Pentecost 15B
Mark 8.27-38
September 12/13, 2009
How many of you are good test takers? Some of you. I’m a really good test taker, unless the subject is math and then forget it. But on any other given subject, give me enough time to study and I do pretty well.
It’s not that I’m particularly brilliant; it’s just that I’ve found that the key is to be able to regurgitate information. Give me a book or a lecture and the ability to take notes and I can do alright giving you that same information right back on a piece of paper.
The disciples were given a test, a relatively easy test and they passed with flying colors: Who do people say that I am? Heck, all they had to do was regurgitate what they had heard on the street. Anybody can do that.
Let me ask you the same question: Who do people say that Jesus is? What do you hear on the street or as you read your Bibles or attend your studies? Who do people say that Jesus is?
(Answers outloud from the floor)
The real test for the disciples came with the next question: Who do you say that I am? Who do you know me to be? What is your personal experience of my being? It’s a far different question. It’s a far different test.
I’m going to ask you to take a test with me this morning. I’d like you to get in groups, not to worry, you don’t have to pass the test on your own; but I’d like you to group up with about four or five other people and share who Jesus is to you. Who do you say that he is? I’m going to give you a few minutes to answer that question and then we’ll take notes together on our corporate knowledge of Jesus.
So, who do we say that he is:
Those are great answers, really they are. You all passed. Good job.
But then again, Peter gave a great answer too, didn’t he? Peter was in the front row with the absolutely correct answer, “ooh, ooh, I know, I know, you’re the Messiah.” (He probably got an “A”)
Knowing the right answer doesn’t do us any good unless it has an implication for our life. Knowing Jesus means following Jesus in the way of complete and utter sacrifice.
So, I can’t pronounce that you’ve passed this test until you take part 2. What does it mean to you to know and follow Jesus? What implications does knowing Jesus have for your life?
Get back in your groups and please answer that question: What are the implications of following Jesus in your life? What does it mean to know and follow Jesus?
(Answers)
Good job. Again, all of you get passing grades.
It makes a difference doesn’t it? Knowing Jesus and following Jesus makes us different people. Jesus calls us to be outside of ourselves, to give ourselves to one another, even to the stranger. Jesus is constantly challenging our perceptions of the world; of what is right and what is wrong.
But you know, I struggled mightily with this weeks text. Jesus words in Mark are probably some of the best known words in all of scripture: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For me, these are some of the hardest words I can ever hear. I don’t want to deny myself, I never want to have to carry a cross and thus I am not sure I can follow Jesus.
I can deny myself things to a certain extent, but I’m not so sure I can ever deny my own self. I watched my grandmother suffer from Alzheimers. She lost her self. She didn’t know who she was anymore. The self was gone.
I never want to experience that. I’m not sure any of us can.
And to pick up a cross, to offer our own bodies to sure and certain death; what else could he be talking about, I’m not a big fan of that either. And what good would it do? If I were to give my life over it would gain nothing for you or me.
How about the rest of you? Did I mention there’s a part 3 to this test? All of you willing to completely give up everything you know and have in this life; all of you willing to lay down your lives—to hang on a cross literally, line up right here.
We are just not capable of following Jesus down that path of self degradation, humiliation and ultimate sacrifice. By the world’s standard’s I suppose that means we’re a bunch of flunkies. But then, so was Peter—he couldn’t pass part 3 of the test either.
The cross of sacrifice for salvation belongs to Christ alone. Because of the cross of Christ we are free to live our lives in praise and thanksgiving of the one who walked the way of shame and death for us. Because of the cross of Christ we are free to live in this community, sharing with one another and the world the amazing love of Jesus, the Messiah, who names us and claims us and makes us his own. Because of the cross of Christ, the test has been passed for us. Amen
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