Present Mark 7-9 dramatically, by memory if possible.
The Price
Don’t you just hate it when the very thing you know you must do will cost you everything. Jesus certainly understands this. He lived his life on a collision course with a cross between two thieves. By the way, that’s the same course he’s calling everyone else to take too. Perhaps our “cross” will take a different shape, but a cross it must be. The cross is the price of glory, the price of following the Son of God.
Jesus begins to face more opposition as his ministry continues and the crowds that are attracted to him increase. Not everyone cheers for Jesus. His name and fame are not welcome among the powerful since his message challenges their social boundaries and clashes with their religious traditions. He is becoming a dangerous man. To his opponents, his influence must be either redirected or stopped. John the Baptist has already tasted the bitterness of death due to his faithfulness to God’s calling in his life. Now all eyes turn to Jesus, the one who came after John, but was before him… Jesus, the one for whom John’s ministry prepared the way; Jesus knows where he is going and why he has come. He knows, and he shares this with his disciples, but they simply can not absorb the words.
It is hard to accept that good news has enemies. It is hard to accept that those who bring us the best and highest gifts have those who hate them and wish them dead. Why can’t we all just get along? Why does it have to be so difficult? Why? I don’t know. But I know that Jesus has been down that road too. He cut the original path to glory! It is a path with a price to pay. A path for all who would walk it with him. And, get this, what looks like defeat, ends in victory! What looks like the end turns out to be a new beginning. What appears to be final death becomes eternal life. This is the promise. Only faith can motivate us to accept the price.
Just think about Jesus with me. What on earth is he doing here? Where’s the logic? Imagine God. He takes his only begotten Son. His beloved. And he sends him into enemy territory stripped of glory that would make him so obviously divine no one could deny it. No one is blown away by his appearance. In fact, God the Father puts the Son in the form of the poor and lowly and has him identify himself with the outcasts and sinners. God sends him to where he knows that he will face temptation, persecution, rejection and suffering. In fact, God plans for it to happen that way!!! And then this, God’s Son, speaks God’s will and works God’s wonders among a people that will arrest him and make up false charges against him and will not be satisfied until he is nailed to a cross to die. And then what will God do? Of all things! He will take all of the sins of all those sinful people, and, in fact, he will take the sins of all people everywhere and of all time… he will take all those sins and, get this, He will pin them all on the Son! Even as he dies on that cross! And then… then… God, the Father will punish the Son as if HE, THE BELOVED SON OF GOD had committed every one of those sins!
What on earth!!! Why on earth!!! (Pause) It is the price.
Thanks be to God, this is not the end of the story!
But we are not there yet. Jesus is just beginning to tell his disciples about this plan. At this point in Mark’s gospel Jesus begins to teach his disciples about these things. They can’t swallow it. Could you? This is a lesson we too must learn. Don’t rush past it. Don’t jump to the end. Just let Mark tell us and take the time he takes to lead us to where we know we are going with Jesus. Don’t cheat yourself here and miss the message of this moment. Jesus is on his way, but he has not arrived in Jerusalem yet. He hasn’t been betrayed yet. Wait with Mark. But know this as we go along here: Jesus didn’t just come to feed the hungry and heal the sick. Jesus didn’t just come here to impress the crowds with divine power over demons and darkness in men. He didn’t come just to pick fights with the Jewish authorities. Jesus didn’t come just to tell us about the kingdom; Jesus is the King of the kingdom! Jesus came here to lay the foundations and build the structures of the kingdom in the hearts and lives of men and women, me and you! Just look at what he’s doing. Jesus is uprooting, overthrowing, tearing down, and demolishing first, so that afterward he may build and plant the kingdom of God in us. This process will cost him more than we can imagine. It is a work of God. A work of love. A work of life that requires pure blood sacrifice to accomplish! It is a work that only Jesus can do for you, for me. We need to sit and let this message steep. We need to hold onto the moment we have here with the disciples who didn’t understand what on earth Jesus words about his death and rising could mean. Twice he has brought it up, but as Mark indicates, Jesus is teaching this to his disciples. It is time to begin to digest this part of the message. The part about the price. His payment. His arrest, suffering, trial and death… and after three days… his resurrection!
