15th
Sunday after Pentecost / Year B
Isaiah
50:4-9a; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
Pastor
Gayle M. Pope
Who Do YOU Say that I Am?
Listening to the world news these days, it’s easy to
understand why more and more people seem to be asking if the end of the world is
coming?”
In the 24th chapter
of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ disciples asked, “What will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?” Jesus gave a long answer to that question,
but part of it included these words:
“And you will hear of
wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take
place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places:
all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”
Well, there certainly are wars and rumors of wars and
nations rising against nations, not to mention natural disasters. But it seems like those things have been
going on continually since the time Jesus said those words.
Those who study the Bible with an eye to end times
will point to many other signs that we are in the last generation before Christ
will return – particularly signs relating to the nation of
And yet, if you read
Jesus’ whole answer in Matthew 24, you also find these words:
“But about that day
and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father.” And these: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your
Lord is coming.” And these: “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of
Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
When people ask me if I think the end of the world is
coming soon,” I usually say, “I don’t know, but what difference does it
make? We’re supposed to be ready for it
at any time. Why should we live any
different if it were going to happen tomorrow, or in another thousand years?”
I said that to Terry once, and he said, “That’s true, but
you know human nature. People put things
off until the last minute.” In other words, if people really believed the end
of the world was close, maybe they would have a greater sense of urgency about living
out their faith and sharing it with others.
What do you think?
If you KNEW the world was going to end tomorrow, would you live any
differently today? If you knew YOUR
WORLD was going to end tomorrow, would you live any differently today? Why?
Would you be like the
guy in Tim McGraw’s Song, Live Like You
Were Dying – the guy who got some bad news at the doctor’s office, who said:
“I went sky diving.
I went Rocky Mountain climbing.
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named
fumanchu.
I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I’d been
denying.
I was finally the husband
that most of the time I wasn’t
and I became a friend a friend would
like to have.
I finally read the good book
and I took a good long hard look
at what I’d do if I could do it all again.”
No matter what you hear on the news or what you hear
from the doctor, hardly anyone expects the world – or their own life – to end
in the next 24 hours. But it COULD. Are
you ready for that?
For me, our gospel reading for today pushes just that
question, but in different words.
Today’s reading marks a turning point in Mark’s gospel – a turning
toward
Up to this point, Jesus’ ministry had been picking up
steam – gaining momentum and followers and riling up the religious elite. Now Jesus
was on the road with his disciples, heading toward the region of Caesarea
Philippi; and he asked them, "Who do
people say that I am?"
He listened to their answers, and then brought the
question closer to home, “But who do you
say that I am?" Peter knew the truth, "You are the Messiah," he answered. But he didn’t yet understand
the whole truth.
For the first time in Mark’s gospel, Jesus began to teach them, clearly and openly, what
had to happen for the Messiah to fulfill his mission – that he must undergo
great suffering, and be rejected by the all the religious leaders, and be
killed, and after three days rise again.
Peter could not accept that much truth. He rebuked
Jesus, and Jesus in turn rebuked Peter in harsh terms: "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine
things but on human things." Then
Jesus called the crowd and said, "If
any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their
cross and follow me.”
There you have it – the key question for the
disciples and for us: Jesus asks, “Who
do you say I am?” Who do YOU say
Jesus is?
Like Peter, most of us would probably
say, “You are the Messiah, Jesus. You are
the one promised by God to save us – to save ME from eternal death. You are the one who will get me to heaven.”
But, also like Peter, we may not be ready to get
fully on board with all that that confession of faith implies. The Jews were looking for a strong and
glorious Messiah who would liberate them from earthly bondage and set them free
from their earthly oppressors. They were
looking for the good life.
Don’t we sometimes have that same expectation of our
relationship with God? We want inner peace and outward harmony. We want the
promise of heaven and eternal life. We want healing and wholeness, and God
promises all those.
But are we really ready to get on board with a faith
that asks us to give something up – to deny ourselves immediate rewards or comfort
or fulfillment of our own personal dreams?
Are we ready and willing to hand over our whole lives to Jesus and say,
“Use me Lord in whatever way you want me to serve you – no matter what the
cost.” And are we ready to be judged by our response?
Jesus said to the crowd – and we are IN that crowd: "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.”
In other words, Jesus is saying, “Live like you are
dying.” Or maybe more accurately, “Live like you HAVE died – like you have died
to yourself and are living in and through my risen life, which is already in
your heart and soul.”
If we want to be ready for the end of the world, or
for the end of our OWN world – whichever comes first – we have to face the
question Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?”
To answer, “You are the Messiah – God’s chosen one
sent to save the world,” is true, but Jesus asks for more.
Jesus would have us answer not only, “You are THE
Savior,” but also, “You are MY Savior, and I will follow you all the way to the
cross.
“I want to be so aligned with your purposes, I will
voluntarily set aside my right to my own life and ‘take up MY cross’ – whatever
that mission is that you would assign to me – and follow in your footsteps from
here to the resurrection.”
It’s hard to hear the words of Jesus that end today’s
reading. “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and
sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in
the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Jesus is telling us that our relationship with him,
and the way we stand in it before others here on earth, will have eternal
consequences. I can’t bear to think of Jesus being ashamed of me and yet I know
I have denied him. So I am grateful that
he promises to forgive me.
But notice the last part of this sentence: “when
he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Doesn’t that bring us right back to where we
began this morning.
Jesus IS coming again. There WILL be a judgment day sooner or
later. Are you ready?
If you are, you have absolutely nothing to fear. There may be dark days of the cross, but
death will not have the last word. There is the sure and certain promise of
resurrection for all who believe.
In the meantime, may you know the joy of knowing and following
Jesus; and may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in him. Amen.