Take Up

Mark 8:31-38, CEB

31 Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” 32 He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. 33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

34 After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 35 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. 36 Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? 37 What will people give in exchange for their lives? 38 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Intro

This Lent, we are invited and challenged to ask ourselves what’s up with our souls as we examine our call to get up to something good over the next 40 days. In our “What R U Up 2?” Sermon series, we examine this call to be up to something good as a means of living out a holy Lent. Last week, we examined our call to wade into the troubled waters of life as God stirs us up that we may Come Up better than before, empowered for the work ahead. This week, we continue our journey exploring ways to be up to something good.

If you look around a church, chances are that you will find many crosses. Whether it is stained glass or brass, polished wood or rough, the cross is everywhere. It’s in our sanctuary; it’s in our chapel; it’s around the neck of the acolyte. I wear a pectoral cross each Sunday. People wear them in their daily lives. [I have a wall of crosses in my office, and each one has a story.] No matter what our denomination, no matter how it is incorporated into the architecture of a building, the cross of Jesus Christ is a focal point and key symbol in the life of a Christian church.

Sometimes, we think of the cross as just a symbol. We think about it as representing our faith and what we believe. Yet, no matter how the cross is depicted, it reminds us of Christ’s crucifixion. It reminds us of the bloody, torturous execution of our savior by the Roman Empire. For those in Jesus time and even those in Mark’s, one theologian reminds us, “the cross symbolized hated Roman oppression and was reserved for the lowest social classes. It was the most visible and omnipresent aspect of Rome’s terror apparatus, designed especially to punish criminals and quash slave rebellions. In 71 b.c. the Roman general Crassus defeated the slave-rebel Spartacus and crucified him and six thousand of his followers on the Appian Way between Rome and Capua. A century later in Mark’s day, Nero would crucify and burn Christians who were falsely accused of setting fire to Rome.”

Whether reflecting on the cross in Marks time, or picturing Jesus on the cross covered in blood, a crucifixion is a disturbing image. For some of us, it’s why we are bothered by a crucifix in the catholic church. We don’t want to see the body of Christ on the cross. We would rather think about the miracles and healings. We would rather our Savior triumph over the government and our current political system. We struggle to think of God in the flesh enduring a violent death for our salvation.

In some ways, this is where Peter, and truthfully the disciples, find themselves in our Gospel lesson this morning. Just prior to our text this morning, Jesus has healed the blind man near Bethsaida. And as the disciples are journeying with Jesus to villages near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks who people say that he is, and who the disciples say that he is. Peter answers that he is the Christ or as other translations note, the Messiah. Just as Peter gives name to Jesus as the Christ or as the Messiah, Jesus begins to paint a picture for the disciples just what it means to be the Messiah. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” This was difficult for the disciples to hear, because this was not the Messiah they had searched for. They wanted a conquering hero that would blow away the Roman occupiers. They wanted a reformer who would change the church. Yet, in his telling Jesus informs the disciples that it was all the part of God’s plan. And in his understanding of God’s plans for him, Jesus sets himself up on a collision course with the religious establishment, and with his own disciples.

What Jesus has just revealed is too much for Peter. Peter takes his leader, his brother, his friend, aside and informs him of exactly what a Messiah was supposed to be. You see, in his taking Jesus to the side and his rebuke of Jesus, Peter in attempting to instruct Jesus as to what Jesus should be doing and in doing so, acts like he is a patron. Peter believes that Jesus owes him the correct plan of action that fits his own views. You see the issue in this moment is who is in charge. One would think that Peter would understand this having just referred to Jesus as the Christ. If one truly thinks that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, one would believe that Christ is the one with authority. Christ is the one who should be followed.

