Last week we heard about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness right after his Baptism. That’s the way it feels sometimes – you just make a decision and then things happen that immediately bring your decision into question.
This wilderness, of course, is metaphorical and now we find ourselves in this metaphorical wilderness of Lent. The forty days of Lent serve as a reminder of the forty days Jesus spent being tested in the wilderness.
In today’s Gospel reading, Peter responds to Jesus’ announcement that the Messiah will have to suffer and die by denying the cross. Peter is in essence denying the truth of this teaching – that the Messiah must suffer and by extension, his disciples.
This is a hard thing for Peter to hear and it is also a hard thing for us to grasp. Our God calls us not to success, but to suffering. Jesus, as our Savior, did not get a pass on the suffering either – in fact he suffered the most. So, as we follow him, we also must pass through suffering.
After this denial of the coming trials, Jesus tells Peter, “You are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do” (Mark 8:33).
So, maybe we need to learn to think more like God.
Peter, by his denial, is surrendering to temptation. This is one way we surrender to temptation – that is, to take the easy way through the wilderness. Peter couldn’t stand to think that his teacher, his hero - who was supposed to be the savior of the world - would suffer. Maybe he was also thinking about himself a little too – he didn’t want to think about the trouble that this would bring to his life.
This isn’t the last time Jesus will mention his impending suffering, rejection and death - in fact, he repeats this teaching twice more in Mark’s gospel (9:30-37; 10:32-45) hoping that by repetition the disciples might finally understand.
There is no denying that life is hard - we are beset by temptations every day. St. Anthony the Great, an early Christian monk from Egypt writes, “This is the great work of man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.” [pause]
But even in the midst of temptation, we are reminded to keep to the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14) – the hard road - the road that leads to the cross. Walking the path that Jesus walked through the wilderness; he showed us the way and even now he is walking with us.
Perseverance is essential on this journey – not just this journey through Lent but on our Christian walk through life. Through the trials, the testing, the temptation you will grow stronger in your faith. You will be transformed.
One of my heroes is Teddy Roosevelt. I think I was first enamored by him when I learned that he was very interested in conservation and the outdoors. During his presidency he established 5 national parks, 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, and 18 national monuments - adding 230 million acres to the list of protected public lands. He also created the American Antiquities Act, giving future presidents the right to establish national monuments.
He was a big hunter and outdoorsman and became concerned when he started noticing the decimation of the bison, elk, bighorn sheep and other game animals that he loved to hunt. Writing, “We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation.”
And that was over 100 years ago! He was truly a visionary.
Then I read a biography of his life and discovered that he was a sickly child who suffered from asthma and other illnesses and that he basically cured himself by establishing a stringent exercise routine - by hard work, by perseverance. He preached the benefits of the strenuous life and lived his life full of adventure, rising to the highest office in the land and accomplishing great things that we still remember today.
I think people who lived in the past understood this idea of suffering much more than we do here in 21st century America. For them it was an ever-present part of their lives. Life expectancy was short and people had to do a lot of manual labor just to survive. Some of you even know what it was like without running water in your house, or heating with only wood – the endless chopping and carrying. Medicine wasn’t as advanced as it is today and so many people died of terrible diseases, like the plague, or tuberculosis. “For most of human history, around one half of all children died before reaching the age of 15. By 1950, that figure had declined to around one-quarter globally. By 2020, it had fallen to 4%” (ourworldindata.com). Today, we want success in every endeavor, a cure for every illness and never a tear to shed, but there is value in suffering. There is wisdom to be gained when we accept our weakness and allow ourselves to be vulnerable.
Martin Luther talked about the theology of glory vs. the theology of the cross. Basically, the theology of glory expects that heaven is just a better earth, that God is just a more powerful human. The theology of the cross admits that God thinks differently than human beings – that somehow the cross is good.
