September 13, 2015 – Mark 8:27-38
Mark 8:27-38
Who is Jesus and Do You Want to Follow Him?
Lectionary 24B – September 13, 2015
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
The question today is: Who is Jesus?
Today, Jesus asks his disciples this question.
In John, Nicodemus asks Jesus by night, “Who are you?”
Like he’s some sort of alien from another planet.
It’s a good question to ask ourselves on Fall Launch Sunday,
as we ready ourselves for another programming year, as
we ready ourselves for thinking about ourselves as God’s stewards in November,
as council soon begins to think about our budget for next year and
how best to reflect who we are by the way we spend out money.
We come here primarily to know Jesus.
Jesus graciously reveals himself to us here so that we can come to know him,
reveals himself in word preached and bread broken and wine poured out.
He reveals himself so we can know him.
And he wants us to know him so we can follow him better.
So really the question is: who is Jesus and do you want to follow him?
In Mark’s Gospel, who Jesus is is a bit of a mystery to those who seek to understand him.
In chapter 4 the disciples ask, “Who is this?”
In chapter 6 they mistake Jesus for a ghost.
Some have said he was John the Baptist reincarnated or Elijah back from the dead or
maybe one of the other prophets of old.
As readers of the Gospel, we have known from the very beginning who is Jesus:
it’s in the very first verse: “The good news of Jesus the Messiah.”
Ha! It’s like watching one of those movies where we as viewers know something that
the characters don’t, and you just want them to get on with it and figure it out!
Okay: so Jesus is the Messiah.
Big deal.
What does that really mean?
Peter thinks he knows – he actually uses the right word!
As I’ve said before it’s like, “Yes! Peter! You’ve got the right answer!
you win the all-expense paid trip to Tahiti! The washer-dryer combo!
and . . . the brand new car!!!!”
Only problem is: he doesn’t know what it means that Jesus thinks he is the Messiah. Whoops.
Peter assumes that it means what it popularly meant in his culture:
the Messiah is the king like David who will return Israel to its military glory of
a thousand years ago: the Messiah will lead an army and
smite Israel’s enemies and get rid of the occupying Romans.
Well, as we know, Jesus believes the Messiah will set things right again in this world.
Only, Jesus is going to set things right for everyone:
as Jesus discovered last week, his mission is to heal and reconcile and
bring new life to everyone, Jews and non-Jews, Israelites and Romans,
men and women.
And he’s going to do through the power of suffering love,
through the power of service even to enemies, through the power of forgiveness,
especially through the power of suffering with others.
To Jesus, that’s what it means to be the Messiah who will set things right.
Sounds crazy to Peter: Peter says
“No, Jesus! The Messiah doesn’t suffer! Did you miss that day in school too?”
But Jesus rebukes Peter more sharply than he rebukes anyone in the whole Gospel at this,
calling him Satan, and calling Peter to get behind him and follow him.
For, “If anyone wants to be my follower let them take up their cross and follow me.”
Which is great.
But what does that mean?
One thing it can’t mean is just accepting misery, or being someone’s doormat,
or suffering the lot of the world and the way things are.
That is not Jesus’ way.
You know how C-3PO says at one point,
“We [droids] seem to be made to suffer; it’s our lot in life.”
As one writer observes, “C-3PO adopts a ‘woe-is-me attitude’ and
expects suffering because he is worth nothing more.”
This is not the kind of suffering Mark is talking about this morning.
The kind of suffering Mark is talking about is the kind that suffers as a consequence of caring.
The kind of suffering Mark is talking about is
the kind that suffers as a consequence of seeking justice.
That’s the kind of suffering Jesus experiences: Jesus suffers as a result of
reaching out to the ostracized, the unclean, and the marginalized.
The good news this morning is that Jesus goes where there is suffering – and brings life.
The good news this morning is that God in Jesus chooses love and solidarity with us in
our brokenness.
The good news this morning is that Jesus goes where the crosses are – and brings resurrection.
None of us have far to look for crosses to bear.
We come this morning already bearing them.
A broken relationship. A difficult diagnosis. A joy-killing job.
A failure to be who we wish we could be.
As preacher Erica Gibson-Even observes, our world is not short on crosses.
It’s maybe not what Peter wants to hear, but it is tremendously good news:
the cross is where God is at work in our world.
All the difficult, painful, seemingly dead, ugly places is where God wants to be at work –
those places in our world, those places in our own hearts.
Because our God is in the business of resurrection.
It’s on God’s business card: “Resurrection from Death Specialist.”
Resurrection is the work of God.
For us there is no spiritual ladder to climb.
There is no method of religious achievement.
There is just death and resurrection, day after day, over and over and over again.
As God in Christ – that is, in the messiah – comes to work in the messy soil of
our hearts and of our world, and makes all things new.
And so following Christ to the cross-filled places of our world to bring life is
a daily conversion.
A daily decision to once again follow the one who has come to bear our crosses with us –
and turn them into life.
We decide daily to be Christ’s man or woman and stumble along behind as best we can.
Fall Launch day is one of those days to decide.
Maybe we decide to play a small part in seeking justice for the community of Shoal Lake.
Maybe we decide to sit beside those who come to our Community Meals.
Maybe we decide to serve those who come to our Food Banks.
Maybe we decide to commit a greater portion of our wealth to
the ministries of this congregation.
Because the ministries of this congregation are dedicated to the work of the Messiah,
reaching out to the vulnerable and marginalized.
When Jesus says that if any want to become his followers they should take up their crosses and
follow him, he is issuing an invitation to you right now to take up that invitation – again,
and be part of the work of this congregation and the work of this church.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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