St. Patrick: Intimacy with God

The 15th Sunday After Pentecost September 16, 2012

“Will you pick up your cross and follow me? The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess

I. Introduction. Today’s gospel reading is considered by many to be the very center, the heart, of the Book of Mark. This section summarizes all that has come before and foreshadows that which will follow. At the center of this passage are two pivotal questions posed by Jesus to his disciples: “Who do people say that I am?” and then, “But who do you say that I am?” People in general were still confused about Jesus’ identity. But not Peter. He responded quickly and definitively: “You are the Messiah.” This affirmation clearly demonstrated that Peter was getting it – Jesus was not just a prolific teacher or another in a long line of prophets. Jesus was “The Messiah – the Christ.” Both of the terms -- Messiah and Christ -- are titles used to refer to Jesus and are translated as “the Anointed One.” How good it was and is to be followers of “the Messiah,” “the Christ.” We are traveling in good company!

II. But as we follow the gospel story for today, things head downhill. A brief synopsis: Jesus then tells his disciples that he was going to suffer, die, and rise again. This was the first time he had shared this news. Peter strongly objected, and Jesus quickly rebuked him, saying emphatically “get thee behind me, Satan!” Then Jesus went on to tell his disciples that they would have to pick up their own crosses in order to follow him. He tops it off by saying “for those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake . . . will save it.” The appeal of following Jesus plummeted in a big way. Peter had just encountered one of the core dynamics of the Christian faith. It is paradoxical. To live we must be willing to die; to gain our lives, we must be willing to lose them – The Great Reversal of Christianity.

III. I believe that we all tend to labor under multiple illusions about our faith, our lives, and our futures. We seek to be, and sometimes imagine that we are, in control of our own lives and that Jesus has made deals with us. We think can count on him to help create and sustain the realities we desire. Peter thought that Jesus, “the Anointed One,” was going to free Israel by becoming the political leader who would drive out the Romans. A suffering and dying Jesus did not fit Peter’s reality. I understand our human need to create realities onto which we can project truth and predictability. But Jesus had come for a higher, more profound purpose than to lead a revolutionary political movement. Jesus had come to act as a bridge to God – a human being who in all ways would be one of us, yet also God, the essence of all that is beautiful, perfect, and love-filled. To comprehend that, Peter had to change. Like Peter, to truly comprehend the fullness of who Christ is, we have to change as well. Call it perhaps conversion.

IV. I found part of a deeper understanding about what Jesus asks of us in this week’s Wednesday morning Lectionary Study. There the questions were asked,“What does it really mean to pick up our crosses and Follow Christ? How can we know whether or not we are truly doing that?” I’ve pondered those questions a great deal this week. It’s tempting to call to mind the saints in our tradition, those who have been and still are being martyred for their faith. But as much as these persons provide us with models to live, thinking only of them can be too easy. I believe we need to look for our crosses and our resurrection experiences closer to home.

For example, during the last several weeks we have been experiencing an unusually high number of deaths, illnesses, and crises among our congregation. Some of these events have been sudden, while others have been building for some time. However, what I have found is that even when we are partially prepared for the challenges in our lives, they often bring an element of surprise – even shock and disbelief – each crosses in their own way.

Many of us subscribe to an email daily devotion excerpted from the writings of Henri Nouwen. This summer one of the daily excerpts was about “Taking Up Our Crosses.” Nouwen writes:

Jesus says, “If anyone wants to be follower of mine, let him . . . take up his cross and follow me. He does not say “Make a cross” or “Look for a cross.” Each of us has a cross to carry. There is no need to make one or look for one. The cross we have is hard enough for us! But are willing to take it up, to accept it as our cross?

Maybe we can’t study, maybe we are handicapped, maybe we suffer from depression, maybe we experience conflict in our families, maybe we are victims of violence or abuse. We didn’t choose any of it, but these things are our crosses. We can ignore them, reject them, refuse them, or hate them. But we can also take up these crosses and follow Jesus with them.”

In the gospel, Jesus says, “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?” The Greek word used for life in these verses is “psyche.” It is translated more accurately as “the true self.” Jesus is calling his disciples to find their true selves through following, learning from, and emulating him. This true self is always to be found exactly where each of us is in this very moment of our lives.

V. Conclusion. In other words, our crosses and our resurrection experiences are found in the particularity of each of our lives. As Nouwen said, we don’t have to look elsewhere. In fact, looking elsewhere could be really a way to avoid the call of Jesus Christ to become new people right here and now. Call it perhaps conversion. I once had a gifted and tough spiritual director. He taught me an important lesson. “When you preach,” he said, “don’t only just talk about people who lived thousands of years ago. Have the courage to talk about yourself so that people can see the influence of Christ in your life more clearly.”

Here’s what I’d like to share about myself this morning. I’ve spoken to multiple audiences, hundreds, maybe thousands of times, in my professional life. But every time I get up to preach, I am fearful, and after I finish I often think, “That was just downright disappointing.” From years of work on coming to understand myself, I know, or at least I think I know, where that comes from. In part, a loving, but perfectionistic father who communicated high, unreal expectations and constant comparison with an older sister who had died before I was born and somehow became an angel. I’m not sharing this so you will tell me my sermons are not disappointing; I’m sharing this because it is something I struggle with – day after day, week after week, year after year. I’m sharing this because I have to face these feelings in order to respond to God’s call to preach the Gospel. I have to remind myself that God loves me and that if I respond to his call, each day, he will use even me.

But this sermon is not about my story. It’s about the call for each of us to step out with Christ’s help to become new people. This is why it is so important to worship each week, to pray, to read Scripture each day, and to associate in close ways with other Christians who know us, hold us accountable, and pray for us. We need God’s help to let go of our ego’s voice and listen to the voice of God’s Holy Spirit. The Spirit will acquaint us with our crosses and help us to carry them. Then not only will we carry our crosses with grace, but we will come to live more fully into a life of risk taking and redemption.