MORE POWER! MORE GLORY!! MORE SPIRIT!!!
SURVEYING THE SITE—Mark 8: 31-38
Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a yo-yo? Three
weeks ago, we were reading chapter 1. Two weeks ago, we were reading chapter 9.
Last week we were reading chapter 1 again. This week we are reading chapter 8. Like
that yo-yo, we seem to be drawn up and down by a string that doesn’t let us go
but also doesn’t let us stay in one place for long.
This text immediately precedes the Mount of Transfiguration in 9 and follows Jesus’ questions, “Who do people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?”. In response to the second question, Peter claims Jesus as the Messiah (8:27-30). Messiah, along with Christ, are terms used when speaking of those who are anointed, including judges, kings, and prophets; even Cyrus, who wasn’t Jewish, is called Messiah for releasing God’s people after the Babylonian exile.
Before Peter claims Jesus as Messiah, the disciples echo the words of Herod’s advisors, and Herod himself, who have heard of the work Jesus and his disciples are doing in chapter 6. They believe that Jesus is John raised up from the dead, or Elijah, or one of the prophets, and poses a threat to the power of the government. And the disciples repeat the names of the threatening personages.
When Peter claims Jesus as the Messiah, it is with these previous nominations in mind. Today, Peter shows that he believes the term implies certain conquest and power. Jesus’ description to the disciples that he will suffer, be rejected, be put to death, and rise after three days denies this, so Peter rebukes, or censures, Jesus. In return, Jesus rebukes, or censures, Peter by telling him that “discipleship following” is not about conquest and power but taking up one’s cross.
READING THE BLUEPRINT
This week’s text again reminds us of what I have discussed
since the beginning of Advent: how you look at the blueprint may determine what
you see and how you build. If we think of Jesus as not having yet been arrested,
tried, crucified, and risen, then the words of his teaching look like a
prognostication, a pre-knowledge of what is to come.
If we read Mark’s story as starting in chapter 11, then the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection have already occurred. Jesus is only stating the facts of what has happened, but which, in epic form, the disciples are not yet aware. Jesus is in their time, but he is not of their time.
The text begins with Jesus openly teaching the truth of what will happen in the disciples’ time: “The son of Man will suffer, be rejected by the temple authorities (elders, chief priests and the scribes), be killed, and on the third day rise from the dead.”
In a sidebar audience, Peter rebukes/challenges/interrupts the teacher saying, “Wait! This is not the way things should go. How can you challenge Rome without any support? You at least need the support of the temple. The world depends on a certain amount of political leverage if the world is going to change.”
Jesus stares Peter down and charges that Peter is thinking in worldly terms not divine ways. Jesus continues, “Get behind me, Satan.” Satan is not an extra-worldly demonic presence here. It means antagonist or prosecutor evoking a courtroom-like setting. As opposing counsel in a legal hearing, or as the opposing side in an open debate, Jesus is claiming his place to present his argument.
The argument he gives to the disciples is: “Peter is considering the political realities of the day. I am speaking of a new way of living together. If you want to follow Herod and the powers granted to him by Rome, then support the systems of the past. If you want to follow me, you will need to learn that it is not about you. You must deny yourself for the sake of the greater world community. You will need to take up your cross.
“The old way of living is to save your life, your reputation, your honor in order to increase or maintain your status in society. That way leads to death. But, if you are willing to give yourself over to living with the dead of the world in a ministry of resurrection in my name and for the sake of the Good News—Christ is risen, and, in the resurrection, we are all raised into new life—then your lives will be saved, restored, be received in abundance.”
We are called upon now to be the judges. In his closing arguments, Jesus calls us to consider whether conquest, power, and oppression (worldly things) have compassion and spiritual living in them (divine things). Is there anything that we can give in exchange to justify or maybe to legitimize our lives?
Jesus concludes, “Those who are ashamed of caring for and raising up others in my name, those who are ashamed or afraid of a world of inclusion, or those who prefer power for themselves, I will be ashamed of, embarrassed for, and saddened by when God’s intent for the world is revealed and they find themselves on the wrong side of history—when the fullness of life is revealed in the value of all people, in the spectacle of the messengers of care and concern.”
He tells his disciples that following him requires taking up their cross which is not the instrument of death but the symbol of life. It is the mark of the follower, taken up, but not demanding death. Although we, in 2021, know that many people were crucified during Roman times and that the Appian Way was lined with Christians who were crucified, tarred, and then set ablaze to light the way of Caesar into Rome, these events took place after the writing of Mark’s Gospel.
If we think of this text as being an opportunity for Jesus to teach his disciples, with Peter being that smart-aleck student who challenges the teaching even while pandering to the honor of the teacher, we miss the mark. The case for who Jesus is and what Messiahship means in the Gospel of Mark is being laid out before us so that we ourselves are able to declare who and whose we are. This passage is nothing less than the trial, or deciding debate, that will determine the role of the Messiah for the rest of Mark.
PUTTING UP THE WALLS
The trial or debate between Peter and Jesus is not a trial
or debate that is concluded in Scripture. It continues through every generation.
We all are invited to engage what it means to take up one’s cross and follow
just as Peter does.
When we enter into the debate, Jesus again tells us to stand behind him both as impediment with worldly thoughts and as follower taking up the cross. Christ tells us that Messiahship is not about worldly titles with power over others, because, in fact, Messiahship is about service to one another and a relationship that recognizes suffering as part of life, as rejection as part of life, and yes, death as part of life too.
If we are quick to claim the cross as a burdensome pain in the death-seeking world of guilt and sin, we lose the promise of the empty cross. We lose sight of Jesus going to the cross once for all where our pious dourness is without merit. We fail to appreciate that the empty cross of resurrection leads us into life—a life that defies and overcomes death. We evade and purposefully ignore the fact that the cross is about living life, that God’s kingdom is engaged/drawn near.
The question is whether we will be raised up into the life that also raises others.
· • What does Messiah mean to us?
· • What does it mean to deny oneself in today’s world?
· • What does it mean to take up your cross in order to engage the burdens of the day?
· • What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
· • What does the social contract we have with one another look like when we see Jesus before us?
· • Are we waiting our turn to rebuke him or are we walking in the footprints of eternal life?
HANGING THE TRIM
We stand in the doorway of possibility today. Many of the
systemic oppressions of our U.S. culture have been revealed. In the years to come,
when we are asked who we followed during this time, will we be able to say that
we denied our self-complacence, took our cross, and followed Jesus’
resurrection ways of life? Or will we fear suffering, rejection,
and death? The jury is still out.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” – attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
“We need to see that the good life is something that is about us. We are on journeys of mutual transformation. Our calling is to be part of a community that’s moving in transformation, toward what God has called us to be.” Christine Jeske, UpWords podcast by Upper House, 2/15/21
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