Everywhere Jesus goes, there we see God at work in him. Everywhere! Every word that Jesus speaks, we hear the voice of God in him. Every word!
We have walked with Jesus through many experiences and places now. Mark has led us through an action packed ministry demonstrating Jesus’ vast influence and power. But now, Jesus’ mood seems to have taken a turn. He has become more private with his disciples. His heart is to teach them of his Father’s plan to prepare them for the pain of the price he must pay. His words are carefully timed to give them hope when the hour comes and great assurance that what happens is God’s plan. But they just can’t hear it. They just can’t abide the terrible price!
Peter, poor Peter… in his mind he has much better plans than what Jesus describes when it comes to Jesus’ future. Jesus has them on the move to get time for just him and them, look at their travels. Jesus has been attempting to get away from the growing crowds. He has taken them as far as the region of Tyre, and still the people come, through Sidon to the Decapolus, and still the multitudes gather, to Dalmanutha, to Bethsaida, still they come, finally in Caesarea Philippi, he has his disciples alone and he begins to discuss his identity. Who do people say I am? The disciples’ answer reveals confusion and yet hope among the multitudes. Then Jesus asks the personal question: Who do you say that I am? Notice the silence. All of them seem to join in to tell what others are saying about Jesus, but when Jesus makes it personal one voice is all that is heard. Peter. And his answer is the one answer that represents what the rest hope for. Peters speaks the words, but he is not yet aware of the implications of his answer. He’s right! Peter says, “You are the Christ.” But he’s also wrong! His understanding of who the Christ is and what the Christ does are wrong. Jesus firmly told them to keep this answer to themselves.
It is as if Jesus says, “Ok, that’s the right answer, but now… here is what that answer means.”
Look again at Mark 8:27 And Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?" 28 And they told Him, saying, "John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets."
29 And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."
30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him.
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s."
Peter, Peter, Peter! What has gotten into you? Can’t you just trust that Jesus knows what he is talking about? But no! Peter knows what needs to happen to Jesus, and being killed isn’t part of Peter’s plan. Peter has better plans for God’s Christ than God does. Not that he was consciously thinking that, but that’s what Jesus heard and saw. Peter doesn’t just question Jesus about this, he actually took Jesus aside and rebuked him! Rebuked Jesus! Jesus response to Peter is the strongest rebuke he ever utters: “Get behind me Satan!” What are you thinking, Peter? God’s plans or your plans? Peter’s Christ never had to pay that price. Following Jesus for Peter was about victory and glory without the cross. Think about it, if Jesus path leads to the cross, and these disciples are following him, where does that mean they will end up?
What about us? Here we are looking at and listening to what happened so long ago. Isn’t it easy for us today to look at Mark and feel the distance? We are so in the know! We may even be glad of the space between us and those disciples who had to endure so much! Aren’t we glad that we live today when we don’t have to pay such a price! Even our Jesus has changed. Following Jesus today is much less expensive than it was then, isn’t it? Oh, there are church services to endure and contributions to make. There are good deeds to participate in from time to time. Some of our really active members even volunteer for the visitation ministry and make calls or send cards to those who miss services. Some even go to the hospitals to visit the sick. We even send a group on two week mission trips to Central America in the summer times! Certainly those who do this will receive their reward! And Jesus promises that they will.
But are we really so different and distant from those we meet in Mark? Perhaps in time and space, but is their a discount for discipleship today?
The road to glory is still a walk with Jesus, where ever it leads us. His path took him to the depths of death, even death on a cross. But the road doesn’t end at Calvary. That is where glory is born. The price of glory hasn’t changed a bit. It isn’t paid by us, but by him. But dare we to follow where his path will lead us?
