fast from meat, but you devour your brother!” Our tongues need to be tamed. We need to rid ourselves of all this, so that we become more pure: body, mind, and soul. We are made in the image and likeness of God. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We need to purify our bodies.
But, let us not forget the story Jesus told of the man who had a demon cast out of him. He says in Matt. 12:
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but if finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.
The man was free from the demon. But then he failed to fill that void with good works and scripture reading and prayer. There was a void in his life. And the demon came back with seven other demons. And they filled the void the man had failed to fill, leaving him much worse off than before. So, we have to rid ourselves of our vices, but we also have to fill ourselves with virtues. And that’s what the second half of this prayer is about. We need for God to give us a spirit of soberness, which means to take life seriously, and to take others seriously. We need for God to give us a spirit of humility, to not be prideful, demanding of our rights, or feeling entitled. We need for God to give us a spirit of patience, because we know that being a Christian is hard, and there are a lot of setbacks and we fail all the time. We need to be patient with ourselves. And, we need from God a spirit of love, for God is love. This is why we are Christians in the first place: because we have been loved, and we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. So we need a spirit of love.
And that leads to the last line of the prayer: O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother and sister. Of course, we see the faults of others. That’s easy. This prayer does not ask God to prevent us from seeing the faults of others. That’s not realistic. In fact, it is necessary for us to be mindful of other’s faults. We have to look out for one another and hold each other accountable. No, we are to ask for God to help us not to condemn others. We can’t condemn others because we have faults of our own. And so, as Paul writes, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” When it comes to purifying the church, we all need to focus on our own troubles. It’s just like when scouts go camping, and you have to police the grounds. You know what that means? It means you line up and then walk across the campground, and whatever trash you see in front of you, you are responsible to pick up. And if everyone is diligent to pick up the trash in front of them, one walk across the campground and all the trash is picked up.
This is our task. We are preparing for Easter. It is time for us to look at our lives, what lies in front of us, and pick up our trash and dispose of it, and in the process leave behind a life that is clean and in good order. This is our challenge. And we all need a lot of trash bags, for we all have made a big mess of things. It will take more than one pass through the campground. In fact, the cleanup won’t end until we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” So, let us keep working at it. God will help us all along the way.
Friday, March 13, 2009
It Comes with the Territory
Sermon
Mark 8:31-38
“It Comes with the Territory”
Stanley Harakas wrote, “Lent is the time when we struggle to accept an unpalatable truth: growth toward victorious living comes through trial and sacrifice. There is no resurrection without the cross.”
To achieve anything in life, it takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Relationships take a lot of hard work and sacrifice. So does parenting. So does getting through school. So does, I observe, navigating through old age. So will getting through these tough economic times. Those moments where we get to celebrate milestones in our life: graduation, the last child out of the house, fifty years of marriage, are undergirded by a lot of trial, struggle, and sacrifice. It can’t be helped. It’s comes with the territory.
The disciples had gotten a good view of Jesus’ power. They had seen him heal people. They had seen him cast out demons. They had heard him preach and teach. They had seen the miracles, and the huge crowds. And they must have looked at each other and said, “We are the luckiest men on earth. Jesus is the messiah of God and we have the privilege of being his entourage. And not too worse for wear, either.” See, the disciples didn’t have to sacrifice too much. Essentially all they had done was leave behind their families and employers to wander through the land with a rabbi who, it seems, is the messiah, the long-for waited king, improbable it may seem. All things considered, these guys had gotten a big break. Their families and employers actually got the worst end of the deal. And the visions of what was possible for these disciples flooded their imaginations. Their self-confidence was building. Perhaps a feeling of elitism or entitlement began to creep in as they adjusted to the reality of their new-found fame and fortune. In comparison to what they had to sacrifice for the position they found themselves in . . . they were doing well for themselves without too much pain.
Then, Jesus threw cold water on them in a big way. He reminded them that victory does not come without sacrifice. No one achieves victory without making enemies along the way. No one fulfills their purpose in life without generating criticism. Suffering and rejection is part of life, even for the messiah. As for sacrifice, nothing less than death.
After having offered this bitter pill, and making sure every one heard the prediction Jesus gave that his life was going to get rough, in fact, that he was going to lose it, Peter had to pull him aside. We don’t know Peter’s motive. Motive is very hard to discern. Was Peter upset because Jesus was bursting his bubble? Did he have genuine concern for Jesus and was trying to encourage Jesus not to be so negative? We don’t know Peter’s motive. But we do know that Peter’s character was one of opening his mouth before he has thought everything through. Sometimes what he says is brilliant, like confessing that Jesus is the messiah. But most of the time, Peter reveals his ignorance. And this is one of those times.
Peter is a man who is clearly controlled by his feelings. Self-control and prudence are not his strong suits. He also has a tendency to be a bit presumptuous. How is it that the man who just confessed that Jesus is the messiah dares to pull him aside to rebuke him? Is that his place? Does he consider himself to be a peer with Jesus, or some advisor? Clearly, such considerations were not on Peter’s mind. All he heard was that the messiah said something that caused distress for Peter and so he gave a knee jerk response.
How surprised Peter must have been, and perhaps put off, even had his feelings hurt, that Jesus would respond to Peter’s rebuke, whatever his motive, by turning his back on Peter and saying, “Get behind me, Satan!” Peter and Jesus traded rebukes, and I am sure that Jesus’ rebuke packed more of a punch. Peter, once again, is called out for speaking before knowing what he was talking about. As Jesus put it, “You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Peter was only thinking about his limited situation, and his perception of things, rather than acknowledging that there is a much bigger plan unfolding that he just does not comprehend.
