“The Way to Life Goes Through Death” (A number of themes and ideas in this sermon come from N.T. Wright)
Matthew 16:21-28
In the words of the late American news commentator Paul Harvey, this morning’s Gospel Lesson is “the rest of the story.”
It is a continuation of what we talked about last week.
Jesus had asked His disciples: “Who do you say I am?”
Peter gave the correct answer: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
And from that point on, Jesus began to teach them what that means.
And what that means is completely different than anything they could ever have imagined.
It’s kind of like trying to think inside out, and the disciples find it completely impossible.
After having settled on the fact that Jesus is God’s King, the Messiah the disciples natural next move is to want to sit down and plan their strategy.
I mean, if Jesus is King, then the disciples are going to have to figure out how to get rid of the current kings and priests that are misruling Israel.
And the obvious solution is to march on Jerusalem, pick up supporters along the way, choose their moment, say their prayers, fight a surprise battle, take over the Temple and install Jesus as King!
That’s how humans do it, right?
What Jesus is proposing, though, is the exact opposite—it makes no human sense—it’s inside out!!!
“Yes,” Jesus says, “the Kingdom of God is coming, coming soon now.
Yes, the Son of Man will be exalted as King.
But the way to this Kingdom is by the exact opposite road to the one the you guys have in mind.
It will involve suffering and death.”
Jesus will indeed confront the rulers and authorities—the chief priests and legal experts in Jerusalem; but they, not He, will appear to win the battle.
Jesus will be raised from the dead—so Jesus says—but neither Peter nor the others can figure out what in the world He might mean by that.
All they know is that He is talking nonsense—dangerous nonsense.
And so, Peter grabs Jesus and shouts: “Never Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
But Jesus calls Peter “Satan” and a stumbling block to Him.
That’s some pretty heavy stuff.
And it’s true, human concerns and God’s concerns are diametrically opposed to one another.
God sees everything inside out; or, perhaps we should say, God sees everything the right way round, whereas we see everything inside out.
It’s like right is wrong and wrong is right.
Up is down and down is up.
Bad is good and good is bad.
If we want to follow Jesus we must learn the Way of God…rather than our way.
…and if we DO follow Jesus…
…REALLY follow Jesus we will learn the Way—it will take a lifetime and then some, but we will learn the Way every step along the Way.
Jesus says: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
Boy, the Kingdom of God sure sounds, to our human ears, like some kind of bizarro world, does it not?
Whoever wants to secure their own life, will lose it.
But the one that actually loses his or her life, is the one who finds it.
When Peter said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
Peter was speaking the words of temptation, of Satan of the world which says, “Why should I have to deny myself?”
“My only concern is to look out for me, myself and I”
“The person who dies with the most stuff wins.”
“Those who hoard and live in castles while the masses starve outside their doors are doing just fine!”
“Those who think only of themselves, bully others into getting their own way, wield all kinds of worldly power—having stepped on a million souls in order to grab it are the REAL WINNERS in life.”
Well, that is a lie!!!
And, that way of thinking is the greatest stumbling block we humans face when it comes to seeking to follow Christ and living as the people of God.
“Take the easy way out.”
“Do whatever feels good.”
“Don’t worry about others.”
That is the way of Satan, and the human mind falls prey to that way very easily.
Satan tries to convince us that God’s Way, Jesus’ Way is a miserable burden…
…that God is a kill-joy…
…and that true happiness is found in self-indulgence rather than self-emptying.
But the truth is the opposite.
As a matter of fact, the cross that Jesus talks about in Matthew isn’t a burden to bear.
It isn’t a punishment, but instead it is an invitation that is handed out—an invitation to dine at the Table of the King!!!
It is an invitation to a different kind of life that is shaped by God’s priorities, not our own human instincts or base desires.
It is an invitation to lay down the unnecessary and perhaps even sinful worries of trying to save face, save our possessions, save our prestige, save our privilege.
It’s an opportunity to step outside the walls and barriers that keep us self-contained and self-centered.
It is a call to step into the Kingdom of God where we will be set free to be lovers of God’s purposes for the world.
Taking up our cross is a reminder that faith isn’t passive—it’s a way of life.
It calls us to live for others in the way shown to us on the Cross upon which Christ died.
And in submitting Himself to the Cross Jesus shows us that the life God desires is one of humility.
In sharing the crucifixion with criminals, Jesus shows us that the life God calls us to is one marked by solidarity with those who live on the fringes.
In loving us to death on the Cross before we even knew Him, before we loved Him back, while we were yet sinners, Jesus shows us that we are to love others—no matter who they are or what they have done or are doing!!!
You know, Jesus invites us to consider how we can live our lives in a way that blesses others.
Is that beautiful or what?
What a radically different way to live!
When I was a boy, a young mother in our church was involved in a car accident that left her forever paralyzed.
And, from the time it occurred and on and on for years and years following, another woman in our church faithfully went to visit the young mother at her house every week after week after week.
They hadn’t even really known each other before this, other than going to the same church.
The woman who visited would seek out things to take with her to cheer up the young mother, and she would ask US kids for ideas…
…I say US kids because this woman who did this for the next 25 or 30 years was my mother.
She would bring cassette tapes of the worship services to her.
Cassette tapes:…just think about the pre-curser to the Compact Disc or say, the I-pod…
…in any event, she made giving her time to help this woman a priority in her life, because she was seeking to love like Jesus loves…
…that was just one of the cross focused things she did, but I’m not supposed to be here to talk about what an amazing mother I had.
I know we are going through a very difficult time.
We have COVID fatigue.
We are lonely.
We are worried.
Many of us are sad.
And because Jesus’ teaching has been twisted by some, I think it’s important to interject that denying ourselves does not mean considering ourselves worthless; it does not mean getting all depressed and dark.
What it does mean is that we ask Jesus every minute of every day to make us instruments of His peace.
What it does mean is we repent of our prejudices and seek to love all people equally.
It means we seek to fulfill the needs of others above ourselves and thus become lost in God’s love for the human race.
It means we become free to love and accept the love of others.
And it means we are always changing, always becoming, always moving forward in our love for God and neighbor.
And there is nothing more exciting in all the world.
Do you know that, according to scientific studies, helping other people makes us happy?
That is why, for example, when someone comes to volunteer here at the food pantry, they will never leave saying: “I wish I hadn’t done that today,” or “I feel really bad about how I spent my time this afternoon.”
You will always leave happier than you were before you came.
Jesus doesn’t call us to follow Him in order to torture us.
He calls us to follow Him in order to save us…
…to save us from ourselves…
…from our sins…
…and from a wasted life!
Jesus said to Peter, “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
I can relate to that.
How about you?
But I’ll tell you, when I am all caught up in human concerns…
…when I’m all worried about myself and how to get ahead…
…how to keep up with the Jones’ next door…
…how to impress others…
…my life is a living hell.
It’s not a happy thing.
It’s a nightmare.
And God knows this.
And so, the call goes out from God to follow Jesus.
The call goes out saying there is another way, there is a better way…
…this miserable darkness is not all there is…
…life is not, after-all, some cruel joke where we are the punchlines…
…we don’t have to follow Satan, we can follow Jesus instead!!!
We don’t have to go to hell; Jesus has opened the doors to paradise!
Following Him will cost us everything.
There are no half-ways on this journey.
We have to lose our life to find it.
As a great theologian once said, “In every generation there are, it seems, a few people who are prepared to take Jesus seriously, at His Word.”
What would it be like if you and I were some of them?
