What Would Jesus Do?
March 15, 2009
Mark 8:31-37
What Would Jesus Do?
How many of you came here this morning because you believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
How many of you came here this morning because you want to
thank God for the salvation he has given you in Jesus Christ?
And how many of you came here this morning to learn more about
what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Good! Because that
is what our Scripture passage addresses today! So hear the word of the Lord!
27Jesus went on with his
disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he
asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And
they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still
others, one of the prophets.” 29He asked them, “But who
do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the
Messiah.” 30And he sternly ordered them not to tell
anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach
them 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. 32He said all this quite
openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But
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.”
34He 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. 35For 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. 36For what will it profit them to
gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what
can they give in return for their life? 38Those 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 8:31-37
If you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, you’d better be
prepared for surprises! In
the Kingdom of God things just don’t work the way we are accustomed
to them working. The
Kingdom of God is the place where the last are first, where the
greatest is the least, where the foolish confound the wise, and where
those willing to lose their lives gain their lives! No wonder it was said of the
early church that these were the people who were turning the world
upside down.
So if you are looking for a comfortable faith, don’t look to
Jesus because the Jesus we meet in the Bible is anything but
comfortable.
That was the uncomfortable lesson that Peter learned at
Caesarea Philippi! You
see, things were going really well.
Crowds were gathering wherever they went. Jesus was performing miracles
right and left. Word about Jesus was spreading like wildfire! And Peter must have thought
that they were very near the moment when Jesus would reveal himself as
the Messiah and the whole world would recognize him for who he was,
bow down at his feet, and life would be comfortable—very
comfortable.
After all, that is what Peter had been taught to expect. When the Messiah comes,
everything would be grand. No
more sickness. No more
poverty. No more war. No more Romans. No more discomfort.
So when Jesus made the announcement that he would suffer, be
rejected, and be killed, Peter didn’t even hear the words “rise
again.” And as my
friend, Sherry, points out, Peter then did what any proper associate
pastor would do, he pulled Jesus aside to set him straight!
And I want you—for just a moment—to try and imagine what
Peter saw when he looked into Jesus’ eyes. Can you imagine what it must
have felt like for Peter—full of righteous indignation and sure that
he was right—to look into the eyes of Jesus and know that somehow he
had totally missed the point?
We come here each Sunday to celebrate the fact that Jesus gave
his life for us. We come
prepared to confess our sins and receive forgiveness that we truly
don’t deserve. Most of
us gathered here know what Peter seemed to not understand. We know that Jesus would
suffer, that he would be rejected (and rejected by Peter no less!),
and that he would die on a cross—for us! And we are grateful that
because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are no longer held hostage by sin,
death and evil.
But if we stop there, we too have missed the point.
This past week, I was reading an article by our Bishop in which
he pointed out what he felt was the biggest problem with the movie,
The Passion of Christ. He
said that the movie made it seem like the cross was simply something
that happens only to Jesus. But listen to what Jesus said about the
cross: “If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Mark 8:34b
So let me ask you what I asked you earlier. How many of you are here today
because you want to learn what it means to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ?
Remember several years ago, when it was real popular to wear
the bracelets with the letters WWJD on them? WWJD—what would Jesus do? And that is a really
great question for those who call themselves disciples/followers of
Jesus Christ to ask!
The problem is that we are tempted to give simple answers to
that question.
What would Jesus do? Well,
Jesus would be nice to his cranky neighbor. He would put some money in the
offering plate if he felt it went to a good cause. He would do simple random acts
of kindness, such as letting cars merge into his lane or dispensing a
few extra lengths of paper towel in the public bathroom. He might even take an afternoon
or two to serve a meal at the homeless shelter.
But while all of these are wonderful things for Christians to
do, they are simply too comfortable—too easy—to be true Christian
discipleship.
What would Jesus do? The answer to that question is best
answered by asking the question, “What DID Jesus do?” Jesus suffered—for our sake! Jesus was rejected—for our
sake! Jesus was crucified,
dead, and buried—for our sake! Jesus
was raised to new life—for our sake!
And that means that those who wish to follow in the footsteps
of Jesus are called to do the same thing Jesus did—deny ourselves,
take up our cross, and then—and only then—will we be following
Jesus!
Now I know there are plenty of preachers out there right now
ready to tell you that Christianity is all about having a more
fulfilled and easy life. They
preach sermons on 10 steps to a better marriage, better sex life and
better finances. But if
you’ve spent much time reading the gospels, you’ve probably
discovered that Jesus isn’t very concerned with his followers having
easy lives!
We ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus says, “Sell all you
have and follow me.” We
ask, “Can I go back and bury my father?” And Jesus says “Follow
me and let the dead bury the dead!” We ask, “Can we be your
disciples?” And Jesus answers, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot
be my disciple. Whoever
does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus said he came so that we could have life—and life
abundant, but Jesus never said he came to give us an easy and
comfortable life. In fact,
what Jesus is saying is that our lives are fuller and more abundant
when we give up our desire for a comfortable life in order to give
ourselves for the sake of others.
This is what we were created for!
We were created to be in community with others. We were created for good works. We were created to be in
ministry with God. And it is only when we give our lives fully to God
and those God loves that we are able to live our lives abundantly.
You see God wants so much more for us than we want for
ourselves! We may want
comfortable, easy, barren and boring lives. But God wants to give us
so much more—God wants to give us challenging, productive, and
abundant lives. He wants
to give us lives that are much more than simply long—but lives with
meaning; lives that make a difference in this broken world; lives that
help bring others a taste of the Kingdom of God!
A Christian’s life should be cross-shaped—reaching up
toward God and out toward the world God loves. And a cross-shaped life is
vulnerable.
Now here is an uncomfortable thought. What if denying ourselves and
taking up our cross means opening our hearts—our lives—the very
essence of our being—to others?
What if losing our lives means being in such an open, loving
relationship with others that we risk hurt and betrayal? After all, isn’t that what
Jesus did for us?
Just look at our passage today. For three years, he walked and
talked with those twelve men. He
shared his heart with them. He
taught them. He ate with
them. He partied with them. He cried with them. And all the while, he knew. Jesus knew they would betray
him. He knew they would
abandon him. And still he
risked the hurt and the betrayal because he loved them and because he
knew that most of them could be better men than they ever
dreamed—eventually.
Jesus opened his heart and his arms to embrace them and us and
in doing so made himself vulnerable to our sins and our betrayals. And as my friend, Dorothy Ann,
pointed out to me this week, if Jesus had not made himself vulnerable
by reaching out to the world in love, they never could have nailed him
to the cross.
But how often do we seek to protect ourselves? How often do we
hide our true selves from one another for fear of rejection? How often do we fail to reach
out to others for fear that they will hurt us, betray us, or abandon
us? So we hunker down,
arms wrapped around ourselves and our lives become dry and barren and
without meaning.
One of the ways I believe that the church exists as a foretaste
of the Kingdom of God is by serving as one of the few places in this
world where we can be vulnerable to each other. As the book of James reminds
us, the church is the place where we should be able to come to confess
our sins to each other, asking prayer from each other, and forgiving
each other. And you
can’t do any of those things without being vulnerable to one
another.
That’s why I maintain that gossip is one of the greatest
enemies of the church. Satan
must roll on the floor laughing when church members start sharing
tasty tidbits of gossip with one another. The powers and
principalities must celebrate when we start judging each other and
tearing each other apart. When
the church ceases to be a sanctuary where we can be vulnerable with
each other, then the church begins to fail to be the church and
nothing can make the powers of sin, death and evil happier. Because when we cease to be
vulnerable with each other, we hunker down. We clothe ourselves with our
Shiny, Happy Christian masks and we cease to be the place where people
can be honest about themselves and their need for God. And the church ceases to be the
church!
Can we deny ourselves so we can be the kind of church God calls
us to be? Can we deny our
need to have everyone fit our expectations? Can we deny our desire to share
or judge others struggles and failings?
Can we risk being asked questions we can’t answer or being
forced to ask hard questions we’d rather not ask? Can we risk coming in contact
with people who are different than us, who have different opinions
than us, and who may challenge our thinking? Can we become vulnerable to
others by reaching out to those in need and risking that they may not
appreciate or accept us? Are
we willing to take on the burden of caring for the least, the last,
and the lost?
Let me ask again, how many of you are here today to learn how
to be better disciples of Jesus Christ?
Jesus didn’t come to simply give you a free ticket to heaven. Jesus didn’t come to make you
a better person. Jesus
came so that you could reach up to God, die to yourself, and reach out
to the world he loves. Following
Jesus means being willing to be open yourself to others. It means working to make a safe
place in this broken and frightening world where people are safe to be
themselves, to confess their sins and their need for others. Following Jesus means being
willing to risk it all for the sake of Jesus and those Jesus loves!
Following Jesus is rarely comfortable, but I guarantee it is
well worth the price!
Have you decided to follow Jesus?
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