Isaiah 50: 4 – 9a, James 3: 1 – 12, Mark 8: 27 - 38
In the book of Mark we have reached a pivotal point to be at. Asking the Disciples who he is has brought (from Peter anyway) the recognition that He is the Christ. The Messiah, the Holy and chosen One!. We know John is dead and as for being one of the Prophet, possibly but “who do you think I am, he asks the Disciples.
Of course, Jesus does what so often He does when there’s a juicy bit of news footage for he tells them not to tell anyone. ‘He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”
Wow, I’d be happy for someone to tell me we were going to win a war but not so sure I’d be happy to hear the details of losses and means of achieving it! Give me the joyful bits! And I imaging that having got the first question right, Peter thought he was on a bit of a roll, perhaps the star Disciple and feeling that this wasn’t the best marketing stance takes Jesus to one side.
“Can you imagine the conversation? Perhaps it goes like this: “Hey Lord, you know all that stuff you’re teaching about you, the Anointed one, being be rejected, killed and then rising from the dead three days later. Don’t think it’s helpful. Stick to the ‘happy bits’. Trust me!”
Of course Jesus takes it pretty well when He says, “Get behind me, Satan!" (Literally – get out of my sight) he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
What is interesting just stopping for breath and thinking is that in our James 3: 1-3 passage, we find the words, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.” Didn’t Peter do this very thing in that revelation and worldly use combined almost seamlessly? Control of our tongue is difficult and the fact that often what wells up from us by it reflects our heart and head and therefore shows where the ship is going and who has control!
Back to the main picture we find Jesus telling the Disciples things that the Isaiah passage have already told us today. About being mocked, spat upon and handed over to be scourged. And yet He will keep ‘An instructed tongue’ not one that would perhaps bring down curses upon those who mistreat Him so! Silent as a lamb is before the slaughterer. Take some time to read the ‘Suffering Servant’ narrative of Isaiah 50.
Jesus tells those around Him, "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 and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"
There’s nothing clever here. There’s not tension between faith and intellectual reception. It’s not a struggle between wanting to live (lack of faith) and being happy to die (great faith) and the shame of yet again being in a place where we hear people cry, ”O you of little faith!” It’s about doing. About being public.
When Jesus went to the cross it was a big thing. There were processions and crowds and it was a very public spectacle. You couldn’t go to the Cross privately and in fact this was part of the sentence – the humiliation, the crowd participation.
This is a call to realise that we need to walk a path which will definitely bring ridicule and abuse, a path that will most likely be costly. I tire greatly of people who tell me that people become Christians because they need a crutch. This is totally absurd because to be a Christian is to put our own demands for things, money, position, power and the like to one side. It requires a commitment. A commitment to God to keep His laws and live as he commands us. A commitment to others, whom we call Church, to love, care for them and serve them. A commitment to serve those very people who would sneer and label us wrongly.
Or there’s the path where one lives for self, settles scores and embraces bitterness and the accumulation of all the things just spoken of and lives for oneself today – dying for oneself tomorrow! Now that's what having a crutch to get you through life looks like people!
“What can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.” Nope - It can’t be bought, can't be earned – just received and lived (and given).
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