Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” 34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For 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. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (NRSVA)
A god ought to be big enough to scare you! But many people hold in their mind’s eye the picture of a god they can handle. We want a small god who isn’t scary, but who keeps us healthy and wealthy; and it helps if this god is small enough to keep in a box.
Peter wanted that kind of god; he wanted a god he could understand – a god that fit his plans. Jesus wasn’t like that at all, and it troubled the big fisherman!
Let’s Set the Context of Our Text
FIRST – JESUS SHOWING US WHO HE IS
For months Jesus had been travelling the countryside feeding multitudes, walking on water, healing the sick, raising the dead and even commanding the weather to change. The miracles and the opposition Jesus got from the religious leaders were all predicted by the prophets as the kinds of wonders people would see done by the promised Messiah. Somehow this was a little too subtle for the disciples; they didn’t get it (him).
NEXT – JESUS TELLING US WHO HE IS
The impact of all these signs Jesus did made for a growing fascination (on the part of the crowd following) that would make American Idol proud. It finally pushed the truth out in the open. Backing up in the text we see that the disciples were dense, but not totally unteachable. When Jesus asked them the questions (8:27-30) about what people thought of his ministry – and who they (the disciples) thought Jesus was – Peter finally connected the dots. “You are the Christ – the promised one, the son of the Living God.
From that point our text tells us that Jesus began to teach the disciples and all the other followers openly and plainly the truth of the Gospel – that He had come to die on a cross for our sins. There were no more guessing games; the cat was out of the bag.
As much as Peter understood Christ’s divinity, he was still as dumb as a post when it came to keeping his ears open and his mouth disengaged. In one brief paragraph Peter displays monumental faith in declaring Jesus as “the Christ” and the epitome of unbelief as one who would rebuke God. Brilliant and bumbler was the fisherman apostle-to-be. Peter was fine with the Messiah title; the cross was just a little too “out of the box” – just a little too radical and too big for Peter’s imagination! His god had to be smaller – able to fit in a box, thank you.
Jesus didn’t let Peter dangle – he called him “Satan” or adversary (8:33). He told him his mind wasn’t the least bit spiritual in this matter.
Now, with that as context, what did Jesus do with the moment? He gave an invitation!
THE INVITATION OF CHRIST
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
This verse contains three conditions of becoming a disciple or follower of Jesus.
1. Follow Voluntarily
Salvation is offered, and it is offered freely; it is not automatic for every human being. If you “want” to be his follower…that is a condition – it is your decision; Jesus will not load you up on the next Gospel bus. Each account of Jesus calling someone to follow indicated an offer, never a command.
A voluntary following presupposes that the opposite is also a possibility – that some choose to not follow. Those who choose so are called “the lost”. Not everyone to whom Jesus offered his hand of friendship accepted. The rich young ruler went away from Jesus and the supposition is that he was lost. Judas began to follow, but was lost. Following or not following is a personal decision. This is the “entry-level” of Christianity. For those who choose voluntarily to follow, there is a second condition:
2. Follow Empty-Handed
…let them deny themselves
This may be the toughest for Americans – we have so much material blessing. (It may be getting easier; I checked my 401K this week; soon it will be just “K”).
To deny self is to put all of my yesterdays, today and tomorrow to the side in favor of being obedient to the leading of Jesus Christ. Jesus was probably speaking to almost exclusively a Jewish crowd. They would have heard and understood Jesus to be talking about the process of proselytizing, or becoming a convert to Judaism. When a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism he had to renounce all his previous beliefs and separate himself from past friendships and acquaintances, even family. He had to promise to never turn back. He was then considered “newborn,” a person of new life.
This is the kind of “God-out-of-the-box” that Peter worried about. He had ideas about the kind of Messiah he wanted. Jesus was demanding that we “trash” the old thinking and just follow him like our Gospel song, nothing in my hand I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.
Follow voluntarily, follow empty-handed, and then a third condition for following Jesus:
3. Follow as HE Leads
…take up their cross and follow me.
Have you ever danced with someone? Now, I’m not talking about the kind of group dancing that is popular in clubs; we’re talking ballroom stuff. In the groups, everyone does his own thing; in ballroom forms there is a lead and the partner follows. This is the kind of relationship we have with Jesus.
Here’s Jesus’ lead – take up your cross.
Peter had made an important connection with heaven in recognizing the divinity of Jesus. He’d made the incredible blunder of thinking he would change Jesus’ mind about the cross. But Jesus laid-out for them the ONE CONSISTENT DEMAND OF DISCIPLESHIP - IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW JESUS YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW JESUS!
There is no such thing as serving two masters. If you will be a follower of Jesus, you must give up your own life.
The disciples knew what Jesus was saying. Twenty years before there was a rebellion against Roman authority in a little town called Sephoris. It was only 9 miles from where Jesus lived. A man named Varus, a farmer of Galilee, organized the farmers of the area into a rebellion army. They attacked and killed all the Roman soldiers of the garrison at Sephoris.
Rome sent in the armies, and scattered the armies of Varus, about 10,000 men. Most of them went back to farming. But the Romans captured about 2,000 of them. The historian, Josephus, records that they were going to teach the rebels of Galilee a lesson not to be rebels. They took them, one by one, along the road out of Sephoris, and crucified them. They would put one on a cross, and then walk down the road until almost out of sight, and then crucify another. They went in every direction out of Sephoris, all over Galilee, until they had 2,000 rebels on 2000 crosses. As you walked the roads of Galilee you were never out of sight of a crucified rebel.
None were allowed to be taken down; they were to rot there on the crosses. If anyone took one down, another Galilean citizen would take his place. Jesus was 10 years old when this happened. He knew what he was saying about taking up a cross.
Jesus is not interested in leaders; He needs disciples who will give up their lives. Are you willing? Are you really willing to step up and offer your life in exchange for His? That’s what it means to have a God who isn’t small and in a box. Following a God like that is a big decision!
There is a story about the artist Rodin, who one day saw a huge carved crucifix beside a road. He immediately loved the artwork and insisted on having it for himself. He purchased the cross and arranged to have it carted back to his house. But, unfortunately, it was too big for the building. So, of all things, he knocked out the walls, raised the roof, and rebuilt his home around the cross. [1]
I daresay that Rodin did not have a small God who was stuck in a box. How big is YOUR God?
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ENDNOTES
1] Dr. Mickey Anders, Cross Bearing, (Best Sermons 3, Harper & Row, 1990), p.115
