the Cost of Christ

Mark 8:31-38

31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."


Jesus asks a lot of us.

I will tell you that, as a whole, this church owns up to that asking almost all the time. In just over the short year that I have been here and gotten to know this church and her family, I want you all to know that I, well that we, Leah and I both, are proud to own Buffalo Presbyterian as our church home.

We have certainly been blessed by everyone here. Yet, beyond that even, this church has in it those people who are about the business of God; with deeds both daily and large and small in size. Ann Dixon’s thanks is certainly proof of that. In addition though to the support and kindness there are those who work tirelessly, endlessly for the good of the church family. It’s like putting out the best silver for guests at dinner, where the only thoughts of those preparing are of the beloved guests, and the honor that is wished on them by the time and extra care that is taken in the meal.

A few weeks ago for the Ash Wednesday service we read Jesus’ instructions for fasting and prayer. Reminders that these disciplines are sacred things between us and God alone, which truly must be against our human desires.

When we do something good, we want, well what Leah and I call “pets and scratches.”
When we were newly married Leah received, as a gift, a book called “The Five Love Languages.” The author, Gary Chapman, was here in Greensboro not too long ago. But in this book we discovered that my “love language” or the way in which I understand that someone loves me is from the recognition of my work. I forget how “pets and scratches” started but it became a half joke. If I was mentioning some maintenance item that I had done more than a few times Leah knew I felt like I had missed out on “pets and scratches” or full recognition of my work.

Baring that fact that a little bit of recognition is healthy and nice, how are people like me supposed to reconcile ourselves to the work of Christ? Which often is meant, is intentioned, to go un-noticed except by God.

Partly from faith in His blessings, and the rest from patience, even still… that’s asking a lot don’t you think?

In verse 34 Jesus lays it all flat out for the disciples and basically anyone in earshot who he has gathered around him. “If you want to follow me, your life is forfeit.”

I love the fishermen disciples, Peter and Andrew and the others. In some way I feel like I identify better with them than with the tax collector or any of the rest. I feel like I could in some way know what was going on in their brains at different points when Jesus reveals certain things to them.
We forget sometimes how astounded they must have been at certain times! For instance, I’ve seen all six episodes of the Star Wars movies a… few times. The story is very involved and having seen it so many times I forget the big reveals and how they appear to first timers. (Darth Vader is Luke’s DAD!?) But watch it with someone seeing it for the first time, and they are filled with wonder and disbelief.
Knowing how scripture turns out is a little like that. I think we forget that when Jesus begins talking to his friends of many years about his impending torture and demise at the hands of the Sanhedrin they are floored and depressed to say the least! Add to that his promise that he would be raised from the dead. So many things about Christ’s true purpose were missed by the Disciples. They had seen him raise Lazarus, sure, but who will do the raising when he is in the tomb himself? Earlier in this same chapter, in verse 21, he reminds them of the miracle of the loaves and fish, reminding them of the abundance created out of even a small gift. Yet they are still fretting over food and trivial things, Jesus comments… “Why do you not yet understand?”
Jesus is asking a lot out of the Disciples. Peter, poor Peter, tries to get Jesus aside for a moment. Perhaps to talk some sense into the guy scaring everybody with stories of death. I have a fiction book written about the life of Christ that is basically a paraphrase on the Gospel. It’s a fun read and lends itself well to create a very human experience, but one of my favorite moment is when Jesus give Simon a nickname. In the Bible it usually reads Simon, who is also called Peter, or something near to that in every translation. In the novel it comes up in one of these, “Why are you guys not getting this?” moments that Jesus frequently has, in which he cries, “Simon, you got a mind like a rock.” I love being able to think that Jesus created this good natured jibe and the apostles picked it up. I think I love it so much because I could see Christ saying the same thing about me. “Man, your skull is thick!”
But dear Simon-Peter, in this instance is made an example of. We’re getting down to the wire of the Ministry and I imagine Christ could have been a little anxious with the disciples to finally grasp some of what has been going on. So he shouts, “Your thoughts are not from God, but from men!”
Imagine what Peter could have said to him… Probably the exact same thing any of us would say if a dear friend and traveling companion told us that they were going to die. “No, no, Jesus don’t say these things. You know how James gets, he’s very emotional, you are scaring him. Look, why don’t we skirt Jerusalem for a while, until after Passover, we’ll go back to Capernaum, you can do some preaching there, we’ll take some time off. Look it will be ok, all right? No one has to die. Listen to reason…”

Those can all be loving, loving words. Nothing wrong with them. But we must be wary. Good is not Godly. Kindness is not the Kingdom. Works alone, don’t get us into heaven.

When Jesus rebukes Peter, I think we tend to imagine that his words must have been so terrible to have Jesus react so. But in truth Jesus was reacting to the deceiver who was using Peter’s words to speak to Jesus. The subtext of Christ’s words here are, “Oh Peter, dear friends. How much I wish I could go with you to Capernaum. How I long to be on a fishing boat with you instead of Ciaphas. How wonderful it would be to watch you raise families, continue this ministry and watch it grow.” But Christ knows. He asks nothing of us that He himself is not already doing. He knows the Father’s will and the scenes that must play out. He repeats to the Disciples the words he hears from God his own Father. If you want to be mine, then your whole life is mine.
When we read that we must give up desires, we imagine the vices, the selfish things we all do. And that’s true. But it also means the good intentions. We think sometimes that we must do right instead of wrong when in actuality we must understand that we must do only what God perceives as right. Which in our eyes and in the eyes of the world may appear so very wrong.
Look again to our example in scripture. It is madness by all the standards of the time for Christ to go to the one hotspot where he is sure to be recognized and acted upon. So much earlier in the gospels do we read that the Sanhedrin begins to plot against Jesus. They have not bee idle all that time, and the Disciples know it! By the world’s standards and by logical conclusion what Jesus was doing was madness. But it was the true course in God’s plan. What Peter said to Christ was probably very loving and kind. But in the sight of God it was a temptation against the will of God.
So, in this season of Lent, in this time of penitence (which is simply expressing remorse for our sins), instead of struggling to identify the bad things and instead do good, we are set free by Christ’s words. Free to identify that which is Godly, and joyfully do the things which the world might find crazy, but bring a smile to the heart of God.

Jesus pointedly says, perhaps to Simon, “the Rock”, Peter as much as to anyone else in verse 36. I could do the right thing, Peter, or I can do the Will of my Father.
This season of Lent is one of reflection, and one of action, not of good deeds, but of Godly ones. Those done in joy and out of love for God, and God alone.