1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Make no mistake, the life to which Jesus is calling His disciples is radically other than what our world preaches. The message from God’s Word today for the Second Sunday in Lent is taken from Mark 8:27-38 and is entitled, “The Cost of Following Jesus,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. “Stop the ride! I want to get off! I didn’t realize it was going to be like this!” That is what I wanted to say as the, “Zippin Pippin” rattled and shook and threatened to jump off the rails into the Bay of Green Bay at Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, WI. Against my better judgment, and despite my utter disdain for roller coasters, I had agreed to ride along with my sons, Eddie and Marty, on our family trip a few years ago to Bay Beach. My younger son, Marty, desperately wanted to take his turn on the iconic wooden coaster that Elvis Presley had been known to ride on back in the 1970s, but Marty was too short to ride by himself. No one else in the family would bite, so I agreed. I could not resist the fatherly impulse to play the hero.
3. During the slow climb out of the gate, it didn’t seem so bad. The view was impressive. The pace was easy. The mounting excitement and the shared experience almost made me glad to be there. But then we hit the crest and all hell broke loose. Well, it was not that bad. But I am pretty sure my shrieking relieved both of my boys of any illusion they were sitting with super-dad.
4. This vivid memory of my desire to stop the roller coaster came to mind as I read the appointed gospel reading for the second Sunday in Lent. Peter did not shriek quite as loudly as I did, but his words to Jesus were no less embarrassing. He did not like where things were headed. He wanted off.
5. The text from Mark’s Gospel begins with Jesus asking His disciples an important question. “Who do people say that I am?” Then He asked it again, but more personally. “Who do YOU say that I am?” Peter stepped up and answered like a hero. “You are the Christ” (29). Mark keeps Peter’s response short. But do not miss the narrative significance. Peter was confessing Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, and the one promised by the prophets of old. God’s people had been expecting the Messiah for centuries. I imagine Peter bursting with excitement as he made this good confession.
6. But then, before he had a chance to enjoy the view, the wheels started to come off. Jesus began to teach them He, “...must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed” (31). That was not what Peter had in mind. He took Jesus aside and told Him to stop the ride. Hell may not have broken loose (yet), but Peter found himself in league with Hell’s prince. “Get behind me, Satan!” said Jesus to him in front of the disciples.
7. As if this were not humiliating enough, Jesus proceeded to make an example of Peter to the crowd, too. He called the crowd together with the disciples (34) and made sure everyone understood how mistaken Peter had been: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it” (34-35). In other words, the ride was not going to be smooth. Following Jesus would not be comfortable. Indeed, it would require losing your life. There would be a cost to following Jesus.
8. Mark does not tell us how many people left that day. The ride is not smooth for us, either. Losing your life, denying yourself, bearing your cross; this is no spin on a carousel. It is the problem we, as Christians, constantly struggle to accept. Life in Christ is a life of sacrifice and suffering. Period. We wish it were not so. We wish it would be different, but Jesus is crystal clear. Following Him faithfully is a life of humble submission, not only to His rule as Lord, but also in a sinful world that rejected Him. Prepare for difficulty. Do not be surprised when life shakes and rattles and jumps off the rails.
9. Our discomfort with suffering leads us to all manner of unfaithfulness. It leads us to instruct God as to what He should really be doing, and to question Him when he does not obey us. It leads us to take matters into our own hands, to fudge on His commands, and to imitate the world’s deceitful and dishonest ways. It leads us to abuse power, serve ourselves, and plug our ears to the parts of Jesus’ message which do not conveniently fit with our programs.
10. Are we ashamed of Jesus because we might lose things of this world? Martin Luther stated, “Whatever you love most is your god.” Is that money; what money buys; your job; family; lifestyle? The meaning of Jesus’ life and death was service for mankind (Mk 10:45). Being a disciple of Christ means devoting your life in Christ-like service. Would you give up the selfish aspects of your lifestyle for the sake of Christ?
11. Our world offers many pleasures for our flesh and emotions, but Jesus can top the best. He has gained for us life everlasting. But following Jesus also entails sacrifice. It’s a question of profit or loss: you could carve out your own little kingdom in this world, but aiming for such a goal means the eventual loss of your very self. Will you sacrifice eternal treasures for cheap worldly trinkets? Will you sacrifice everlasting life for the pleasures of the moment?
12. Are we ashamed of Jesus because we might lose “things of men”? Everyone wants acceptance and recognition. Are we afraid of ridicule because we believe life comes from a Man who was executed on a cross (v 34)? Is that too much foolishness for our friends? Those who reject the necessity of Jesus’ suffering side with Satan like those in the Christian Science and the New Age Movement.
13. Jesus offers us “the things of God” (v 33): acceptance and life despite the suffering. When Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain in the dark days of World War II, he frankly offered his people only “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” Jesus is honest with no false pretenses, offering no easy shortcut. Though we may suffer, we shall overcome. He gives us the victory (Jn 16:33; Rom 8:37).
14. Jesus calls us to say no to our natural selves (v 34), promising that those who lose their lives for his sake find them (v 35). Denying yourself does not mean self-humiliation or rejecting yourself as a person of value to God. Jesus defines what following him means: deny yourself and take up your cross. You surrender yourself either to God or to Satan. If you live for yourself, you are really living for the devil. But if you live for God, you spend life in service. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship [London: SCM, 1959] 79). In so dying we live.
15. If we sacrifice our self to Jesus, he shall preserve our self truly, completely, eternally. There’s a significant paradox here: The way to self-fulfillment is the way of self-denial. I am who I am by discovering who Jesus is. “Who am I? . . .Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, learn I am Thine!” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison [London: SCM, 1956] 165).
16. Peter’s inability to accept what Jesus said about suffering prevented him from hearing what Jesus said about resurrection and life. “The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again” (34). Death was coming, that is true, not only for Jesus but also for anyone who followed Him. But that would not be the end. Resurrection was also coming. Those who lose their lives for Christ’s sake would find it (35).
17. That is the promise that Jesus proclaims to us this Second Sunday in Lent. Resurrection is coming for us. Salvation is coming for us. It is coming for all who, in Christ, lose themselves. It is for all who give up their privilege, who sacrifice their preference, who surrender their position, who relinquish their power. Make no mistake, the life to which Jesus is calling His disciples is radically other than what our world preaches. Today Jesus calls us to hear, believe, and be transformed by the incredible promise of resurrection life in Him. Yes, there is a cost to following Jesus, but the benefits are out of this world. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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