What do you look for in a
leader? Most of us want someone of
solid character who listens well, has a good vision for the future and knows
how to achieve agreed-upon goals.
To use the language of the Boy Scout law I learned as a young boy, a
scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrift, brave, clean, and reverent. It’s a list of platitudes for the good life. It’s also pretty much what we expect of
our leaders today, whether in government, health care, education, or religion.
Jesus, however, had a
different idea. When he asked his
disciples "Who
do people say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."
Peter’s answer, although expected, was misleading and
incomplete. The Israelites were living under Roman domination and expected the
Messiah would come in power, to free the people from oppression; they did not
expect a suffering servant. They
had no concept of a Messiah who would suffer. Jesus responded to Peter’s statement and told the disciples
about rejection and suffering, about being killed and rising again after three
days. Peter was astounded. He couldn’t believe what he was
hearing. It was contrary to what
he and others believed and expected.
Peter
and the disciples knew all about rejection, suffering and death. That was common to their human
experience. What they expected
from Jesus was quite the opposite; they were in search for a leader who would
promise them the good life free of all the familiar trials and tribulations of
injustice and oppression.
This chapter in the Gospel of
Mark is the first prediction of Jesus’ suffering. It is part of God’s plan. Jesus’ mission is now clear and out in the open. He rebuked Peter for his statement and
said, “Get behind me, Satan! For
you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
I
don’t know about you but I am impressed, negatively impressed that is, by the
televangelists who preach about the good life, a life of success and contentment,
of riches and rewards. They don’t normally focus on Jesus’ suffering nor do they
acknowledge the true meaning of the Christian life. Christianity is not a life of comfort and ease. It is more a life of risk, tension,
ambiguity and disappointment. It
is also a life of compassion and love for those in need, a willingness to lose
one’s life for the sake of the gospel.
It is a life that knows what it means to take up a cross and follow
Jesus.
As Jesus said to the crowd
and the disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For 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.”
The Rev. Dr. Peter Marty, a
Lutheran pastor, relates a story told by the late Quaker philosopher Elton Trueblood:
“John Woolman, a successful Quaker merchant in the 18th century lived a
wonderfully nice life until God convicted him one day of the offense of holding
slaves. After that, John Woolman gave up his prosperous business; he used his
money to try and free slaves and even started wearing undyed suits to avoid
relying on dye that slave labor produced. Says Elton Trueblood, ‘Occasionally
we talk of our Christianity as something that solves problems, and there is a
sense in which it does. Long
before it does so, however, it increases both the number and the intensity of
problems.’"
The reality of living with
so many problems in our institutions, whether educational, community, or
religious, not to mention our international relationships, is why Jesus said repeatedly,
“Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life
for my sake and the gospel, will save it.”
Peter Marty has a further
comment about the Gospel of Mark beginning with the 8th chapter: “The
first half of Mark's Gospel is all about ‘how to live.’ Jesus gives
instructions of one kind or another on how we might best fashion our lives.
And, then, at this pivotal point right in the center of Mark's Gospel account,
Jesus makes a shift. He begins to
show us how to die. Now that we have been given a life, he demonstrates how to
give it up … or how to give it away. This is a huge move.”
“If you want to have a
worthwhile life, you're going to have to look for ways to give that life away….
You're going to have to think more of loving than of being loved, more of
understanding than of being understood, more of forgiving than of being
forgiven…. Living a life that
really matters …asks for a way that treats life more like a precious gift to be
shared than a commodity to be stored up.”
What happened to Jesus as we
learn later in the Gospel is that he was arrested, tried, tortured, and
executed as a blasphemer. He
died. But even as he was nailed to
the cross he asked God to forgive those who were killing him: “Forgive them, for
they don’t know what they are doing.”
There are implications for
us who are followers of Jesus today just as there were for the earliest disciples. They include giving up any sense of selfishness
and self-centeredness, and knowing that our true authority is the compassionate
God who requires us to do justice, to love kindness, and to be peace-makers. God is interested in our being
authentic, true to self, willing to take risks for the sake of others.
Jesus taught that it is more
blessed to give than to receive, that we should love God with all our heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as our self. In the midst of all the challenges we
face today, following Jesus and living the Christian life can lead to a
wonderful, adventurous and abundant life.
Amen.
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