Text: Mark 8:27-38
Beloved
in Christ, we looked at the first two paragraphs of today’s gospel back in
January, when we celebrated the Confession of Peter and those paragraphs were
the text of the day. Today’s Gospel adds the third paragraph, and so we will
spend a good portion of today’s sermon looking at that part of the text. But
still it would be helpful for us to go back and understand what the first two
paragraphs of today’s text teach us.
We
see that we Christians must know who Jesus is and what He has done for us. We
must know that Jesus is the Christ and that He came to be our Savior. We must
know both these truths. If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the
Father’s anointed messenger, but have no idea why He came for us or have the
wrong idea, it does us no good. Or if we believe that He came to be our Savior,
but think that He is just another ordinary mortal, it does us no good, either.
We have to believe that He is the incarnate Son of God—that is, He is true God
and true man—and we have to believe that He alone is our Savior from sin,
death, and hell.
Of
course, when we confess that Jesus is the Christ and the one who was crucified
and raised in order to save us, we confess several things about ourselves, too.
If Jesus is the Christ—God’s Anointed One—then we are not. We are not the
Messiah, and neither is anyone else. If Jesus is the unique Son of God, then we
are not. If Jesus is our Savior, then we must have some sins to be atoned for.
If it cost Jesus His life and that in a most gruesome manner, then our sins
cannot be trivial. If Jesus had to undergo death and resurrection for our sake,
then our problems cannot be trivial but must be matters of life and death. And
if He was willing to undergo all these things, then He must love us indeed.
As
we meditate on these things, we are led to view our lives more deeply. We have
a tendency to think too highly of ourselves, too little about God, and too
trivially about our sin. But if Christ is the holy Son of God and our Savior,
then we are led to think humbly about ourselves, to think highly of God, and to
think deeply about our sin. We are not naturally inclined to acknowledge our
sin but, if we do, we speak of them as trifles, as mere foibles hardly worth
mentioning. You see, we just love to gossip to pass the time; we have no
malicious intent. Or we just love a little risqué humor; we don’t mean anything
really by it. Or it was just a worthless item we took that nobody will miss;
we’d never take anything valuable since we’re not thieves. Or we just got a
little too tipsy, not fall down drunk; we’re not an out-of-control boozer. Or
we just uphold high standards; we’re not snooty, self-righteous people. In
short, we cannot think that all of our little quirks—annoying though they may
be to others, as we may well admit—are really all that serious, let alone
damnable. But then we look at things in light of the cross and we see they are.
People
tend to be amazed that our Lord was willing to die on the cross in order to
save murderers, gangbangers, rapists, robbers, and the like. They are amazed
that Christ in His mercy can save such people. I, however, am amazed that our
Lord was willing to die on the cross in order to save the so-called petty
sinners, those who suffer from the same sinful nature as the notorious sinners
do but who are blind to its real influence. A tumor that is visible to all can
quickly be seen to be cancerous and removed. But the tumors that lie deep
within the body and cause no real discomfort or pain go a long time without
ever being noticed and thus prove more deadly. People who have sinned in
blatant ways can quickly submit to the divine surgeon’s scalpel and have their
guilt removed, but people who sin in slyer ways often never come to the point
of having the sin dealt with. That is why we Christians gather weekly to
confess our sins and look to Christ’s forgiveness, for we understand the grave
danger our subtler sins pose to us. Only by God’s law do we see the danger, and
only by Christ’s death for us is that danger removed.
Therefore,
Christ’s death remains the focus point of the Christian life. In His death on
the cross we see exactly how much we deserved to suffer because of our sins. We
also see exactly how much God loves us in that He was willing to experience all
that for our sake, so that we would never have to undergo it. That is why the
cross remains such an important focal point in the Christian Church. It is at
the heart of Christian theology. Everything we need to know about ourselves and
about God is revealed through the cross.
It
isn’t that we deny the resurrection that followed on the third day. No, we
rejoice greatly that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and lives forever and
ever. But the resurrection of Christ shows us the real power that was unleashed
on the cross. It shows us that Christ’s death on the cross was not just the
anguish of one more man suffering at the hands of an unjust regime. Rather,
here was Almighty God, willing to go into the bowels of death for us. The
resurrection underscores just how momentous the crucifixion had been.
There
is nothing in world history like the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But it isn’t just His story, but ours too. Jesus lays down the pattern of the
cross and resurrection as the pattern for our lives. He tells us to deny
ourselves and take up our crosses and follow Him. Just as the cross was the
way that He gained great glory for Himself and did great good for the world, so
too our crosses give us great gain and allow us to do great good for our
neighbors.
I
read a remark of G.K. Chesterton this past week where he noted that the idea of
“Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life…will save it” is not just sound theology, but sound advice in
every sphere. He pointed out that the sailor and the mountain climber live by
that principle as much as does any cleric. When climbers face one side of a
mountain that is particularly dangerous, they must scoot around to another
side, often exposing them to greater danger temporarily. Or when sailors are
passing through a storm, they will have to expose themselves to the elements and
risk being swept out into the unruly sea, just so that they can batten down the
hatches or trim the sails or do whatever else is necessary to keep the boat
afloat. The safe course guarantees disaster. To live safely, we must be willing
to risk even our life.
But
our Lord does not call us to throw away our life on every last foolish
adventure. A sound mountain climber doesn’t try to jump fifty feet away in some
grand gesture. A sailor in a storm doesn’t try surfing the waves. Instead they
focus on doing the task that they should. We are called to take up our crosses
and follow Jesus, not take up our crosses and go any which way. And Jesus shows
us what that venture consists of: holding onto His words in the midst of an “adulterous
and sinful generation.”
Our
Lord warns us not to be ashamed of Him and of His words. That is the
real challenge. That is the real cross. You see, there is something a bit
embarrassing about His words. They don’t fit in with a society that believes it
needs no savior. They don’t fit in with a culture that believes that enjoying
the good life is what it is all about. They don’t fit in with the American
belief that we are our own saviors and don’t need any help, divine or human.
Yes, there is something embarrassing about our Lord’s words. If you don’t find
that to be the case, either you’re not paying attention to His words or you
live completely ignorant of the society around you and the impulses within you.
But it is an “adulterous and sinful generation” we live in. We
should not be embarrassed by what they are embarrassed by, but embrace the
words of the one who will matter for all eternity.
And
so, beloved in Christ, look to Christ’s cross and do not shirk your own. It is
the way of Christian discipleship. It is the way of life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
