We
preach Christ crucified. At the center
of the Christian faith stands the cross of Jesus Christ. It can be no other way. This is because, for Jesus, it can be no
other way.
On the
heels of his great confession, where Peter got it right, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the Living God”. Now Jesus
unpacks what exactly that means. And
Peter gets it oh-so-wrong. Today’s
reading is a continuation of the conversation we heard last week at
Caeserea-Phillipi. Let’s pick it up
where we left off:
“From
that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised.”
With the
cat out of the bag for these disciples, knowing and confessing that Jesus is
the Christ – Jesus, from that time, began to show them the full implications of
what being the Christ means.
And it
is startling. It is mind-bending, and
expectation-exploding. He must go to
Jerusalem. And already Peter must think
this is a bad idea. That’s where his
enemies are, the elders, chief priests and the scribes, the Pharisees and
Saducees – that’s where the Herods and Pontius Pilates of the world come to
visit and exert their tyranny. Nothing
good can come of all that, Jesus. Maybe
you should just stay on the fringes and in the relative obscurity of the
countryside. Easier to hide out
here. Not so much danger. Look what
happened to John the Baptist. Yes, let’s play it safe and keep the good times
rolling here. Or so Peter might have
thought.
But
Jesus goes on. He must go to Jerusalem
to suffer. Specifically at the hands of
his enemies, he must go to Jerusalem to suffer.
And who can be in favor of that?
Peter was probably like you and me, not a fan of suffering. We try to avoid it if we can. No one really likes it. None of us think we deserve it. But for Jesus, it’s part of the plan. It is necessary, a must. But it gets worse.
He will
be killed. His life taken away. Of course, we know that no one really takes it
from him, but he lays it down of his own accord. But now Peter is getting really alarmed. What is this talk? This is not the hopeful talk of a leader, the
inspiring speech of a true Messiah. This
is too pessimistic. Maybe he just needs
to talk some sense into Jesus. Maybe
Jesus is just having a bad day. The
Christ, the Son of the Living God, I need to correct him, Peter is saying to
himself. And can you imagine the
arrogance?
Perhaps
you can, because, like me, you are much like Peter. The way of the cross is scandal to the Jew
and foolishness to the Gentile. The path
of suffering and death is not a path you and I want to tread. And the flesh balks at it. The sinful man wants pleasure, not pain,
glory, not shame, all of the good things, and none of the bad or unpleasant
things.
But it’s
a fantasy. Because in the real world, we
have suffering. The real world is
broken, it’s corrupt, and it’s passing away, and not without some kicking and
screaming. You don’t have to look too
far to see the effects of sin in this world, your sin, or sin in general. Maybe you see it in your broken
marriage. Maybe you see it in your rebellious
children. Maybe you see its effects on
your body. Maybe you see it in the cares
and sorrows of your heart. Oh, there’s
plenty of suffering to go around. Sin
means suffering, and ultimately, death.
At the root of it all is the turning away from God that each of us has
done, and still does, in small and big ways.
The Buddhist teaching that “life is suffering” isn’t that far off the
mark.
But, of
course the Buddha holds no hope. No
man-made religion does. The human heart can’t cure itself. And we can no more cleanse ourselves from sin
than we could stand in a mud-pit and mop up the floor.
This is
why we need Jesus, and not just any Jesus.
We need the Christ, the Son of the living God, yes. But we need Christ crucified for
sinners. Thanks be to God that is
exactly the Jesus we have.
Peter
might have missed this part, but let’s you and I not skip it. Jesus taught his disciples he must suffer and
die, but also that he would rise on the third day. And don’t gloss over this important truth!
For
Jesus, suffering is not the end of the story.
For Jesus, death does not have the final word. And so, too, for you and me who are in
Christ. The resurrection is proclaimed
wherever the cross is preached. His
sacrifice for sin is always connected to is victory over death. Suffering leads to glory, for Jesus, and so
for us.
Peter
wouldn’t have any of it. And so he takes
Jesus aside to rebuke him. But Jesus
won’t have any of that. Anything that
turns him or us away from the cross is of the devil. And Jesus minces no words saying so.
Peter’s
words are the very words of Satan, the accuser.
He who had just received and made the good confession, not by flesh and
blood, but by the Father in Heaven, now makes the very bad confession, having
in mind the things of man, not the things of God. How quickly and easily we can pray with the
same lips that curse, and confess truth with the same mouth that slanders. Lord have mercy!
But Jesus
will not be deterred from his cross. He
will not shrink from its suffering. He
will not turn aside from its shame. He
will bear the crown of thorns. He will
suffer the mocking and spitting. He will
be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Our punishment and chastisement will be on
him. For with his stripes, we are
healed. Thanks be to God.
But this
doesn’t mean that Christians won’t suffer.
With his very next words, Jesus moves from his cross, to ours, from his
suffering, to ours. Christ taking our
place on the cross doesn’t free us from cross-bearing. It absolves us of sin. It frees us from death. It makes us heirs of all the blessings of
God. But there still remain our own
crosses in this life. And we must carry
them.
“Take up
your cross and follow me,” he says. Here
are no easy words, dear Christian. They
may take a whole lifetime to learn. The
way of the cross is so counter-intuitive to the wisdom of the world. The mind of man is to avoid suffering at all
costs. The mind of Christ is to endure
suffering for us. And the mind of the
Christian is to endure suffering patiently, for the sake of Christ, and in the
hope of the resurrection to life everlasting.
The way
of following Christ runs counter to all human wisdom and reason. Save your own life, you will lose it. Lose your life for Christ, and you will find
it. In other words, don’t be your own
savior, for you will fail. Look to
Christ to save your soul, for he cannot fail.
For
Jesus, the cross was not the end of the story.
So, too, for us. We follow
him. That is to say, where he goes, we
also will go. He suffered unto death,
but death could not hold him. He rose to
life, to a glorified body, never to die again.
You who are in Christ, who following him bearing your own cross, will
also suffer, and unless he comes back first, you will die. But that’s not the end of your story. You will follow him to resurrection. You will follow him to the heavenly Jerusalem. On the last day, he will raise your body,
sown in shame but raised to glory. The
perishable will put on the imperishable.
The mortal will give way to immortality.
Each
will be repaid according to their deeds, Jesus says. But he’s not talking
works-righteousness. He’s the savior,
after all. And he has paid for your evil
deeds at the cross. All that is left for
you is his own righteousness. But he
will avenge the wicked and set everything right at the last. Yes, we follow him now, and carry our crosses
for a time. But that time is short, not
worth comparing to the glory to be revealed in us.
So who
is Jesus? The son of the living God, but
also the one who suffers, dies, and rises again. He is Jesus of the cross. And we follow him at his call, carrying our
own crosses, whatever they may be, in the hope of his return and our own
resurrection to glory. Think not of the
earthly glories, the things of man, but look forward in faith to that day, and
the life of the world to come.
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