Divine Concerns – sermon on March 1, 2015
Scripture: Mark 8: 31-37 Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
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 concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Divine Concerns – sermon on March 1, 2015 by Rev. Doreen Oughton
So I just have to invite a little dialogue today. This is such a rich passage, and I really want to know what you think about when you hear some of the phrases used here. Jesus says to Peter, “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” What do you think he means by that? What are the concerns God? What are the contrasting “human concerns?”….
What do you think it means to “take up one’s cross?” Can you think of an example of someone who has “taken up their cross?”…
What about trying to save one’s life, so losing it, or losing life for the sake of the gospel and thereby saving it?
What does he mean when he asks, “what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
One of the things that struck me about this passage was how it says it was after looking at the disciples that Jesus rebukes. What was Peter’s rebuke of Jesus? I wonder if it focused on the impact on the disicples. Something like, “Lord how can you think of doing this to us. Look, we gave up everything for you, to follow you, and you are going to go off to your death, just accept it? Leave us? Leave the work? Look at us, we can’t continue this mission without you. We are not ready.”
Jesus looks over and sees this ragtag bunch, who have frustrated him so with their difficulty understanding who he is and what he is about. I can imagine him thinking, “Perhaps Peter is right. It would be crazy at this juncture to leave them.” Does he say a quick prayer – “Are you sure this is what you want, Abba?” He feels it in his gut – yes, yes it is. He must push back against the temptation, the temptation of “human concerns,” not just the things humans worry about, but worry about the humans – concern for Peter and Andrew, James and John and all the rest. Because Jesus does love them, does care about them, does not want to abandon them. But his prayer reminds him of not only of his own mission, but of who and what they really are – not mere humans, but spiritual beings having a human experience. They are spiritual beings who have forgotten their own identity. For Jesus to join with those who think the human experience is the be all and end all, well, that would be a complete betrayal of his mission, which is to call people back to who they truly are.
The worldly life is not all there is. There is a resurrection. There is new life. There are “divine concerns” – not only God’s concerns, but our concerns as spiritual beings, and the things that are relevant to us as spiritual beings. Jesus must inspire us to the belief that there is more to “life” than we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, know with our minds or bodies. There is something we sense with our souls; a truth that can become better known and trusted through practice – the practices that Jesus teaches – to stop thinking about self-protection, short-term comfort and ease; to start thinking of the whole of which we are a part – of others, all other creatures – to see that all are honored as of “divine” concern.
Jesus knows the instrument of his bodily death, and I think his statement to “pick up your cross,” is a way of saying that in the larger scheme of things, of “divine things,” what happens to the body is not important. It doesn’t mean the body itself is not important, that the human experience is nothing, it just means that it is not the only thing, nor even the most important thing. I think this is hard for Jesus to explain not only to his disciples and the crowds following him then, but the crowds following him now. It is hard because our forgetting is so thorough. There are so many worldly distractions from our spiritual identities. And yet they call to us. The call is like the faintest aroma that reminds us of home – we notice it but can’t quite identify it, and then it’s gone. It’s like scanning through the radio channels and you hear just a few notes coming through static that you know it is a song you love but can’t quite recall, and then the scan has moved past it.
But Jesus tells us there are things we can do to tune in, and they go against what we have learned about survival of the fittest, about securing our wealth and possessions, about looking out primarily for ourselves and those closest to us. It is hard for us to understand and imagine, let alone do. In order to do this, we must trust Jesus. I believe that usually the rewards of this show up pretty quickly in peace and joy, but not always. And the rewards don’t show up until we practice, practice, practice. Commitment and trust are required. What do you think? Can we take up our crosses, are we willing to lose our worldly lives for the sake of the gospel?