As quickly as Peter rebukes Jesus, Jesus rebukes Peter saying “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.” When one thinks in human terms that conflicts with the things of God, one is no longer functioning as a disciple of Jesus, but as a disciple of Satan. Now Satan isn’t neessarily the devil with horn we picture in popular media. Rather, the literal translation means an adversary. In other words, when something is adverse to the ways of God, it is of Satan or, more plainly sinning. This doesn’t mean that we can’t have our own desires. When we put our desires above or against those God has for us, then we fall short.

It’s then that Jesus continues his instructions. Calling the crowds to join the disciples, Jesus says that all who want to come after him must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. So often we think of taking up the cross as going through a difficult time. Theologian John Howard Yoder counters this, writing, “The cross of Calvary was not a difficult family situation, not a frustration of visions of personal fulfillment, a crushing debt, or a nagging in-law; it was the political logically-to-be-expected result of a moral clash with the powers ruling his society.” We often think of fighting with a difficult family member over theology to be taking up the cross for Jesus. But a true taking up of the cross means following after Jesus no matter what.

In so many of these situations, I think we think of the great martyrs of the faith. We think of those who gave their lives for the cause of faith. We think that if our “difficult situations” aren’t taking up the cross, then we must need to be made martyrs for Christ. However, this is a swing too far in the opposite direction. Theologian Karl Bart once remarked that “one cannot try to be a martyr. One can only be ready to be made a martyr.” In other words, our call to take up the cross is about doing what is right, helping those in need, standing up for God’s truth even in unpopular situations. Sometimes, this work is met with success. Other times it is met with arrest, torture, persecution, or even death. In all things, we stick to God’s truth.

As Jesus asks the further questions in our text, we are reminded that in order to follow Jesus, we must examine our lives. Like Peter, in order to truly follow after Jesus, we must let go of some things so that we can take up the cross and follow after Jesus. Other times, we need to take on (take up) the things of God so that we can check ourselves, or bring ourselves back to earth.

The anchor image of our sermon series is a hot air ballon. I don’t know if you know much about hot air balloons, but they use a ballast, or a weight to help stabilize the basket. Often times, these are seen as sandbags. These weights are used to keep the basket on the ground when the balloon is filling up with hot air or from tipping over during windy situations. One can cut off and let go of the weights when you need to gain altitude quickly. So too is this true in our life of discipleship.

As series creator Rev. Dr. McFee reminds us, “The art of using ballast is the art of balance. When do we need to carry the weight, and when do we need to release it? Jesus released the weight of Peter’s rebuke, but he also encouraged us to take on the weight of the cross of suffering. Even as we take up causes of justice and compassion in our discipleship, we have to remember that we can’t only focus on hardship indefinitely. Sometimes we have to let the weight go. We have to let the weight of self-loathing go, too. And also the weight of unreasonable expectations. We must release those things we keep telling ourselves that lead us to believe in our unworthiness. We must let go of the lies we keep believing that prevent us from living the life God has created for us. And when we do, we gain the strength to take up the cross Jesus is encouraging us to carry.”

This is our call in taking up our cross. We must examine our lives to cut the weight of the things holding us back, to take up the things of God, that we might truly be disciples of Jesus Christ. Early Church Father Augustine helps us think of this in terms of the things we do when we are in love. When we are truly in love with someone we examine ourselves. We willingly work on ourselves to eliminate toxic areas of our lives. We gladly learn the things our partner likes and take on new things. We see this as a joy to do. Yet when we think of folks like St. Francis or Dorothy Day, these people offer up joy in the midst of what others may see as suffering.

As Jesus reminds us, “All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.” The word we translate as save means to have wholeness. In other words, those who want a good life, will give up the life they have lived to follow after Jesus. This is our call in taking up the cross. This is the call in becoming a disciple of Jesus.

So this morning I ask, what weights are you cutting off that you might live more into who God is calling you to be? What are you taking up so that you can faithfully follow after Jesus? I want to leave you with these words from the hymn “And Are We Yet Alive?” “Let us take up the cross

Till we the crown obtain; And gladly reckon all things loss, So we may Jesus gain.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.