2nd Sunday of Lent, March 8, 2009 “Series B”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, as we move through this season of Lent, inspire us through the power of your Holy Spirit, to embrace anew your love for us, as revealed in the death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus the Christ. Give us the faith we need to be your disciples. Enable us to discern your Word, that it might transform us to embrace your will for our lives, and live in witness to your saving grace. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
I believe that in order to truly understand the context and dynamic of our Gospel lesson for this morning, it is important to include the three verses that immediately precede our text. Here Mark tells us, “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ [Jesus] asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.” And [Jesus] sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.”
This brings us to a rather strange question. If I might paraphrase Daniel Schowalter’s commentary on this prelude to our Gospel lesson, [New Proclamation, Fortress Press, 2005] Why all this secrecy about the identity of Jesus. Rather than encouraging this realization that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus ‘sternly’ orders his disciples not to tell anyone… If great numbers of people came to believe that Jesus was God’s Anointed One, and began to repent and follow him, how could that be a bad thing?
However, as Schowalter goes on to point out, although Peter has been persuaded from Jesus’ teachings and miracles that Jesus is from God, Peter fails to comprehend that Jesus ministry represents a different kind of Messiah than expected by the majority of Jews at that time.
For centuries, the Jews had prayed that God would raise up for them a new anointed one, a new king like David, who would lead the people, defeat the oppressors, and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. Although the enemies changed from Assyrians, to Babylonians, to Persians, to Macedonieans, to Hasmoneans, to Romans, their remained hope that God would provide Israel with a new king like David.
This becomes evident when we move into our lesson for this morning. As soon as Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus pleads with his disciples not to tell anyone his true identity, Jesus begins to explain to his disciples that he must suffer and die. And Mark tells us that he said this quite openly, as a matter of fact. Jesus says that he must undergo great suffering, be rejected by all of the religious leaders of Israel, be killed, and after three days, rise again.
And what is the first thing that Peter does, the one who had just identified Jesus to be the Messiah, God’s Anointed. Peter takes Jesus aside from the others and begins to rebuke Jesus. In other words, Peter begins to tell Jesus that he has got to be wrong. This business about suffering and rejection and dying is not the way that the Messiah is to conduct his ministry. You are going to become Israel’s new king, defeat the Romans, and establish peace. Listen to me, Jesus! You’re wrong.
This story just goes to show how deeply ingrained in the very being of the people of Israel, was their expectation of the Messiah being a new earthly king who would preserve them as a people and a nation. And so Jesus turned toward his other disciples, who were stunned, not only at what Peter had just said, but also bewildered by what Jesus had predicted, which led Jesus to rebuke Peter. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Yes, Jesus was the Messiah, God’s Anointed One! But he perceived his ministry and mission to proclaim the redeeming grace of God in a way that was far different than the expectations of the people. Jesus came to understand the role of God’s Messiah in terms of Isaiah’s prophecies of the “Suffering Servant,” who gave his life for others. This is what defined Jesus ministry, rather than the hope of reigning over a political or earthly kingdom.
If I might return to Dr. Schowalter’s commentary, he states, and I quote, “There is no more difficult passage in all of Scripture for modern believers to understand in the context of the first-century churches than this one. We are so used to the idea that Jesus is the Messiah, that Christ [the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah] has become [his] last name rather than a title. But in the earliest years following the death of Jesus, nothing is so certain… Would [the people of that day] adhere to the understanding of the Messiah that had sustained their ancestors for over a millennium, or would they accept this new vision of the Messiah, present by Jesus in Mark’s Gospel?” End quote.
This is the question that Jesus puts before us this morning. According to our text, Jesus then called to him the crowd that had gathered to hear him speak, along with his disciples and said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. Those who are ashamed of me and of my words… of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed… when he comes in the glory of the Father…”
Those are pretty powerful words! They are words that first confront us with the question of Jesus’ identity. Do we believe that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed Son of God? For if we acknowledge this to be true, dare we rebuke him, and assume to tell him that way he has chosen to fulfill his role of being God’s Messiah, is wrong?
This is not such an ancient question, mired in the expectations of Jesus’
day. As I look at some of the popular religious broadcasts on television these days, I hear a lot of preachers proclaim, “If you come to faith in Jesus, and believe him to be your Savior, your life will be blessed. But by “blessing,” many of these preachers indicate that we will receive, is an earthly blessing. We will be favored with good health, wealth, and security.
That sounds awfully similar to the expectation that Peter, and those of his day, held about what the Messiah would accomplish, does it not. But it makes these programs extremely popular. They are viewed by hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
And from what I have read about the huge growth of many congregations, the impetus for their growth seems to be centered in providing an entertaining environment, contemporary worship with bands and overhead pictures, all designed to help people feel good, and enjoy the service. It is akin, if I might again date myself with a really old illustration, like watching the “really big show” on Ed Sullivan.
But Jesus confronts us with a different message this morning. Yes, Jesus tells us that he will be the suffering servant, that he will accept the cross suffer death on the cross to atone for our sins. And then, after three days, rise again, that we might have hope in life beyond the grave. But Jesus doesn’t end his teaching with his own sacrifice – as if to say that because he suffered for us, we can expect to enjoy a carefree and easy life here on earth.
Rather, Jesus says to us, that if we want to be his followers, his disciples, we should not expect him to protect us from earthly traumas, but to take up our own cross, and follow him as a “suffering servant.” He calls us not to look for what we might gain from our faith in him, but to look for what our faith in him might give to others. He is asking us to embrace our faith in his victory over sin and death, and follow him, by offering our love in sacrifice for others.
This is not an easy road to follow, to emulate our Lord. And without the help of God’s Spirit, I doubt that any of us could truly follow him. But God’s Spirit has been given to us, and to many who have embrace Jesus to be the Messiah, the Suffering Servant of God, who gave his life, not only for our redemption, but as a call to live in relationship with God.
This past week, I have never been so proud of my wife, as she was passed over for a well-deserved promotion, because, as she was told, she was not aggressive enough. In order to succeed in this company, you sometimes have to step on people. Those who finally did receive the promotions, followed her advice. “I can’t do that,” Josie told her boss. It cost her the promotion.
I hope that God’s Spirit leads us all, during this time of Lent, to come to realize what it means to truly follow Christ, to pick up our cross and begin to follow him in faith and life. For Jesus is, not only the Messiah, but also the incarnate Word of God, who gave us an example of what it means to follow him as Children of God.
Amen.
