Mark 8:31-38
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| Raphael, Christ's Charge to Peter 1515 (PD) |
Comedian Emo Phillips once did a bit about religion. He claimed that he once saw this guy on a bridge about to jump.
Emo said, "Don't do it!"
The man responded, “Well, nobody loves me."
Emo assured him, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
The man responded, "Yes."
Emo said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?"
The man replied, “I’m a Christian."
Emo said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?"
The man proclaimed, "Protestant."
Emo said, "Me, too! What franchise?"
The man replied, "Baptist."
Emo said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"
The man responded, "Northern Baptist."
Emo said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
The man stated, "Northern Conservative Baptist."
Emo said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?"
The man replied, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.”
Emo said, "Me, too!” Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?"
The man exclaimed, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912."
Emo replied, “Die, you heretic!" And he pushed him off the bridge.
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There is one emotional consistent regarding the human condition; we all want to be loved.
I’ve shared with you all before that I am a bit of an introvert. I really appreciate a little bit of solitude, but for each and every one of us there comes a time in which we need to be loved.
In Emo’s bit, the joke begins with the implication that God’s love should be enough for the man, but that love becomes increasingly conditional as the joke goes on until eventually it isn’t really a reflection of God’s love at all. It ends up a reflection of Emo’s love.
For each and every one of us, there is a deep desire to be the object of another human being’s love. Not just a romantic sense of love, but we all desire to be the object of a platonic sense of love. There are different degrees of this need for different people. Some aren’t as needy as others, but we are all designed to be in relationship with other human beings. Some need an intimate and personal connection, while others desire the affection of a large audience. It's certainly one of the dangers of any public role, when you win the favor of the masses, it is only a matter of time before you fall out of their favor.
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| Photo by William White on Unsplash |
Most often, those who become icons and lasting objects of love for the masses, do so postmortem. It is one of the reasons why John F. Kennedy’s approval ratings teetered at 58% in November of 1963, yet in the 1990’s his approval ratings were as high as 78%! One of the most popular presidents in our nations history! Yet, when asked what people remembered the most about Kennedy, it is not the Cuban missile crisis, the Civil Rights movement, or his development of the space program that is most often cited. It is his assassination, and yet, he is regarded as the most popular president of our nation out of all the others that have held that office over this past half century.
It seems that the love of the masses is the most fleeting treasure in this world. People are fickle, no need for polling or statistics to realize that truth. But who would ever SEEK out the opportunity to be rejected?
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The gospel account we heard this morning from Mark seems to draw our attention toward the crucifixion of Christ, with good reason of course. But if we really consider the first verse of our Gospel, that would be putting the cart before the horse. The words Jesus shares with his disciples illustrate a far more painful prediction for them to grasp. It’s also a far more outlandish prediction for them to hear. Because everybody loves Jesus. Jew, Gentile, Roman citizens, and even Roman soldiers.
A few Pharisees challenge Jesus, but he even befriends a few of those fellas. The religious high and mighty who come to Galilee to investigate what Jesus is up to and the ministry he is sharing may challenge him from time to time, but they usually take off with their tails tucked between their legs after Jesus flips the question around on them.
So, two verses prior to our Gospel for today, when Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah, he and the other disciples are hopeful to say the least. They are confident in this Messiah and the future looks as bright as ever. They’ve bet on a sure thing if they are to truly believe that he is the Messiah. And when Jesus breaks the news to them that he will undergo great suffering, be rejected, be killed, and rise again in three days. We all wonder why the disciples didn’t hear him clearly predict the resurrection. It’s simple, because they didn’t hear ANYTHING that followed the word rejected! They didn’t hear it because from what they have seen up to this point, it is far too removed from their reality that Jesus, could ever be rejected! Everybody loves him! And the bandwagon is only growing! Jesus’ ministry has attracted five thousand people at one point in chapter six of Mark’s gospel. Then he does an encore in chapter eight that attracts four thousand! So a prediction of rejection must be outlandish in their eyes. If Jesus can make it in Galilee, even among the Romans and the Gentiles, a hero’s welcome would be the most likely prediction if he were to even dare and announce himself as the Messiah, entering into Jerusalem.
