O Lord, we pray, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
To really get hold of the significance of today's gospel reading with its talk of the cross and of suffering and dying and being raised you need to know what happened just minutes earlier in the scene.
Jesus has led his disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi, and there he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They tell him - "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
Then he asks them - "But what about you?" Who do you say I am?"
And Peter answers "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus answers Peter's assertion by saying that Peter is truly blessed - that this confession has been revealed to him by God the Father and then he says to Peter that on him he would build his church - an everlasting church - and to him he would give "the keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
And then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
There today's reading begins - with the words
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Notice the word that repeated twice in this single verse, the word that Peter reacts to immediately by taking Jesus aside and attempting to rebuke Jesus saying "Never Lord! This shall never happen to you."
I refer to the word "must".
I must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. I must be killed be killed - and on the third day be raised to life.
I think we can understand where Peter is at. Many of us feel the same way today as Peter felt then.
It makes no sense to him that the Messiah, the Son of The Living God, must suffer and die.
It makes no sense to him that the King over Israel, the one promised of old to arise from the line of David and to rule over David's kingdom, must suffer many things at the hands of the very people who should welcome him with open arms.
It makes no sense at all that a dear friend - a holy man - a righteous man - a man destined to rule God's own people should be speaking of defeat instead of victory - of disgrace instead of honour - of an ignoble and early death - instead of a glorious and long life - and saying that it MUST be so.
Peter simply doesn't hear what Jesus is saying - and what he does hear - he doesn't want to accept.
And Jesus condemns that lack of hearing - that lack of accepting - that lack of understanding by saying to Peter:
"Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
And then by telling all the disciples, who have been listening to this exchange between Peter and Jesus:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself (there is that word again) and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it...".
Have you ever wondered why throughout the gospels Jesus rebukes demons who identify him as the Son of Man and warns his disciples to not tell others that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living of God?
When I first started reading the Bible in my late teens and early twenties it struck me as very strange.
I mean is not our whole faith based on the understanding that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh?
- that he is the promised shoot arising out of the stump of Jesse?
- that he is the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham and to Moses, to David and to Jeremiah and to Isaiah and all the prophets?
Indeed, isn't it the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal this very thing to us, much as Jesus says to Peter at Caesarea Philippi that he is blessed because the Father has revealed it to him?
"Jesus - You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Why can't we say it?? Why can't we tell the whole world - right now - today?"
Well, of course, we can. But at the very beginning the disciples were told not to.
And the reason for that is because the people of the time, the faithful people, the hopeful people, who awaited the Messiah, would, upon hearing the news, fail - much as Peter failed - to hear the message of the Messiah.
The message concerning his life- I must suffer.
- I must be killed and on the third day rise.
And the message about their lives - If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
We see it today in some churches - this failure to hear what the Messiah is all about, and what the Messiah, the Christ expects, indeed demands, of his followers.
We see it where forgiveness is proclaimed without requiring repentance, where baptism is practised without requiring that one be a part of the body of Christ, where communion is offered without the need for confession and reconciliation and where wealth and health is promised if you just believe - rather than the service and sacrifice, the humility and the self-giving that is the sign of our calling, and indeed the sign of sainthood.
Someone once said: "Jesus promised his disciples three things - they would be entirely fearless, absurdly happy, and always in trouble.".
That's not the kind of message most people want to hear.
Trouble we already have.
What we want is a world without trouble -
a world where all our problems are taken away with the snap of the fingers
a world where our enemies are made to vanish - just like that,
a world of peace and plenty and happiness,
a world where we and those we love can have everything a person desires.
That is what the Messiah is supposed to do - the Messiah is supposed to make our world better, to bring in the age of peace and plenty with one quick snap of the fingers and - if there must be a bit of fighting at the very beginning to get rid of those who oppress us, well, it will be a glorious affair, one with no injury or cost to the good guys, one where the enemy will be routed completely and where those who have fought for the king will be honoured in their victory with him, and the world will be safe forevermore....
From the moment that Peter and the other disciples recognized Jesus as the Messiah, from that time Jesus began to explain to them that he must suffer and that he must be killed and on the third day rise.
I would love to be able to tell you that this isn't the way things must be.
But God's ways - praise be to God - are not our ways.
The emblem our faith is not a crown - but a cross.
And the field of battle upon which our Lord wins his victory is not the sand of Judah and of Palestine but the hearts of men and women like you and I.
And what he fights against - and what we fight against with him, is not an enemy of flesh and blood, but rather the principalities and powers of this world, the world's way of doing things - that way which began when the serpent suggested to Eve that she could become like God if she simply reached out her hand and took the fruit that God said she should not eat.
I am not much of a gardener - but I do know a couple of things. The most important of these is that a flower's beauty can be realised only by first being planted in the ground, in the form of a seed.
As it is with seeds that are meant to be flowers - so it is for us - so it is with Christ.
Evil is not overcome by evil.
And a life worth the living is not found by clinging to the life we have, and surrounding it with all the toys that the world affords us.
Rather it is found by letting go of ourselves and our own selfish desires and our own feeble way of understanding things - and being obedient to the one who makes seeds to grow.
Yes Peter, Jesus must suffer and must die - and yes, that seems so wrong - but listen - didn't you also hear him say "and on the third day be raised?"
Or, thinking about the call of Moses which was described in part in our first reading: Yes Moses, I want you to leave the comfortable life you have found here in Midian
- I know you are wanted for murder in Egypt
- I know you can't speak well,
- I know that you require some kind of way of convincing my people you have talked to me,
- I know Moses that even though I AM WHO I AM - the God of your ancestors, has spoken to you, you don't want to go. But haven't you heard me? I have heard my people's cry - and I am going to lead them out of bondage and bring them to this very mountain to worship me - if you but do as I ask.
Or again - Yes Ricky - I know that I am asking to go an extra mile when - in an ideal world - you shouldn't even have had to go the first. And yes, I know that Lam King and Amy don't deserve your time and your care after allthat they have done to hurt themselves and their families. And yes, I know that you have worked hard for what you have and shouldn't have to share it with those who haven't worked at all. I know all that you have done and I know that other people should be taking their turn instead of you - but haven't you heard?!
It is not only about what you are being asked to give up, it is not only - it is not only about taking up my cross and doing my will instead of indulging your own.
It is also about gaining the very thing you and indeed everyone else needs the most: a life worth living - a life that gives life - a life that is joyful and unafraid - a life which death cannot destroy - a life in which the kingdom of God draws near and is lived and shared with all.
Yes, I talk about how you need to die to yourself each day and to put my will first in your lives, and yes, it is not going to be fun or easy - especially at first; - but think about what is coming and what you will become.
Or not.
Praise be to Christ Jesus our Lord who died so we might live and who lives that we never die. Amen
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