Mark 8: 31-end.
HEALTH WARNING…the
first four paragraphs are a parody…to be read in a phoney American accent!
I have great
pleasure in announcing that from today, we are changing our name. From now on, we will be known as the "Havant
Branch of the Church of the Blessings of the Almighty Saviour Jesus ". Why is this? Well let me tell you, brothers
and sisters. Last night, I had a vision! The Lord God Almighty spoke to me from
the heavens. He said to me...
"Rector",
he said, "Rector - I have good news for you! I want to shower you and your
congregation with abundant blessings. (Praise the Lord!) I am going to make
yours a church of millionaires! You are going to become so wealthy, so full of
miracles, so full of powerful acts of God Almighty, that the whole of Havant
will flock to your doors!
All your
congregation has to do is to show that they trust me. They simply have to sign
over the deeds to their houses to the church. Then I will know that they trust
me. Then I will bless them with riches from heaven. Then they will become
millionaires, and all their problems will disappear". (Praise the Lord!)
So, my brothers and
sisters, our Treasurer, Sister Shelley, will be standing by, at the ready, with
forms for you to sign. Just sign over the deeds of your house to the church,
and the Lord God Almighty, in the glorious name of Jesus, will give you your
heart's desire! A-men, brothers and sisters. A-men!
----------
It's a bit
frightening to think that there really are churches like that in the world. They feed on people's misery. They create an
image of the world which is so pumped up with future hope, that gullible people
really do believe that God is in the business of making them wealthy...but they
are tricked into making their preachers wealthy instead. Hmmm…perhaps I’m in the wrong branch of the church?!
According to today’s
Gospel text, modern-day prosperity preachers are not the first people to have
got the wrong end of the stick. This text comes at a pivotal point in Mark's
gospel. Up until this chapter, which comes right in the middle of the gospel,
Jesus' disciples have seen him doing all sorts of amazing things. He drives out
evil spirits, heals and feeds the multitudes; he’s even walked on water. But
now, in this passage, the whole trajectory of Jesus' life and ministry
turns...it pivots, towards Jerusalem, and to the incomprehensible scandal of
the Cross.
Verse 31: "He
began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be
rejected...and be killed".(Mk 8:31). You can just imagine Peter's reaction
can't you? He probably thinks that Jesus has gone nuts. Perhaps the Messiah has been working too hard?
So he rebukes Jesus. Matthew's gospel
gives us the words that Mark doesn't record: "Never, Lord" he said.
"This shall never happen to you!" (Matt 16:22)
But Jesus is adamant.
He tells Peter off with really startling words: "Get behind me,
Satan!" Pretty stern stuff. And
then Jesus goes on, in verse 33: "You are setting your mind not on divine
things, but on human things". In other words, "You are thinking like
a man, but by now you should be starting to think as God thinks...to see things
from God's perspective".
Anyone confronted
with the idea of suffering might well react as Peter reacts. After all, God can
heal, can't he? Jesus' many miracles are proof that God does not delight in
suffering. And yet, somehow, for reasons
we might only be able to guess at, suffering enters into God's plan for
humanity. It's there. It was there for
Jesus, who suffered on the cross. It was
there for the many whom Jesus encountered but did not heal. Suffering, somehow, is part of the plan. Christians
who are fixated on the Jesus of the miracles have missed out on the suffering
Jesus of the Cross.
But that is
precisely whom we are confronted with in this text. Jesus had to suffer...it
was part of the divine plan. But Jesus
says that suffering is part of the package for us too..."anyone who wants
to follow me must deny himself, and take up his cross".(Mark 8:34
Let's notice that
there are, in fact, two elements to Jesus stark statement: we are called first
to 'deny self', and secondly, to 'take up our cross'. Let's look at those in
turn.
First - what does it
mean to 'deny self'?
To deny self, when
you think about it, is actually about putting others first. It's a way of living that always looks out for
other people. It's a way of living which never asks "what's in it for
me?" but rather "what's in it for my neighbours, and for the Kingdom
of God?". Think about this: if Jesus had asked himself 'what's in it for
me?' before embarking on his ministry, he would never have got beyond his
baptism. We too are called to live that
way...to live generously…
…And to live lightly
upon the earth. The son of man had
nowhere to lay his head. To deny self,
is also about learning to let go of the things we shackle ourselves with –
learning that true contentment is not found in great wealth, but in great relationships,
with God and neighbour. There’s a saying
among a certain group of rich people which indicates something of the
contemporary mindset about wealth: “He
who dies with the most toys, wins”.
Nothing of course
could be further from the truth. “You
fool”, says God in Jesus parable of the farmer with massive barns. “This very night, your life will be required
of you”. You can’t take any of it with
you. Jesus says: “Deny yourself. Build up treasure that thieves cannot break
in and steal. Build up treasure for
heaven”.
Secondly, what did Jesus
mean by saying we have to take up our cross?
A while ago, I spent
time with a parishioner in my previous parish who had become very frail – let’s
call her Lucy. Lucy had spent all her life serving others
through the church. She had been at coffee mornings and fundraisers, and served
on the PCC, and made endless cups of tea. She had truly denied herself for
others. And yet, Lucy now found herself
frail, bed-bound, and unable to serve others anymore. She even had to rely on
others to help her to the bathroom.
Lucy’s body was
failing her. But her mind was as sharp
as a razor – and she was a thinker. She said
something very profound to me. She said
"perhaps God is teaching me that there was still a bit of pride in me. I’m learning that I need to let others serve
me for a change. Perhaps I'm learning that in the end, we all must rely on God,
and on other people. That none of us can
exist in isolation."
I was intensely
moved by what Lucy said. After a
life-time of Christian faith God was still teaching her something deep,
something profound, about our need for each other, and for God. There was, for Lucy at least, a purpose in
her suffering. She learned to gladly
take up her cross, for what it would teach her and others.
Jesus own suffering clearly
had purpose too. But I find it interesting that the Gospels themselves don't
provide a definitive answer to why Jesus had to suffer. The task of
interpretation is one that was left to later writers, like St Paul - and other
great thinkers of the Church. All that
Mark says on the subject, in today's reading, is that Jesus taught his
disciples "that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering" (Mark
8:31). The task of working out why is something that Jesus leaves to his
Church. We continue to grapple with it...just as we grapple with the reasons
for our own suffering, or the suffering of martyrs across the centuries, and
even now in other lands.
We continue to
grapple - but we also continue to trust...that denying self, and taking up our
own cross - participating in our own suffering and the suffering of the world
is an essential, central message that is right at the heart of the Gospel.
May you come to know
the power of God that is often revealed in suffering. May you come to know the
power of denying self, and taking up the cross that is offered to you. May you come to know that God's power is so
often revealed in and through weakness - our own weakness, as well as the
weakness of those we encounter.
And it’s alright…you
don’t have to sign over the deeds of your house to Shelley!
Amen
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