It Comes with the Territory

Sermon

March 8, 2009

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.