Proper 19

Mark 8:27–38 (NIV84)

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 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. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 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.”

So what we have here is an example of correct religious language coupled with the wrong idea of what that language means.

It starts with a simple enough conversation.

Jesus asks the disciples what people are saying about him.

“How do people see me? How do they relate to me?”

Which is an interesting question that could have different answers.

“Oh people in this group love you, people in this group hate you.”

“Some people want you to be king. Some people think you’re a joke.”

The answers betray the fact that people at least see Jesus as extraordinary.

They’re trying to make sense of this man who performs miracles and teaches with authority by associating him with prophets like Elijah.

They at least know he’s special.

But we can place different kinds of hopes on special people, right?

So as much as Jesus is asking “who do people say I am?” he’s also asking “what are people’s hopes for me? what are people expecting of me and FROM me?”

Then Jesus asks the disciples point blank.

“What about you guys?”

Peter, per usual, speaks up and gives the right answer .... kind of.

You are the Christ. The messiah. The anointed one. The one promised to come a liberate God’s people. The one all Israel has been waiting for.

In Matthew’s account Peter’s answer gets praised as insightful and full of faith.

But then even in Matthew’s version the conversation shifts and it REVEALS THAT PETER HAS THE RIGHT TITLE FOR JESUS BUT some wrong thinking about what the Jesus’s title means and what it means to follow him

The big point of tension is that Jesus says, “Yes, that’s right. I am the promised messiah, which means I am going to suffer and die.”

And Peter, overflowing with confidence apparently, takes … THE PROMISED MESSIAH … aside to correct him

one of my favorite new yorker cartoons has a man and woman sitting at a table with the man saying “allow me to interrupt your expertise with my confidence.”

Peter tells him that there’s no way Jesus is going to suffer and die

Messiahs don’t lose or get killed, Messiahs win and conquer

Jesus pushes back, saying “Get behind me Satan”

Satan means adversary and in this moment Peter is standing opposed to the things of God

How?

By trying to fit Jesus into his way of thinking, rather than aligning his way of thinking to what Jesus is doing

At this point, Peter still only has an imagination for a conquering hero strongman who is invincible, the ultimate weapon against the bad guys, come to bring victory for the ones on his team

The idea of the Messiah dying a humiliating death alongside the lowest people just didn’t compute.

Quickly, let’s look at this question. Why did Jesus have to suffer?

One way people look at it is that Jesus needed to resolve the tension between God’s mercy and justice.

That is, the idea God wants to save humanity but doesn’t want to just paper over sin (real injustice and evil) as though nothing happened

So Jesus enters in to take the payment for sin upon himself

In this way of thinking, God himself both extends mercy and satisfies the demand for justice

However, some would argue that God isn’t at tension with himself and doesn’t need to appease himself or satisfy some rules outside himself

And that it’s better to look at it from the standpoint of the mystical union of humanity with God that takes place through Jesus.

It is the idea that in order for Jesus bring the fullness of humanity into communion with God, he must bear the fullness of human experience, including suffering and death

By taking it into himself, including suffering and death, he is able to then heal it.

Either way, Jesus is clear that the path of the Messiah is one that enters INTO suffering and death in our still fallen world

It is not about avoiding it or denying it (the vague spirituality option).

Nor is it about just trying to come out on the right side of it by inflicting suffering on others before they inflict it on you (the darwinistic, militaristic option).

It’s entering in, and by entering in, overcoming death itself by disarming it.

Now, this is an important word for us BECAUSE many still view the way of Jesus as either option 1 or 2, not 3.

That is, there is plenty out there to suggest that the way of Jesus is to avoid or deny the reality of suffering, that people with real faith don’t talk about the negative stuff

This is much easier if you’re pretty well off financially and pretty well isolated socially and politically.

You can write off those people who speak of injustice and oppression and suffering as ungrateful or lazy complainers.

You can promote good vibes only with and Jesus can be your guru.

It’s also common for people to view Jesus as the John Wayne archetype who will come in to humiliate and destroy the bad guys to secure victory for our tribe (which we assume to be the righteous tribe of course).

People will do this A LOT with politicians, who they often confuse with Jesus, lifting them up as the hero who will beat up the bad guys for me.

And people do this to Jesus too.

It’s why people often LOVE the story of Jesus turning over tables, they imagine him as the tough guy, missing the entire point of why Jesus is so angry.

There are a ton quotes from I could reference from people talking about how Jesus wasn’t a wimp and how he was the strongest strong man of the strong men and could whoop anyone and I just didn’t feel like quoting any of them this morning.

This view is especially popular within Christian Nationalism, which tends to also be extremely militaristic.

But Jesus doesn’t give us either of these pictures.

Jesus gives us a picture of one who eats with the outcasts and sits in solidarity with the poor and oppressed.

He doesn’t paper over suffering

And he certainly doesn’t perpetuate it in favor of one group.

He addresses it with honesty and enters into it.

But the way that God addresses suffering is different than our natural tendencies.

Jesus doesn’t come with “good vibes only” and he doesn’t come like John Wayne to whoop the bad guys

He comes to meet us in suffering, remain present with us, and then lead us through it to a healed reality.

So we have to ask ourselves whether, like Peter, we have the right titles for Jesus but the wrong understanding of what they mean.

It alters our imaginations for what salvation is and what it means to be followers of Jesus.

Who do you say I am?

And what does that mean?

Jesus has this conversation with them because from this point their like on a downhill path toward the cross and everything that comes after.

So in a sense, this conversation is a little bit, “Here’s what it really means to follow me. Do you trust me? Are you in? Can you realign your imagination to a suffering Messiah in solidarity with the poor?”

We’re conditioned to think the triumphal superhero, tough guy, strongman that kills “those people” offers the ultimate hope.

The way of Jesus is different. And we’re invited to re-adjust our hope accordingly.