And the word rejection is a pretty harsh word. It is such a harsh word, it is only used one time in Matthew’s Gospel. This word is used twice in Mark, and in Luke, the word is used a whopping three times. All three gospels share this word in Jesus’ citing of Psalm 118 “The stone that the builders have rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
The word implies that what has been rejected was fully inspected for flaws and defects before being completely cast aside as something unwanted, without any defense for its value. The disciples aren’t hung up on the prediction of Jesus’ death, because they are predicting that he is a shoe-in for most popular prophet, priest, and eventually king. The people love him, the disciples love him, and people love the disciples because they are part of his entourage. Life was good! Who’s gonna mess with that?! To be adored by a loving public whose love for Jesus and his ministry was only spreading farther and wider throughout the region. His popularity seemed limitless, no end in sight. A popular ministry that would give rise to a new Israel, with Peter and the other disciples at Jesus’ right hand!
But people are fickle as we all know, and the love of the masses is easy come and easy go.
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| Pietro Lorenzetti, Jesus enters Jerusalem and the crowds welcome him 1320 (PD) |
It doesn’t take a whole lot to fall out of the good graces of the masses. One little slip up in a public address or the most minor of rumors and discontent can be sewn into any community. When the message being shared in a community offers a contrast to the way we are living, it is never received with either love in our hearts or gratitude upon our lips. This is a real conundrum for us if we are to call ourselves followers of Christ. Because we like to read this text and take this idea of “taking up our crosses” and turn it some sort of allegory.We like to take up our cross by giving up sweets for Lent, or take up our crosses by hitting the gym for Lent since that plan fizzled out after New Years. Sometimes we think of our crosses as the challenges we face in life, not getting selected for a job or promotion, financial hardships, relationship issues, or family problems to name a few. It helps us to see this text as a call to personal resilience or perseverance, but that isn’t the call being issued in this text today.
Jesus calls us to follow him into a life of rejection, a life that is completely contrary to our very nature, our need to be loved. Quite a different message than what you’d probably see on television this morning, if you tuned in to your standard televangelist. It's really not a message that sells out arenas or draws large crowds. When Jesus says lose your life for the sake of the Gospel, it just doesn’t have the same ring in a book title as "Your Best Life Now."
But Christianity is not a call to be successful. It is not a call to be loved by the masses nor is it an assurance that you will be adored by others. In today's text, Jesus’ assurance to us is basically that we will not be adored by the masses if we preach and teach in accordance with God’s Word. It's a call to lead a life that can be strange and lonely at times, in a world where people know what they WANT to hear but can seldom value what they NEED to hear.
But we all filter out what we want to hear when the Gospel calls to us, and we all filter out what we want to hear when the Law condemns us. Perhaps picking up this cross is a call to reflect on ourselves with a sense of honesty and integrity as we continue through this Lenten season?
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Last week an indictment from special prosecutor Robert Mueller was made public. Upon its release, I read through the 37 page document. I was embarrassed, because in spite of how it was spun it was not an indictment of the President, Bernie Sanders, Republicans, or Democrats. It really wasn’t even an indictment of the 13 Russians named in the document. It was an indictment on all of US.
Because we as a community and a nation have spent years, following lies and mistruths. What’s more we have collectively spread those lies and mistruths, becoming disciples of those lies for no other reason but to be accepted into our own little tribes that offer us a sense of belonging. We’ve followed and liked Russian bots on social media who played us all, regardless of your political persuasion, by saying all the things we wanted to hear. And they did it with the purpose of dividing us all, knowing we would follow them, rather than a truth that was either too complicated for us to consider or a truth we refused to hear.
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| Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash |
Jesus comes face to face with Peter and Jesus rebukes him, telling Peter to literally fall in line behind Jesus. Because Peter is speaking to Jesus’ very human need to be adored, to be loved by the people. And Peter is physically positioned in this story between Jesus and where Jesus is going; to be shouted down, humiliated, and rejected in the shadow of the very Temple that has been dedicated to God. Peter stands between Jesus and his destiny because Peter doesn’t want to believe this reality. Peter wants Jesus to fall in line behind HIM, behind his vision of success, his plan for this ministry. Because it is what Peter WANTS to believe. It is the reality Peter WANTS to create. But our plans are built on our own wants and selfish desires, lies that we use to define what success really looks like.
For us, success isn’t found in rejection.
For us, success isn’t found on a witness stand being tried for a crime.
For us, success isn’t found flogged and beaten in humiliation.
For us, success isn’t found on a cross.
But this isn’t the story of our success. It is the story of God’s success in spite of us.
Success is God’s business, falling in line behind what is true and faithful to one another and God is our business. Perhaps we can still find success by following where God’s Truth leads us, even if it leads us to places we don’t want to go, realizing truths we don’t want to accept.
Even if it leads us to a tomb, we should have faith. After all, there may be a surprise inside.
Amen
Sources
Philips, Emo. “The Best God Joke Ever - and It’s Mine!” the Guardian, September 29, 2005. http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/sep/29/comedy.religion.
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