We can’t be too hard on Peter. He represents us well. Most of us respond to situations based on feelings and self-preservation. When presented with a situation that demands a response, our typical approach is along the line of: does this affect me? What’s in it for me? Will this hurt me or help me? Is it worth my time and effort? Does this fit in with my own personal agenda? This is our common approach to life: self-interest. After all, it’s your life. It’s all about the pursuit of happiness, individual liberty to pursue individual dreams. We teach our kids this and hold it up as a guiding principle: you can be whatever you want to be. This is the mind set in which we live as a society. It is a mindset that is set, not on divine things, but on human things, and individualized at that. Without question, we are a profoundly self-centered society. And we are willing to sacrifice a great deal, if that’s what it takes to achieve what we want. And if someone comes along and puts up a roadblock on our pursuit of happiness, our tendency, like Peter, is to react negatively, to pull aside and rebuke, or try to go around, or work to undermine, whatever it takes to get around this obstacle, this imposition, so we can continue on our pursuit of happiness. Jesus was providing an obstacle for Peter, who had his mind set on his own dreams, rather than God’s plans. His opposition to God earned him a stern rebuke.
Jesus took this episode as an opportunity to teach about human life, instruction on how we ought to live our lives. He did it by aiming a laser beam on our tendency to focus on our own self-interest rather than submit to God’s demands on us. It is a tendency that stretches back to Adam and Eve, who, rather than remain in submission to God’s command and live in harmony and peace, decided to put themselves first. Even if that meant disobeying God and breaking their relationship with God. Jesus aims directly at our sinfulness, our tendency toward self-centeredness and self-preservation, and says, “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 the sake of the gospel will save it.”
Let’s face it, nobody wants to submit to anybody. We may be willing to submit for a while. We will do what mom and dad say while we are living under their house, or hold the keys to the car. We’ll do what the teacher wants us to do so we can pass the class. We’ll listen to the boss and give her what she wants so that we can keep our job and maybe impress her enough for a promotion. If the perceived future benefit is more freedom, more personal control, more power, more wealth, then we are willing to submit. If it’s clear that failure to submit will lead to some painful consequences, if it might hurt us, then we are willing to submit, at least enough to get by. But when it comes to relationships that we tend to take for granted, our spouse, our family, our friends, our church, our heavenly Father, and what is demanded in the relationship threatens our own personal agendas, submission to the other becomes a problem. The boss has the leverage of firing you, so you will submit. The law has the leverage of throwing you in jail, so you will submit. The professor has the leverage of failing you, so you will submit. The one who loves you has the leverage of withholding connection with you, but if you don’t really need that other person, if they are holding you back from your own pursuit and desires . . . so what?
Jesus is making it clear to his followers that if they want to continue as his followers, they need to submit to God and deny their self-interest, their hopes and dreams, their individualized pursuits of happiness, their need to call the shots and direct their lives. Jesus is calling them to a life of submission. And this is the heart of the matter. We get to choose. Will I submit to my own agenda, my own vision for my life, my hopes and dreams, or will I submit to God’s righteousness and let God direct my life. Either path we choose will include a cross. Whether our life is self-directed or God-directed, it’s hard and has much sacrifice and generation of enemies. This cannot be escaped. What is really at issue is the end result. Where will you end up when it’s all over.
Herein lies a great irony. The most enlightened form of self-interest is self-denial. To truly live, to be all you can be, to achieve all you are meant to achieve, requires letting go of control over yourself. It requires submitting to God’s righteousness. By losing self-focus and being God-focused, we end up being our truest selves. And, as Christ promised, we have life, and that abundantly. Thus, the sacrifice, the trials, the criticism generated, the enemies made, all of this cross-bearing that is done for the sake of Christ is redeemed in the end if we forsake our own wants and desires, hopes and dreams, and instead diligently pursue God’s righteousness, conforming to the example of Christ.
There is a traditional prayer that is repeated frequently during Lent by many Christians that was written long ago by a Syrian named Ephraim. It goes like this:
O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, vain curiosity, lust for power, and idle talk. But give me Thy servant a spirit of soberness, humility, patience, and love. O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother: for blessed art Thou to the ages of ages. Amen.
This prayer gets at the heart of our life in Christ, and our ongoing struggle between two extremes, setting our minds on human things or divine things. To whom will we submit? Will it be what is easy for us or what is hard? Will it be what interests us at the moment or what interests God? Will it be to the pursuit of more power or the use of the power of the Holy Spirit? Will the goal be to say all the right things or do all the right things, regardless of the price that will be paid in doing it? Either way we go, there will be suffering. There will be sacrifice. But if we choose to suffer as a result of following Christ and submitting to God’s righteousness, the suffering can be redeemed. As Philip McLarty reminds us, “one of the costs of discipleship is the sacrifice of personal freedom.” But in the end, it truly is in our best interest to surrender control of our lives, our individual pursuits of happiness, and submit to God’s rule. Because when we do that, we discover what life is meant to be, we discover true freedom, true liberty, true happiness, not only in the afterlife, but here and now. Evidence of this is well documented through the pages of church history, and some of us have first-hand accounts.
Charles Everest wrote:
Take up thy cross, the Savior said,
If thou wouldst my disciple be
Deny thyself, the world forsake
And humbly follow after me
Take up thy cross and follow Christ
Nor think til death to lay it down
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown.
Let us dedicate ourselves, day by day, to submit anew to the way of Christ, to the rule of God, and deny our self-interest and self-preservation. And let us submit, not with a spirit of bitterness but with a calm assurance and humble trust in the One who created us, and loves us completely. Day by day, even now, let us deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Christ our Lord and God.
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