15 September 2024 Pentecost 17
Proverbs 1.20-33 Psalm 19 James 2.18-26 Mark 8.27-38
I would like to start this morning by asking three questions that are deeply intertwined. What gives you the greatest joy in life? What creates for you the deepest sense of purpose? When do you feel most alive, most true to the person you believe God created you to be?
Think about these for a minute, and we shall return to them soon.
This morning’s gospel passage is intriguing, elusive, utterly captivating, and it is also crucial to understanding Mark’s Gospel and the invitation into the kingdom of God it seeks to share. Up to this point Mark has told us that no one is quite sure who Jesus is, and so when Peter finally realises, and declares, that Jesus is God’s Messiah, the one chosen and anointed to deliver Israel from oppression, we can breathe a sigh of relief. But, despite his declaration, Peter clearly has not understood what this title really means. Because he rebukes Jesus when he talks about the road to the cross instead of one leading to glory, or at least Peter’s idea of glory.
Peter, it seems, suffers from chronic ‘foot in mouth’ disease, and at many levels so do we. We affirm Jesus as Messiah, yet we tame and trim that image to fit our own ideals. We want a strong God, a God who heals illnesses, who provides us with prosperity, who guarantees our security, urges our military and sporting teams to victory, and generally keeps us happy, healthy, and wise.
But that is not what Jesus offers. Jesus points to a God who meets us in our vulnerability, suffering and loss. A God who meets us in those times when we really need God, when all we had worked for, hoped for, and striven for, has fallen apart and we realise we are only mortal, incapable of saving ourselves and desperately in need of a God who meets us just where we are. And, Jesus tells us, God will show up just where we least expect God to be, which means we do not get the God we want, but we definitely get the God we need.
It is one thing to proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’, it is another thing entirely to live a faith of love. The outrageous love Jesus calls us to embody is risky, courageous and life-changing. Peter’s discipleship focus was the eventual glory; and, it seems, he found Jesus’ teaching about where this would lead too difficult to accept. But Jesus developed his wisdom through listening to the poor, the downtrodden, the marginalised, the fisher folk and vineyard workers; he knew he needed to engage with them and fight for their human rights.
When Jesus increases the conversation circle and invites the crowd to join the disciples and him, he outlines what the life of those who follow him looks like, he says it means denying themselves and taking up their cross. And before we all go ‘whoa is me, my life is all about the things I can no longer do or enjoy’, that is not what Jesus was talking about when he said ‘deny yourself’. I think he was suggesting that what we know as ‘life’ isn’t ‘real life’ and we need to die to those illusions in order to be born into the abundant life God wants for us. Jesus was trying to tell them, and us, that life is not about what we ‘have’ or ‘can buy’, or ‘earn’; life is like love, it cannot be bought or won or earned, it can only be given away. The more you give it away, the more of it you have. Only when you give your life away for the sake of others, will you discover it. And one of those ‘others’ in need of our attention is the planet. Can we overcome the narratives and myths that have captured and still hold us on a dangerous industrial path of extraction of the earth’s resources. Our planet has already reached ‘tipping point’, in that we have arrived at an existential point where our exploitative nature is confronted by a planet that shouts ‘no more’. We need to strive to build plans that are mutually beneficial to ourselves and nature. And, in an intriguing twist, we will find that when we fulfill the needs of others, including the needs of the planet, we will meet our own deepest needs.
As we travel through this Season of Creation, can we gaze at the universe to touch the earth and breathe its atmosphere with reverence and awe. Can we intentionally and purposefully assist people to engage with the natural world, where a deep commitment to the integrity of creation is developed and where we discover the household of creation in practical ways through observation and touch. Because we will only protect what we have grown to love. And can we also discover a theology of creation which dissolves all notions of human superiority. We are made in the image of God, which means that we can declare the glory of God in creation. We are not superior or separate from the rest of creation, all creation bears the imprint of God’s fingers and we have a unique role as earth keepers and protectors of creation. We too, bear sacramental testimony to the working of God’s hand.
This passage in Mark is the turning point in his gospel where Jesus moves from teaching and preaching through and around Galilee, to his relentless and steadfast journey to the cross. Jesus is challenging our ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘scarcity’ view of life and telling us that the only things we can hold onto are the things we give away, like love, and mercy, and kindness and compassion.
Which brings me back to the three questions I started with, what did you say gives you the greatest joy in life; what creates for you the deepest sense of purpose in life; and when do you feel most alive, most true to the person you believe God created you to be. I suspect the answer to those questions was not something you bought, or earned; but was something rooted in relationship, in acts of service, and maybe even in acts of what the world calls ‘sacrifice’ when you cared for another.
Let us consider – what does it mean for us to take up our cross and follow Christ, the Lord of all creation, in our current era of ecological devastation. Self-denial and cross-bearing are not about being less happy, they are about discovering the real and abundant life that comes in, and through, sacrificial love in service to another, including service to our environment and planet.