I'm All For Following Jesus, But...

Mark 8:31-38

Then Jesus began to teach the disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, 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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Before we really start, I want you to know that this lesson has three bad potholes in it.  Neither Jesus nor Mark put them there, but, if you aren’t aware of them they can really mess up the alignment on your faith.  The first pothole is Mark’s use of the phrase, "elders, chief priests and scribes.”  In Mark’s day this was shorthand for Roman collaborators, not an attack on Judaism.  Jesus didn’t have a problem with Judaism.  He was Jewish after all!  But he had a HUGE issue when people mixed their faith with the violence and corruption of the occupying empire to make a themselves rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.

The second pothole is the bit about “suffering.”  God did not “require” Jesus to suffer.  That’s just completely twisted and not what Jesus meant.  When Jesus said “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering” he was simply stating what he knew was inevitable.  His plan was to go up against the empire and when you go up against any empire, it’s gonna hurt!  Now we’ll work on patching up the last pothole with the rest of the sermon.    

This week in the Berkshire Eagle there was a letter to the editor that began, “I’m all for following the science…BUT.”  As I read that, my Biochemistry diploma gave an audible shudder from the shelf inside the cabinet where it lives in my office.  It seems this person was all for following the science when the science reinforced their opinions.  But now that the science was challenging them to think differently… weeeeeellllll… this person thought we should really use our “street smarts” instead of the science.  

In this week’s Gospel lesson Peter chimes in and says, “I’m all for following you Jesus…but.”  At which point my seminary diploma gave a similar audible shudder from the same shelf inside the same cabinet in my office.  Peter was all for following Jesus when Jesus was doing it the way Peter thought it should be done…  but when Jesus proposed a different way forward than the way Peter’s guts felt was right… he was “by no means” into following Jesus THAT way!  In that moment, Peter was not the capital “S” personified Satan.  He wasn’t the red, horned guy… that guy didn’t show up until the Middle Ages.  No, in that moment Peter was a lower case “s” satan.  Which means he was a “tester”.   

A lower case “s” satan in Jesus’ day was just another human being, who knowingly or unknowingly, administered a test of morals and character to someone who found themselves at a crossroads.  Now, like then, when you come to a place in life where you need to make a hard decision… someone inevitably shows up to offer you the choice.  Will you choose to do this hard thing you’ve got to do God’s way, or will you do it a different way?  This week, Peter gave the test… Peter played the satan... the tester… and the test was HOW would Jesus be the Son of God.  Would Jesus confront the powers of the Roman Empire and their collaborators in God’s way... directly… but non-violently, calling out their injustice and corruption like the prophets before him even if that way involved great suffering?  OR would Jesus choose to do it another way… the way Peter expected?

 

You see, Peter and almost the entire population of Israel at the time, thought the Messiah would come… should come… MUST come… wrapped in a flag and wielding a sword.  He would raise an army.  He’d march on the capital and hashtag “stop the Romans!”  THAT made sense to Peter in his guts.  THAT was using street smarts.  Going to Jerusalem alone?  That was just dumb!  That would just get you killed!

Peter’s test for Jesus back then, is exactly the same test for us in our world today.  Will we confront the empires of our day who wield the swords of violence, out of control capitalism, white supremacy, fascism, sexism and all the rest, the way Jesus confronted them?  Directly but non-violently.  OR will we, like Peter, try to shape the world to OUR will by wrapping Jesus in a flag and forcing modern day weapons into Jesus’ hands?

We see people making that decision in both directions every day.  Just turn on the breaking news and you'll see it isn’t hard to find people, just like back then, who are all too willing to twist their religion to justify cozying up to those in power.  Happy to twist and bend their principles and the words of Jesus himself like a sideshow contortionist to justify using the sort of violence, corruption, and immorality, that the law, the prophets, and Jesus himself railed against all those years ago.

Our time too is a time of testing.  The test, as it always does, has two parts.  A part that asks us what sort of world we want to work toward, and the part that asks us HOW we will work to create that world?  Will we choose to work toward a world that Jesus calls the Kingdom of God… a world where everyone has enough… enough food, shelter, health care, safety, dignity and purpose… or will we work for a world where only the strongest and most powerful survive?  

And will we do that work the “Jesus Way”… by the way of  compassion, sacrifice, direct, but non-violent confrontation… no matter what the cost, caring for the least, the last and the lost along the way?  Or will we choose to use might to make the world into our version of "right"!  That path always leads to using bigger lies, stronger armies, greater force, and spiraling violence, all the while saying, “the ends justify any means.” We are facing the exact same test today that Peter gave Jesus back then.  The question for us is how will we answer? Our test begins… now.  Amen.