by Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Jesus began to teach his 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.”
—Mark 8:31-38 (NRSV)
Several years ago I worked as a paralegal. One of my jobs was to take notes at depositions. Many of these depositions involved asking witnesses to tell us what happened during a workplace event or accident where several people were present. I found it interesting that a group of people could be in the same place at the same time seeing and hearing the same thing and yet their accounts of what they had seen and heard could be completely differently. Each was absolutely sure of what happened. Some people were – to be charitable – fibbing. But most of the time they were sincere that what they were reporting was correct. How could that be? How could that happen?
I think the answer is not so much in what they experienced in that moment but in the experiences they brought with them. We are not robots, not walking, talking video cameras. We are complex. We have heads and hearts that act as filters. And we bring those with us into everything we do. I bring this up because it relates to the portion of the gospel immediately before this one. We don’t get to hear today but it helps us understand the portion that we do hear.
In the earlier verses Jesus has asked his disciples what the crowds are saying about him. Who do they think that he is? The disciples report that people are layering on those filters. They are thinking in terms of the past, of the heroes of their tradition. So they think he is a second Elijah or John the Baptist come back to life.
It’s Peter, though, that sees who Jesus truly is. Peter declares that Jesus is the one, true Messiah. He brings to that declaration every part of his experience with Jesus. Others don’t see it. But Peter does. And he is all in. All in with everything about Jesus. He left his life behind when Jesus called him. He’s followed him for three years. The thought of Jesus suffering and the ministry coming to an ignominious end is an unbearable loss for Peter and he lashes out at Jesus out of that pain and despair.
Jesus’ response to Peter resonates with us centuries later: the key to surviving through times of great suffering, will be to focus on what comes from God, on what is divine and not on things of the world. “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things,” he tells Peter.
Turning heart and mind towards what God has created and not what humans have created: how do we do this this Lenten season? It’s a good start to choose to welcome the most basic parts of God’s creation, to make an affirmative choice to spend time with the most basic divine things we can think of – and stay there awhile.
God works in the basics. Give yourself time to sit quietly. Run your hands through soil, hold flower petals or weeds, feel the warmth of the sun, listen to the song of a bird or the wind blowing through the trees, take in a full breath of air. The presence of the divine is in all these things. You won’t find the constructs of people there. We let go of the influence and distractions of bright shiny objects of the world so that God can work in us.
That’s not to say that God doesn’t create through us. I believe God does. God sends us prophets and angels to shine a light in our darkness. Listen to the voice of a friend or watch children playing and you’ll see divine presence. If you think back on a time in your life when you were in despair, when life seemed too hard and the future so uncertain that you wanted to give up perhaps there was someone there for you that brought light or lightness, that gave you enough relief to get to the next day. God is at work in these times.
Maybe you are someone’s prophet or angel. Maybe you’re the one who listens to a friend or neighbor struggling with a loss. Maybe you’re the one who takes a meal to someone who is ill. Maybe you’re the one who offers words of encouragement. Maybe you’re the one who has a talent or a skill that can rescue someone from despair. God creates divine love through you.
A reference to carrying a cross filled ancient people with horror. They knew the reality of Roman cruelty. Later they would come to recognize Jesus’ words in their full context: “If you can recognize your own love affair with the world and then discard it, then you may follow me. If you understand that the life I call you to lead will likely cause you to suffer but have confidence in resurrection life, then you may follow me.”
Ancient people quickly learned what we are invited to learn every day. The life we are called to live as Christ-followers is filled with paradox. We gain by losing. We are saved by letting go of self-interest. The first become last. The last, the despised, become first. This is no happiness gospel. This is no prosperity gospel. But it is a true gospel.
We all have to make choices all the time, some big, some very small. Each choice reflects our own discipleship that altogether gives a telling picture of our commitment to love what God loves and set aside what God does not love.
How trusting and faithful are we? Can we do better? Let’s try during this Lent to be the disciples Christ calls us to be, disciples who truly choose what is of God and follow Jesus to the cross. Then nothing in this life can touch us for, as Paul says, “Neither death nor life, neither things present nor things yet to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Thanks be to God. Amen.