Think about all of the upside-down sayings of Jesus:
1. So, the last will be first, and the first will be last. (Matt. 20:16)
2. And whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave. (Matt. 20:27)
3. I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matt. 5:44)
4. And today in our Gospel reading: 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. (vs. 35)
None of this makes sense by our understanding of the world. This is not how the world works. And so, either God is playing with us - or the way God thinks is different than the way we think.
When Peter denies the cross Jesus tells him, “You are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do” (Mark 8:33).
The cross cannot be denied, it must be wrestled with – we must come to an understanding about what role suffering plays in our spiritual formation.
There is a reason that the cross is THE Christian symbol. [pause]
Since we are called especially to follow the example of Jesus, I just imagine God singing that old song, “I never promised you a rose garden.” The gospels make it clear – we are called to way of the cross. In verse 34 Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Yeah, that doesn’t sound like an invitation to a party - it’s not an invitation for the faint hearted.
I have been thinking about this idea of giving my life to Christ. How much of my life is it exactly that I am required to give? Is it 10%, 50%, 80%... Jesus says to us today, “If any wish to come after me, 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.”
When I read the Bible, I get the sense that God wants my whole life, all of me - following in the footsteps of Jesus and I don’t know how that works because if I sacrifice all of me to God – what is there left for me? What is the point of living my one unique life here on earth if I can’t do what I want to do at least some of the time? [pause]
But I know that’s just my ego talking, what Richard Rohr calls the False Self.
There’s this idea of Jesus emptying himself that shows up in Paul’s writings (Philippians 2:7) and I immediately think of a cup. I’m thinking of a cup made of wood. I know we don’t really drink from wooden cups anymore but for this illustration wood makes sense.
A cup starts out as a simple block of wood, not much different from any other block of wood. The woodcarver draws a rough outline, highlighting the potential and sees that a lot of material must be removed. Wood is a hard material and sharp tools are used to carve out the heart of the wood.
This is part of the sacrifice. A sacrifice of part of yourself. The sacrifice is painful. You are losing part of what you think of “essential you”, but the Maker sees another version of you, made of the same stuff - just shaped a little differently.
The transformation is not without difficulty, a shedding of former notions of self – who you were and now who you are to become. This process is also scary because you don’t know what lies ahead. What does the Maker have in store for your life if you were to give it up completely – to put your full potential in the hands of the Lord?
Also, this process takes years – to become a true disciple – a true follower of Christ.
The first part at the beginning is the most dramatic as you lose the most in the drastic shaping process, but as you get closer to the end there is just some final sanding to be done, some light adjustments to your thinking, some small corrections of judgement. Things are not as painful and you start to see yourself as a Creation of the Divine Maker. You begin to see yourself as God sees you.
As a cup, hollowed out, you become a useful vessel in the hands of the Maker. You, filled with the Holy Spirit, carry this living water within you to others who can refresh themselves from the spirit within you. Only when you allow God to carve out your False Self will your True Self finally be revealed.
This sacrifice of self, or giving up of your life, is an illusion. It feels like sacrifice because we are so attached to our own ideas of who we are. In reality it is not sacrifice but transformation. We are not used to thinking this way. We think pain is bad and to be avoided at all costs, but pain and suffering can be transformative.
When we give ourselves over to the capable hands of our Maker to be shaped we are placing our faith in God’s goodness, we are learning to think as God thinks and understand that the way of the cross, the path of discipleship, is the path that leads us through the wilderness, through sacrifice and pain and death to resurrection and eternal glory. This is the process that Christ lived out while he was on earth – it is what is happening to you right now as you live your life as a disciple of Christ and follow the way of the cross.
Prayer
Lord of Eternity, teach us to think as you think. Help us to lay down our lives for your sake so that we may be transformed for useful service in your Kingdom. We may not be ready to give you our whole life but take what we entrust to you and make it so wonderful that we want to give you more. Grant us courage and perseverance on this journey – we face so many trials – help us to see their value – help us to accept the necessity of suffering in this life, knowing that there is an end to the pain on the other side of death and resurrection - when we will enjoy an eternity in your loving presence. AMEN
